The AI backlash is interesting to watch. It’s both right and wrong.
It’s right that slop is real and a lot of present AI is crap, and it’s right about the risks to employment and the economy. But when it comes to the first, it’s wrong that this won’t get better. AI is advancing rapidly.
When it comes to economics, AI is just bringing to a head long standing fundamental problems with wealth distribution and fairness that have been building for a long time. AI might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but the camel isn’t looking so hot. Before AI hit big we already had two generations priced out of housing.
The story on journalism and public discourse is, I think, similar. AI might be the last nail in that coffin but the coffin was already closed and the man was already dead. Social media algorithms and man-made disinformation killed public discourse more than a decade ago. Any solution to those problems should also help the slop problem.
My point is that all these problems were nearing crisis level without AI and would still demand solutions without AI. AI might actually help by making them no longer possible to ignore.
Meanwhile all this criticism totally ignores what AI will make possible and is already making possible. Typical human negativity bias.
It’s right that slop is real and a lot of present AI is crap, and it’s right about the risks to employment and the economy. But when it comes to the first, it’s wrong that this won’t get better. AI is advancing rapidly.
When it comes to economics, AI is just bringing to a head long standing fundamental problems with wealth distribution and fairness that have been building for a long time. AI might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but the camel isn’t looking so hot. Before AI hit big we already had two generations priced out of housing.
The story on journalism and public discourse is, I think, similar. AI might be the last nail in that coffin but the coffin was already closed and the man was already dead. Social media algorithms and man-made disinformation killed public discourse more than a decade ago. Any solution to those problems should also help the slop problem.
My point is that all these problems were nearing crisis level without AI and would still demand solutions without AI. AI might actually help by making them no longer possible to ignore.
Meanwhile all this criticism totally ignores what AI will make possible and is already making possible. Typical human negativity bias.