There are no magical robots

And if there are, they look a lot like the dudes who already run the show

Happy Wednesday, everyone.

This week, I encourage you to read this piece I wrote in July 2023. Here’s the TL;DR:

AI is not harmless or inevitable. It is a human-coded and moderated decision machine that exacerbates inequality, and we are not powerless to resist it.

In summary:

• Magical robots do not power AI. AI is shaped by decisions made by people who exploit and use low-paid offshore labour for its development.

• Those who make those decisions are in positions of unregulated, unbridled power, which has catastrophic consequences for our most vulnerable.

• Humans are irrational. Trying to reduce us to an algorithm perpetuates and entrenches harmful ideas, values and biases.

• The use of AI is already hurting people, and it has the potential to get much worse, but it is not inevitable. There are concrete regulatory steps we can and should take to slow and change the impact of AI.

• The people selling us the AI narrative have the most to gain. They should not be our source of wisdom. It’s time to listen to the artists, philosophers, policy advisors, and social scientists. We have them for a reason.

Read more below.