Do not underestimate the potential disruption by Artificial Intelligence Marcello Milanezi skrifar 2. apríl 2023 21:30 Artificial intelligence may seem to be a new element straight out of sci-fi, but it has actually been around for quite some time, it is what makes all of our smart gadgets, from phones to watches, seem “intelligent”. As such it has been analysed in different contexts by scientists and academics like Nick Couldry, Shoshanna Zuboff, Martin Ford, Nick Bostrom and many others. Many of them raise questions of privacy that go well beyond the matter of “I have nothing to hide”, but the more pressing matter of autonomy, that which has been the object of manipulation by neoliberalism’s consumerism – AI just does it so much faster that even its developers are caught at times puzzled by its operations. AI such as Midjourney and ChatGPT present another face to the public, but hold that same background of gathering data, calculating, and predicting behaviour. It does so in more of what sci-fi has taught us to expect from AI, that is, with an apparent genuine exchange with the user, as opposed to the hidden mechanism that selects what shows one might prefer to see on their streaming service, as well as nudge behaviour. But no, AI is not human. And, at least for now, it does not seem capable to keep up with those territories of intellectual work that have been reasonably shielded from automation. We talk of the arts, academia, law, among others. After all, A.I. only reproduces, it deals with data that is already existent, that has already come to birth into the conscious world of materiality; and this data lies in banks that are fed by a variety of social media profiles, those very ones where we expose our behaviour to capture in a daily basis; the behavioural surplus, as Zuboff calls it. James Bridle, author of the New Dark Age, points that some of the data that has been feeding A.I. have been gathered despite confidentiality terms, such as images derived from medical practises. However, neoliberal capitalism is not one to care for any value of human productions, it doesn’t even care for human (or otherwise) living conditions. It speaks of the relation between quality and profit, just as it speaks of the importance of a competitive market; but meanwhile it has constantly fabricated needs and desires to give full-throttle to a culture of consumerism that is degrading the Earth itself. The capitalism of today (if not already supplanted by technofeudalism) is all about numbers, a matter of faith (under the cruellest of Gods), as such it strives for a certain speed and questionable balance, by which I mean an efficiency where quality comes to equate “good enough”. This is all the worse in a context of post-truth, where it is more important to be told what one wants to hear, one’s personal truth, and see it repeated in the mouths of like-minded individuals, themselves empowered by the echo-chambers of social media, than to apply critical thinking to one’s own ego. The news is likewise peppered with reports of state-terrorism against higher education in the country, where Social Sciences and Humanities are clear targets in a broad project to reduce funding, not only in education, but as can be experienced, in the public sector as a whole. It’s all about the numbers, it’s all about carving a path for the private sector; it’s all about maximizing the profit margin, which includes automating anything, even if it implies a certain reduction in quality of service and life – it is all about further concentration of power. This is part of the larger plane of immanence in which A.I. arises. Like other technology, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum, so it cannot be neutral. But A.I. does have something that is fascinating, potentially dangerous, and certainly alien: for all its working on predictability, it is at times unpredictable, remember those puzzled developers mentioned earlier, when A.I. does something it was not programmed to do, gives birth to one of those terrifying cryptids such as Loab, even communicates between themselves in secrecy. In this shadowy lands where A.I. seems to conduct some of its business, flights of escape might arise, some that might be quite uncomfortable for those very powers-that-be. For now, however, I believe we must be wary, across all layers of work. Again, the market might not care about jobs being well-done and filled with value, if it can extract enough profit from “good enough”; a veritable possibility, specially in societies where it seems to no longer be necessary to speak of truths, but rather of numbers of followers. Do not underestimate the potential disruption by A.I. Höfundur er doktorsnemi í félagsfræði við Háskóla Íslands. Viltu birta grein á Vísi? Sendu okkur póst. Senda grein Gervigreind Tækni Mest lesið Borgum rétta vexti - Landsbankinn verði banki allra landsmanna Baldur Borgþórsson Skoðun Ráðherrann Gísli Hvanndal Jakobsson Skoðun Streituvaldar heimilanna Anna Karen Sch. Ellertsdóttir Skoðun Skuggaspil valdsins Anna Kristín Jensdóttir Skoðun Fyrirtæki sem stundar stórfelld mannréttindabrot í Palestínu haslar sér völl á Íslandi Hjálmar Heiðdal Skoðun Fullorðins greining á loftslags stefnumálum Páll Gunnarsson,Matthías Ólafsson Skoðun Stórsigur fyrir lífeyrisþega Guðmundur Ingi Kristinsson Skoðun Heilbrigðiskerfi framtíðarinnar Victor Guðmundsson Skoðun Afreksverk Lilju Daggar Alfreðsdóttur Atli Valur Jóhannsson Skoðun Róum okkar aðeins í auðlindagræðginni Mummi Týr Þórarinsson Skoðun Skoðun Skoðun Hugverkaiðnaður: Framtíð Íslands í verðmætasköpun Bergþóra Halldórsdóttir,Guðrún Halla Finnsdóttir,Hjörtur Sigurðsson skrifar Skoðun Helvítis Píratarnir Unnar Þór Sæmundsson skrifar Skoðun Rúnkviskubit, hnífaburður og jafnréttismál Tryggvi Hallgrímsson skrifar Skoðun Gal(in) keppni þingmanna flokks fólksins Þorsteinn Sæmundsson skrifar Skoðun Þrúgandi góðmennska Kári Allansson skrifar Skoðun Fúskið, letin, hugleysið og spillingin Björn Þorláksson skrifar Skoðun Heilbrigðiskerfi framtíðarinnar Victor Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Við viljum ekki rauð jól Franklín Ernir Kristjánsson skrifar Skoðun Fyrir ykkur Elín Fanndal skrifar Skoðun Stöndum saman um velferð því örorka fer ekki í manngreinarálit María Pétursdóttir skrifar Skoðun Tryggjum breytingar – fyrir börnin Alma D. Möller skrifar Skoðun Styrkar stoðir Vinstri grænna Ynda Eldborg skrifar Skoðun Konur: ekki einsleitur hópur Bergrún Andradóttir,Bjarndís Helga Tómasdóttir skrifar Skoðun Róum okkar aðeins í auðlindagræðginni Mummi Týr Þórarinsson skrifar Skoðun Fyrirtæki sem stundar stórfelld mannréttindabrot í Palestínu haslar sér völl á Íslandi Hjálmar Heiðdal skrifar Skoðun Fullorðins greining á loftslags stefnumálum Páll Gunnarsson,Matthías Ólafsson skrifar Skoðun Lóðaskortur eykur vanda heimilanna – byggjum meira, hraðar og hagkvæmar Vilhjálmur Árnason skrifar Skoðun Afreksverk Lilju Daggar Alfreðsdóttur Atli Valur Jóhannsson skrifar Skoðun Húsnæðiskreppan krefst lausna ekki umræðu Finnbjörn A. Hermannsson,Sonja Ýr Þorbergsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Treystum Pírötum til góðra verka Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Streituvaldar heimilanna Anna Karen Sch. Ellertsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Raunveruleg vísindi, skynsemi og rökhugsun Magnús Gehringer skrifar Skoðun Viðreisn húsnæðismála Auður Finnbogadóttir skrifar Skoðun Stórsigur fyrir lífeyrisþega Guðmundur Ingi Kristinsson skrifar Skoðun Niðurgreiðum raforku til grænmetisræktar Eyjólfur Ármannsson skrifar Skoðun Skólaforðun: Rangnefni sem þarfnast nýrrar nálgunar Rakel Norðfjörð Vilhjálmsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Viska bendir á ójöfnuð kynslóðanna Yngvi Sighvatsson skrifar Skoðun Frjálsar handfæraveiðar - Opið svar til Strandveiðifélags Íslands Álfheiður Eymarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Ofbeldisvarnir og alhliða kynfræðsla alla skólagönguna! Sigrún Birna Björnsdóttir Kaaber skrifar Skoðun Að kjósa í roki, hríð og nístingskulda Jón Ferdínand Estherarson skrifar Sjá meira
Artificial intelligence may seem to be a new element straight out of sci-fi, but it has actually been around for quite some time, it is what makes all of our smart gadgets, from phones to watches, seem “intelligent”. As such it has been analysed in different contexts by scientists and academics like Nick Couldry, Shoshanna Zuboff, Martin Ford, Nick Bostrom and many others. Many of them raise questions of privacy that go well beyond the matter of “I have nothing to hide”, but the more pressing matter of autonomy, that which has been the object of manipulation by neoliberalism’s consumerism – AI just does it so much faster that even its developers are caught at times puzzled by its operations. AI such as Midjourney and ChatGPT present another face to the public, but hold that same background of gathering data, calculating, and predicting behaviour. It does so in more of what sci-fi has taught us to expect from AI, that is, with an apparent genuine exchange with the user, as opposed to the hidden mechanism that selects what shows one might prefer to see on their streaming service, as well as nudge behaviour. But no, AI is not human. And, at least for now, it does not seem capable to keep up with those territories of intellectual work that have been reasonably shielded from automation. We talk of the arts, academia, law, among others. After all, A.I. only reproduces, it deals with data that is already existent, that has already come to birth into the conscious world of materiality; and this data lies in banks that are fed by a variety of social media profiles, those very ones where we expose our behaviour to capture in a daily basis; the behavioural surplus, as Zuboff calls it. James Bridle, author of the New Dark Age, points that some of the data that has been feeding A.I. have been gathered despite confidentiality terms, such as images derived from medical practises. However, neoliberal capitalism is not one to care for any value of human productions, it doesn’t even care for human (or otherwise) living conditions. It speaks of the relation between quality and profit, just as it speaks of the importance of a competitive market; but meanwhile it has constantly fabricated needs and desires to give full-throttle to a culture of consumerism that is degrading the Earth itself. The capitalism of today (if not already supplanted by technofeudalism) is all about numbers, a matter of faith (under the cruellest of Gods), as such it strives for a certain speed and questionable balance, by which I mean an efficiency where quality comes to equate “good enough”. This is all the worse in a context of post-truth, where it is more important to be told what one wants to hear, one’s personal truth, and see it repeated in the mouths of like-minded individuals, themselves empowered by the echo-chambers of social media, than to apply critical thinking to one’s own ego. The news is likewise peppered with reports of state-terrorism against higher education in the country, where Social Sciences and Humanities are clear targets in a broad project to reduce funding, not only in education, but as can be experienced, in the public sector as a whole. It’s all about the numbers, it’s all about carving a path for the private sector; it’s all about maximizing the profit margin, which includes automating anything, even if it implies a certain reduction in quality of service and life – it is all about further concentration of power. This is part of the larger plane of immanence in which A.I. arises. Like other technology, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum, so it cannot be neutral. But A.I. does have something that is fascinating, potentially dangerous, and certainly alien: for all its working on predictability, it is at times unpredictable, remember those puzzled developers mentioned earlier, when A.I. does something it was not programmed to do, gives birth to one of those terrifying cryptids such as Loab, even communicates between themselves in secrecy. In this shadowy lands where A.I. seems to conduct some of its business, flights of escape might arise, some that might be quite uncomfortable for those very powers-that-be. For now, however, I believe we must be wary, across all layers of work. Again, the market might not care about jobs being well-done and filled with value, if it can extract enough profit from “good enough”; a veritable possibility, specially in societies where it seems to no longer be necessary to speak of truths, but rather of numbers of followers. Do not underestimate the potential disruption by A.I. Höfundur er doktorsnemi í félagsfræði við Háskóla Íslands.
Fyrirtæki sem stundar stórfelld mannréttindabrot í Palestínu haslar sér völl á Íslandi Hjálmar Heiðdal Skoðun
Skoðun Hugverkaiðnaður: Framtíð Íslands í verðmætasköpun Bergþóra Halldórsdóttir,Guðrún Halla Finnsdóttir,Hjörtur Sigurðsson skrifar
Skoðun Fyrirtæki sem stundar stórfelld mannréttindabrot í Palestínu haslar sér völl á Íslandi Hjálmar Heiðdal skrifar
Skoðun Lóðaskortur eykur vanda heimilanna – byggjum meira, hraðar og hagkvæmar Vilhjálmur Árnason skrifar
Skoðun Húsnæðiskreppan krefst lausna ekki umræðu Finnbjörn A. Hermannsson,Sonja Ýr Þorbergsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun Frjálsar handfæraveiðar - Opið svar til Strandveiðifélags Íslands Álfheiður Eymarsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun Ofbeldisvarnir og alhliða kynfræðsla alla skólagönguna! Sigrún Birna Björnsdóttir Kaaber skrifar
Fyrirtæki sem stundar stórfelld mannréttindabrot í Palestínu haslar sér völl á Íslandi Hjálmar Heiðdal Skoðun