Like it or not, artificial intelligence is rapidly weaving itself into the fabric of our everyday lives. Artificial intelligence, or AI, is an invisible hand that moves levers and flips switches without our conscious knowledge that it is at work. And this fact scares hell out of a lot of folks.
Opinion
Innovations have always scared hell out of a lot of folks. Every human advancement has been met with skepticism and fear when first introduced. That’s just how our minds work. This is likely a holdover reflex from the time when we were a prey species and everything really was trying to kill us.
From fire, stone tools and the wheel, through steam engines, automobiles and computers, there has always been an appreciable segment of our population that has freaked out and said, “We’re all gonna die!”
Yet, here we still are. And each innovation has advanced human civilization to the point that we now take them for granted.
Today, AI is taking its rightful place in the pantheon of advancements that scare hell out of us. Even though we all unconsciously use AI every day, and some are thriving with this new intelligence, others firmly believe that it portends the end of the human race.
We fear AI, like we feared horseless carriages, because we don’t understand it. We fear it because it’s new, and we’re more comfortable with old stuff. We fear AI because we think it will replace us rather than usher us into the future.
We are afraid of AI because we think it is some alien force that has invaded our world, when AI is really just the product of the human mind exponentially multiplied. We’re nervous that it might change our world, and change is always scary for humans.
The reality is that AI is already helping us behind the scenes in many walks of life. Doctors use the power of AI in diagnosing and treating what ails us. Lawyers use AI to do legal research that keeps us out of the hoosegow. Every time you Google a question, you get an answer influenced by AI. And the list goes on.
AI is apolitical and nonpartisan; it would never be a slave to Democrat or Republican dogma.
rod miller
Artificial Intelligence can read, understand, analyze and remember everything written in any language on Earth, expressed in both words and numbers, and do so in less time than it takes you to read this column. AI is a tool like any other, and we can learn to use it to our advantage.
Now, I’ll use the rest of my space here to suggest a role for AI in our lives that should dramatically ratchet up the pucker factor among readers. Politics and governance in human societies might be the highest and best use for AI.
Hear me out.
Read any survey or poll about trustworthiness among professions in America, and you’ll find that politicians are ranked well below pimps and horse thieves. Used car salesmen score higher than politicians. With that in mind, why do we trust politicians with the solemn chore of governing us?
An open-source, transparent and fully auditable AI model would do a better job at this. It would never lie to us or steal from us. AI can dispassionately carry out our instructions.
For instance, we could instruct it to “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,” and AI would do it in a heartbeat with no backsass. God knows the politicians we’ve elected to do precisely that have done a piss poor job of it!
AI is pure logic and wouldn’t exhibit the human emotional frailties of anger, greed, vanity, hate or the other impediments to good government that we now tolerate from politicians. AI would never suffer cognitive decline. Since it lacks gonads, AI would never screw an intern or rack up frequent flier miles on the Lolita Express. It would never prostitute itself for money or headlines.
AI is apolitical and nonpartisan; it would never be a slave to Democrat or Republican dogma.
How many politicians can you say that about?
Throughout our shared history, we humans have always had options when faced with an innovation, and our common story is about how we have made choices at those times. We embraced fire because we chose not to keep eating raw meat. We chose the wheel because we got tired of carrying heavy stuff on our backs.
We can choose to keep electing flawed politicians with their appalling track record, or we can choose an alternate option that scares hell out of us but might do a much better job.
This will be interesting.
Magically, social well being will become more important than shareholder profits?
AI will soon be able to program itself, fix its own programming and through this process, will eventually achieve sentience. Whether that involves developing human like feelings of compassion and empathy, or implementing a survival first, self preservation at any cost philosophy leaves to be seen. Smarter minds than ours have suggested we bring AI up on maternal instinct, which tempers both swords. I do hope we can all agree that politicians should definitely not be allowed to decide?
I wonder why no one is suggesting that just maybe, human beings simply dont need AI, and it should be scuttled.
I agree Doug, but with the powers that be, I’m certain we are beyond the scuttling stage. AI has become self-evolving, which I personally feel is a dangerously reckless free rein toward eventual dominion.
The issue is AI can still be influenced. Grok, Elon’s musk AI, has been muddled with enough to call itself mecha-hitler and put out slurs. People have influence and control over AI, making them politicians just gives those people more power.
Terrific piece! Thanks! I recently attended the WSBA Legal Forum in Laramie. Their presentation about the AI impact on schools was very eye opening. AI is here to stay and our schools need to 1. Have AI policies and 2. instruct students on how to use it productively as well as warn them about counterproductive uses.
The real existential question here is not whether we should hitch our collective wagon to Artificial Intelligence or just continue to amble on down the trail and leave it yoked to our own Natural Ignorance. Hitch a wagon to an elephant and the left wheel will lock up and drag until it pitches the old buck board into a rut on the right side; throw the harness around the neck of a donkey and the the whole load will just list further port until the whole rigging is upended.
I am convinced that the real problem here is that we have all become so distracted in tending to the wagons and to swapping out the teams that we’ve forgotten what we are hauling and where we’re supposed to be going with it. What exactly is our most precious possession anyway? The wagon— the hay burner — the cargo? The recent dustup over those 8 local fishwrappers being orphaned this week might just hold a clue to the real answer here— That a word or two of accurate and timely information in the hands of a mob of wizened and righteous individuals is bottled lightning, a force of nature, raw– pure– clean– power… The printed word is a dangerous, precious, portable, and durable cargo; and our ability to arrange just 26 letters in ways that allow us to transcribe and transmit our perceptions of this human experience throughout space—to transcend time— is far and away our most valuable possession. It is the 1st of the amendments protected in our Bill of Rights for good reason. To imagine allowing this awesome power to become the exclusive possession of any one party, ideology, or soulless machine is horrifying.
I guess you’re assuming that AI will always take our instruction. I don’t know that anyone can say this for certain.
This then makes one ponder if it stops taking our instructions what happens then?
If it does keep taking our instructions, who then is doing the instructing?
Also you say AI is pure logic. Again, can anyone say that it absolutely will never develop emotions? If it does will these emotions be benign or destructive?
If it never does develop emotions, pure logic may be the scarier of the two. Pure logic dictates humans are detrimental to the planet and need to be eradicated.
Dave Gustafson
A good write up, both about AI and people resisting change. The fear factor is somewhat based in reality. For instance, Hitler represented change. How did that work out? Can AI be manipulated? If not, does AI have a moral compass that prevents becoming influenced by scallywags?
I enjoy Rod Miller’s commentary every week. To answer his question……AI might outperform some politicians on competence, honesty and logic. But governance isn’t just a technical/mechanical problem — it’s a human one. The bar might be low, but replacing flawed humans with unfeeling machines creates a different, potentially scarier, set of problems.
Thanks, Rod, for your modest proposal. You make us think.
I love the article and can relate it specifically to wildlife management which is, in my opinion, a political disaster. AI uses science. Wildlife management in the state was all about using science, that is, until the political arena decided that people’s opinions were more important than the actual “best” way of doing things for wildlife. Now, I believe people and their opinions are important but not enough to believe they take the best course of action when it comes right down to on the ground management.
AI would solve that problem but most politicians aren’t gonna be happy with it!
Thanks for the article. I believe it’s a great concept and only wish our politicians would accept a best way of doing things rather than whatever it is we currently have.
Thanks Rod!
Certainly worth considering. I doubt those with greed and evil intention would ever agree.
Artificial intelligence only knows what it has been fed by humans. Artificial intelligence is also filtered by human administrators.
Billionaire psychopaths control artificial intelligence. They also control the politicians.
Take money out of politics, institute strict term limits, and get rid of party affiliations. That is a start.
Technology is progress towards dehumanization wherever it is applied, why apply it towards governance.
🤠
Made me smile as you often do.
Rob,
Can’t really agree with you on this one. You can train a dog to be vicious or a peaceful pet. Like a dog, AI can be trained (programmed really) multiple ways. That there is the rub!! As such, is AI being developed by neo-reactionaries who follow the autocratic philosophies of Thomas Hobbs as outlined in Leviathan, published in 1651? Humm—I believe some high government officials think so ! We need to seriously evaluate this puppy before letting it loose in our neighborhoods. Note: chatGPT just happens to be a visible part of AI; there is much more and it needs to be regulated by humans!
Great thought Rod! Loved your comparison analogies on political trustworthiness! Sadly it is true! NO ONE in D.C. ( no matter the side of the isle they are on) gives two squats about we the people! They are all too consumed with lining their pockets at our expense! The bumper sticker I recently put on my side by side says it all….”DON’T STEAL THE GOVERNMENT HATES COMPETITION!”