We are so behind the curve especially, wrt tech and society implications, because it necessarily has to filter through the "looking glass mirror" of the press. And, boy, is "press" craven/beholden. We don't even get proper "news" about world human events, what to talk about neutral evaluations of true back room corporate strategy in AI, and implications for society. "We, society" are really only "consumers" in capitalism. That informs the entirety of our debate and what is "in our best interest to know", unless you have 1% sphere friends, plugged in to everything, sharing stuff with you in unvarnished fashion. Certainly not my case.
What corporations are doing with AI, and what's sold to us in society about AI are 2 different things.
Already, "smart" corporations have discovered to let AI do the dirty work: the con-job bamboozlement part of the job vital to sales; and for doing anything that requires deniability (if caught):
•-Health Insurers were first to "use" AI to deny claims (don't blame us, it's the AI)
•-Armies and killing tasks already "use" AI to take out broad civilian targets (reported in the press using philosophy (think of early drone kill list coverage), an extension of "don't blame us, it's the AI".
•-Self driving cars are jacking up auto insurance premiums big time while also learning on the job (not much civilian push back) (don't blame us, it's the AI).
•-Financial institutions want to "redline" certain loans, use racial steering for certain sectors, certain geographical areas....use AI ((don't blame us, it's the AI).
•-Hedge Funds have constant insider information flow, get an AI to execute the trades. Problem solved. (don't blame us, it's the AI)
The first task of AI is to lie credibly.
Just imagine this going forward! If you already have credible, widely acknowledged (among the few neutral voices that remain in the social dialog), and respected, social research about how ETFs and Mutual fund overlapping holdings (buzzword = "asset manager capitalism"), have led to collusion and cartelization of corporate intents and strategies across entire industries across Airlines, Hotels, Oil, Tech etc., how do you think AI is going to multiply that? All these companies using the same AI? If the "AI" has any "intelligence" it will soon come to the conclusion to not fight itself, and focus on exploiting "the other" things it can: society. It will be a new commune-ism.
AI will know exactly how to proposition people to do whatever is needed of them by the AI. The ultimate target of AI is people. It's like Marx coming to the realization that the entire economy can be priced in units of Labor. Ask yourself, what becomes of macro economics if all there is, is Capital? No Labor. WHo does the "Consuming"? What is the meaning of money if only machines are exchanging it back and forth, (like HFT Stock trades).
We are so behind the curve especially, wrt tech and society implications, because it necessarily has to filter through the "looking glass mirror" of the press. And, boy, is "press" craven/beholden. We don't even get proper "news" about world human events, what to talk about neutral evaluations of true back room corporate strategy in AI, and implications for society. "We, society" are really only "consumers" in capitalism. That informs the entirety of our debate and what is "in our best interest to know", unless you have 1% sphere friends, plugged in to everything, sharing stuff with you in unvarnished fashion. Certainly not my case.
What corporations are doing with AI, and what's sold to us in society about AI are 2 different things.
Already, "smart" corporations have discovered to let AI do the dirty work: the con-job bamboozlement part of the job vital to sales; and for doing anything that requires deniability (if caught):
•-Health Insurers were first to "use" AI to deny claims (don't blame us, it's the AI)
•-Armies and killing tasks already "use" AI to take out broad civilian targets (reported in the press using philosophy (think of early drone kill list coverage), an extension of "don't blame us, it's the AI".
•-Self driving cars are jacking up auto insurance premiums big time while also learning on the job (not much civilian push back) (don't blame us, it's the AI).
•-Financial institutions want to "redline" certain loans, use racial steering for certain sectors, certain geographical areas....use AI ((don't blame us, it's the AI).
•-Hedge Funds have constant insider information flow, get an AI to execute the trades. Problem solved. (don't blame us, it's the AI)
The first task of AI is to lie credibly.
Just imagine this going forward! If you already have credible, widely acknowledged (among the few neutral voices that remain in the social dialog), and respected, social research about how ETFs and Mutual fund overlapping holdings (buzzword = "asset manager capitalism"), have led to collusion and cartelization of corporate intents and strategies across entire industries across Airlines, Hotels, Oil, Tech etc., how do you think AI is going to multiply that? All these companies using the same AI? If the "AI" has any "intelligence" it will soon come to the conclusion to not fight itself, and focus on exploiting "the other" things it can: society. It will be a new commune-ism.
AI will know exactly how to proposition people to do whatever is needed of them by the AI. The ultimate target of AI is people. It's like Marx coming to the realization that the entire economy can be priced in units of Labor. Ask yourself, what becomes of macro economics if all there is, is Capital? No Labor. WHo does the "Consuming"? What is the meaning of money if only machines are exchanging it back and forth, (like HFT Stock trades).
We haven't even begun to ask the questions.
Thanks for this brilliant piece Zack - Well done!