AI: Life saver or just a hallucination?

Canadian journalist, writer and activist Naomi Klein is the author of books such as No Logo and The Shock Doctrine. She has published a very important article on artificial intelligence. This is the controversial topic of the last period.

In her article, Klein talks about distorted hallucinations in the world of artificial intelligence. She does not criticize the AI itself for this. Instead, she criticizes the tech CEOs who unleashed it. She also criticizes a group of fans who are both individually and collectively in the grip of savage hallucinations.

Advocates of this technology say that artificial intelligence will end poverty. It will cure all diseases, solve the climate crisis, make our work more meaningful and exciting. It will help us regain the humanity we lost in the capitalist order. By restoring our humanity, it will offer us free time. It will provide a more enjoyable life. In fact, it will end our deep loneliness. Klein claims that these are hallucinations caused by distorted artificial intelligence. She believes this will not happen.

These are not the only criticisms. She also hypothesizes harshly: “These are powerful and compelling cover-up stories. They represent the biggest and most important theft in human history. The richest companies in history (Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon) are taking unilateral action. They seize total human information on the digital plane. They imprison this information in proprietary products.”

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Art is a critical example. The ‘works’ created by artificial intelligence are the subject of discussion. They result from learning and processing all visual art elements. Painter and illustrator Molly Crabapple is spearheading an artists’ movement that challenges this. “Artificial intelligence art engines have been trained on enormous datasets. These datasets contain millions of copyrighted images. They were collected without the knowledge of their creators. There was no compensation or consent given. This is the largest art heist in history.” Of course, it’s not just art. The status of content produced by artificial intelligence is open to criticism. This includes areas from academia to the publishing world. These criticisms occur on ethical, moral, reality, and copyright axes.

Naomi Klein also opens up for discussion some of the issues that are emphasized that artificial intelligence will provide sharp benefits for humanity.

1- Will AI solve the climate crisis?

In general, one of the positive aspects of artificial intelligence is the claim that these systems will somehow solve the climate crisis. This is spoken everywhere from the World Economic Forum to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the risks to AI are worth taking. He adds: “If you think about the biggest problems in the world, they’re all really difficult. These include climate change, the geopolitical order, etc. That’s why I always want people to be smarter.” According to this logic, people lack intelligence. This is why they cannot “solve” major problems such as climate change. Indeed, many scientists have not been able to reason and tell our governments what to do to solve these problems for decades! However, issues like the climate crisis are not overlooked because we have a mental problem. They are not ignored because we need machines to think for us. Doing what the climate crisis demands of us will devastate trillions of dollars of fossil fuel assets. It will also challenge the consumption-led growth model at the heart of our interconnected economies. So we know what to do and what it will cost. But we need a paradigm shift. The real question is: do we intend to do this?

And as companies begin to invest heavily in AI to sell more products, it becomes clear that this new technology will be used in the same ways as the last generation of digital tools. Promises to spread freedom and democracy that begin with generosity result in micro advertisements targeting us to consume more.

Another critical issue is the world of media and news. As the media is increasingly filled with deep forgery and various types of clones, we feel more overwhelmed by the swamp of information. When we don’t trust anything we read or see, we also become less equipped to solve pressing problems. We become unwilling to address these issues in an increasingly uncanny media environment.

2- Will AI save us from drudgery?

There’s a simple reason why Silicon Valley is now making AI available to everyone in a benevolent fashion. Artificial intelligence is currently at a stage where we can think of it as fake socialism. It’s part of a familiar Silicon Valley game now.

How? First, create an attractive product. It could be a search engine, a mapping tool, a social network, or a video platform. Charge nothing or distribute it almost free for a few years. And this without a recognizable viable business model (“Play with bots,” they say, “see how much fun you can create!”); Make many arrogant claims that you do it because you want to spread freedom and democracy or “connect people”. Then watch as people become addicted using these free tools and some work is now handed over to artificial intelligence. Once the domain is cleared, start promoting targeted ads. Implement continuous surveillance. Secure police and military contracts. Engage in black box data sales. Increase subscription fees. Let the consultants introduce artificial intelligence into companies as new employee candidates in the name of human resource efficiency.

Some professions are being killed in the name of operational effectiveness. Let the new definition of work be: “Work is no longer something you have to do to fill your stomach. It is something you do as a way of creative expression, fulfillment, and happiness.”

^{_{We are ‘feeding’ the machines!}}

We all. They were fed by humanity’s creativity and inspiration. These models have become vampires, devouring and privatizing our collective intellectual and artistic legacies as well as our individual lives. Their purpose has never been to solve climate change. They do not strive to make our governments more accountable or make our daily lives more comfortable.

Well, the obvious result of replacing manpower with bots in capitalism was always more profit! Is all this an outdated resistance to over-dramatic or exciting innovation? Maybe! But it is clear that there are issues to be discussed. The world of deep falsehoods and worsening inequality that will come with artificial intelligence is not inevitable. This is actually an option.

Here, as throughout history, humanity will have to choose between the universal good for the masses. It will also have to choose between the interests of the elites surrounded by capitalism. Or maybe it already did…

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You can read the full article by Naomi Klein in The Guardian (USA) May 9, 2023 issue.

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