A conversation I had recently:
Them: “I know you think that life’s better with AI, but I just can’t get on board with this AI thing.”
Me: “Really? Why not?”
Them: “AI will be our downfall. Our lives will eventually suck. That’s how they’ll get us.”
(Note: this person didn’t mean in the “Skynet-AI-will-kill-all-humans” way but in the “Vonnegut’s-Player-Piano” way.)
Me: “Ah, well, to be clear, my view is not ‘life is better with AI!’ My view is, ‘it’s an inevitable technology and it’s here and it will continute. Therefore, I want to learn about it, how to use it, and where the dangers really are.'”
Them: “But aren’t you afraid? Afraid that it will make you obsolete? Afraid that it’ll f— everything up?”
Me: “I don’t think about it like that because it’s here. I can’t change that. I accept it. I consider it like the car. Was life better before a car? Some think so. I could definitely argue that it was. But if you gotta get somewhere, would you rather have a car or not?”
Them: “Yeah, but nobody forces the car on me.”
Me: “OK, fair enough, but again, if you gotta get somewhere, would you rather choose a car? It’s a tool.”
Them: “Yeah, but I don’t understand AI. I don’t understand how it works. I don’t understand how to use it. I know how to use the car.”
And now we’re at the heart of the matter. The fear of the unknown. Which is all the more reason to dig in, figure it out, and join the conversation.
I do believe that life with AI has downsides. Maybe giant downsides. I think shared reality will suffer. I very much worry about bad actors and incentivization. I think truth may suffer. I’m concerned about the growing gap between have’s and have-not’s. I’m worried about more division.
“Is life better with AI?” isn’t a very useful question at a macro level. AI is here. The cats out of the bag and ain’t going back in.
I think a better question is, “How do I make life better with AI?”
