AI: Where the Debate is Taking Us
Asking the uncomfortable question
Despite it not working, AI is being touted as the future. Specifically, the companies that own or would profit from an AI future, are saying it is the future. When people point out how completely useless without human intervention these algorithms are, the common response by true believers is that “it will get there”, or “look how far it’s come already”. Their evidence usually rests on AI ‘art’ and how it has ‘fooled’ people with AI images winning competitions and so on. They ignore the fact that this is because all AI does, is regurgitate an impression of someone else’s art, but because it essentially does a lot of this highly skilled labour for free, the people that profit most want you to believe it not only works, but works better than a human. This is where the problem starts.
AI does not work “Better than a human”. For procedural tasks it certainly works faster than a human, but how many of us, every single day, have some form of struggle with technology? Whether it’s as simple as predictive text turning the word “food” into “good” or your bank declining you your own money based on ‘communication errors’, these programs are functionally useless without constant human supervision. And why is that? Because AI has always lacked probably one of the most significant things that makes humans…
