Couldn't have said this better myself. Thank you for writing this.
AI optimism is a class privilege
121–130 of 145 posts
Re: AI optimism is a class privilege
#122> AI optimism requires believing that you … are not among those who will be driven to psychosis, to violence, or even to suicide by LLM usage. At the very least, this means you feel secure in your own mental health This has echoes of moral panic to me. We hear about mental health crises triggered by LLMs in the media because they’re novel, uncommon and the stories grab attention. The modern equivalent of video games…
Well, maybe one day, there’ll be a situation justifying a moral panic. We can’t simply dispose of an argument just because it smells in a particular way to us.
“What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.” — Christopher Hitchens
Re: AI optimism is a class privilege
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it an equalising force if the commodity is sold at "market value"? This will just lead to more wealth concentration, no?
you are conflating equity and equality. its equalising in the sense that it democratises access to data, knowledge. but that does not mean it will end up with everyone being equal in terms of wealth.
But it won't even do that. In the pursuit of extracting maximal capital, better models with "better" knowledge will be gated behind higher prices. If you pay more, you get more.
Re: AI optimism is a class privilege
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
How does it help equalise, if the commodity is sold "at market value" by the richest, and all intellectual input is immediately fed back into the tool. Looks at best like a weapon to supress
Imagine two bright high school students. One goes to a tony private school taught by people with PhDs; the other is in a developing country. They both want to understand, say, Morse theory. In a world without AI, only the former has access to knowledge about it. In a world with AI, the kid in a developing country can access the knowledge roughly as easily. Even if they were paying for tokens, but free tier models pro…
How do we know free tier models will continue to provide adequate services? They are pretty good right now, but only because all big players are happy to burn enormous amounts of money.
Re: AI optimism is a class privilege
#125There’s an argument I don’t hear very often. Society is becoming increasingly dependent on data/compute centers running AI models. It would take only a few bombs from a hostile country to disrupt the entire economy, army and so on, especially if workers can no longer do anything useful without AI.
Exactly, this type of economy feels like it's built for the peace and globalization times. Sadly, lately it seems like those times are over.
Re: AI optimism is a class privilege
#126> You’d need to be high enough in the org chart; far enough up the pyramid; advanced enough along the career ladder. > To be an AI optimist, I’m guessing you must not be worried about where your next job might come from, or whether you can even find one. The current dire state of the job market, I have to assume, doesn’t scare you. You must feel secure. So I think even these people should not feel secure. The perceiv…
> then owners of course take a bigger share of value created going forward.
As has been the case with every technological change since forever.
Re: AI optimism is a class privilege
#127Author certainly has a point. The central idea is (IMO) best expressed in this quote: > to focus on its [i.e., AI's] benefits to you, you’re forced to ignore its costs to others.
Also works if you substitute "technology" for "AI".
True, and other changes in society as well. But in contrast to e.g. the introduction of Phillips screws, AI (or rather: LLMs) is a biggy, and (IMO) one with where the negatives clearly outweigh the positives.
Re: AI optimism is a class privilege
#128Author certainly has a point. The central idea is (IMO) best expressed in this quote: > to focus on its [i.e., AI's] benefits to you, you’re forced to ignore its costs to others.
I'm not sure that's true. Like I find the Google AI handy but that doesn't mean I have to ignore that others may be annoyed by it.
It's of course a quote of a handful of words from a 5000 word article. Not to be snarky, but did you read it?
Re: AI optimism is a class privilege
#129India and Africa are significantly more optimistic about AI than US and EU There exists great promise in AI to be an equalizing force, if implemented well The future is yet to be written
> There exists great promise in AI to be an equalizing force, if implemented well
*looks at who's controlling the implementation of LLM-based "AI"*
*looks at who the largest beneficiaries of societal inequalities are*
theyre_the_same_picture.jpg
Re: AI optimism is a class privilege
#130(I feel that I write a comment like this every few years) The author catalog of harms is real. But it's worth noting that nearly identical catalogs were compiled for every major technological shift in modern history. The Internet destroyed print journalism, local retail, and enabled cyberbullying and mass surveillance. If we applied the same framework used here, Internet optimism in 2005 was also a form of "class pri…
Don't forget, the camera also destroyed art and put artists out of a job. Then digital cameras ruined it for the film industry. And on, and on.