My stance on artificial intelligence
I don’t have to like it, I don’t have to trust it...but I also don’t have to doubt it at every turn. In any case, one thing I can't do is ignore it. How could I?
The idea that we can put the genie back into its bottle seems less and
less likely to me as time goes on. And if it’s here to stay, I’d like
our coexistence to be fruitful and harmonious. The only way I can think
of to work toward that is to engage with the problem. To participate as
we all learn how to accommodate this shift in our world.
By
exploring the tools and technology of artificial intelligence, I can
help find its limits, map its horizons. Discover where it can help,
where it may hinder, and where it fails entirely. Only by understanding
how it works can I find the appropriate balance of skepticism and hope
required to evaluate it. I think it's also my responsibility to grapple
with the question of whether it's ethical to undertake this exploration
at all—but I don’t want to miss the forest for the trees.
As I do this, I'm keeping one eye looking past where artificial
intelligence is right now—especially in today's consumer technology. Few
innovations emerge into society perfectly formed, efficient in function
and cost, solving exactly the problem they set out to solve, and causing
no disruption. Remember that half our cool shit comes from the
military.
So my stance is this: I choose to seek the good
in this new technology rather than be paralyzed by its capacity for
harm. I choose to advocate for patience in its development, compassion
in its distribution, and skepticism in its interpretation. I choose to
scrutinize its impact on our environment. I choose to oppose its use in
manipulating honest people into believing dishonest things. But equally:
I choose to be inspired by its potential. At least then, no matter where
we end up, I could honestly say I tried to be guided by optimism.
And I hope I’m not the only one, because the other camps seem
to be nihilism, greed, and apathy—and we have enough of all that in the
world as it is.