My high school teacher husband is spending his summer rewriting next year's lesson plans and tests so that his classes (and students) will be completely off-the-grid. A majority of kids feel pressured into using AI even though most of them don't want to (so the studies tell us, but don't ask AI as you'll get a different result). And the adults I know outside of my IT team at work feel pressured into using AI even though we hate every single thing it represents. AI should be used to make the world better, like, you know, curing cancer and whatnot. Using it for creating a grocery list? egads.
Also, at a communicators conference I attended a few weeks ago, there was a thoughtful AI breakout presented by an English prof who outlined when using AI is "useful" (aka allowable as long as her students cite) such as for brainstorming a topic or creating an outline, and when it is not, like using Grammarly which will rewrite rather than check content. We watched two commercials -- one generated by AI and one created by humans -- that illuminated the stark differences between what AI does and what humans can do. Until AI becomes sentient (which is likely will) it cannot outperform humans in creating competent, tangible, engaging content. AI doesn't have the human spark.
And we haven't even touched on the political forces behind AI (also, dare I say, lacking the human spark) and the so called energy centers that, at best, squander precious resources, and at worst, will destroy what is left of our fragile planet.
Your husband, and teachers like him around the world, are true heroes. They know that it is bad for our kids to delegate all their thinking to AI--and they also understand that all the pressures are pushing them toward that exact situation. I agree that AI has many important uses, and it is good that so many of us want to confine it to those uses, and nothing more!
I lived in an area with a certain amount of striving by parents. The Texas worship of sports kept it kind of real, ironically. No matter how smart you thought your kid, the social atmosphere was always going to most reward “fit and athletic - and pretty”. Hardworking kids were as likely to get into elite schools (and get the scholarship to make it feasible) more on the basis of athletic prowess, or occasionally singing ability, than intellect. Which was fine and preserved a certain balance.
In fact, so important to the community was football that people in the area whose kids had long since graduated or even childless folks would attend the local high school games. I remember having only a small child and being asked, was I going to the game? I was surprised because I never really even attended my own high school’s football games.
Nonetheless, even in this milieu of success and anti-intellectualism I noticed at one point in the shopping center around the corner from my house a new storefront whose offered service was “balancing your baby’s brain”.
I’m ashamed now that I didn’t think to get together a brigade with pitchforks to drive out this sorcery.
As to the many services available locally, as a frugal person I marveled at them all, especially those connected to female beauty. But none - not even the one that would come by and wash out your trash bin for you, close cousin to the one that would come by and scoop the dog poop out of your own backyard - baffled me more than the local business that would teach your child to ride a bike.
Where I’m going with this: in reference to cooking being superfluous because “you can DoorDash” - I don’t plead that there’s necessarily any particular virtue* in cooking for yourself, or doing any other task - and depending how you go about it it could be just as expensive as DoorDash. Some people grill steak multiple nights a week, or prepare fish flown-in from the Pacific.
But although most of one’s friends are probably in “the 5%”, or “the 2%”, owing to unique recent history - the way to have money and keep money is not to never develop the capacity to feed oneself. To DoorDash, in short.
I don’t think anything about that truism has changed for 99% of us, even if you got in on the SpaceX IPO the other day.
I know it’s tacky to talk about money but it’s there. Even if they have been insulated by their (comparative, world-historical) wealth from thinking about it much, it is no one’s hope that their kids will not have a job because of AI. It is no one‘s hope that the jobs that will be available will be either, be a visionary entrepreneur (Mozart, Musk) or be a sweeper. It is no one’s hope that their kids will ever not be *alright* money-wise. I think the creative and indeed cognitive deficits created by a misplaced reliance on AI are important, and ultimately the most important thing; but I think going straight to them skips over what the profound effect on the structure of society will be. I think the future is going to be very harsh.
*I’ve always disliked the story of Mary and Martha, having felt it as curiously exclusionary - one of the few direct call-outs in the NT. It is probably something I need to hear, I readily acknowledge that. But Martha is stubborn. She is never going to hear. The good news is not for her.
This is so beautifully said, especially your point that the job losses and further fracturing of our society that AI is likely to bring would be devastating--and certainly "no one's hope."
And I agree with you about Mary and Martha! Where would we be without the Marthas to keep everything running smoothly? Who will make dinner and take out the trash if everyone acts like Mary and sits at Jesus's feet? I might write a post about this one day, in fact. Thank you for making me feel like I'm not alone in my opinion!
I think it's foolish to call AI or its creators evil. They are our native freaks, let loose, and they're pushing the boundaries. I don't find that shocking. In a strange way I'm glad its playing out in such an extreme fashion, instead of a slow drip that makes it all feel normal Extreme change is a two-way street, and I expect the opposition to react in kind. I believe if AI becomes ubiquitous in schools there will be a reckoning. There will be a radical, core-value split between those that opt-in and those who opt-out. Separate schools. Separate meeting spaces, separate entertainment, separate thought processes. We will not be able to share a meal. What we are hearing now, about how AI is going to change our world, no one is considering how the opt-outs will chose to live, what kind of example they will set, what generations in the future will choose (and fight for). I believe in humanity, and what humans will do when something threatens the lifeblood of childhood. It seems to me we should be very busy right now, building those opt-out options (as you and your readers have mentioned here). When the shit hits the fan, our kind will be ready:)
Yeah, I think the same thing--that AI is going to fracture our society. We're already seeing tech-free private schools because so many parents are concerned about Chromebooks in the public schools.
I don't actually want to come off as calling AI's creators evil per se, but I do think that inventing bots specifically to replace human relationships is evil. Maybe Mark Zuckerberg is a good person in general, but this particular action of his is going to lead to a lot of needless suffering.
You really hit the AI nail on the head in this essay, Mari! The thing that bothers me the most about the spread of AI is how willing people seem to be to abandon their humanity to technology. By all means, let's use AI to make certain human jobs easier, or to do them better (transcribing notes for physicians, reading xrays along with radiologists), but the idea should never be to replace the skills that humans alone possess: for writing, thinking, and complex social interaction. It's so sad to me that these tech overlords, who seem to have no use in their lives for ordinary human interaction, have sold this awful bill of goods to the world at large. It is evil and I hope that the backlash that seems to be building is real and we put some real regulatory limits on AI and social media. While we're at it, we could limit how much people work, as you suggest. And hey, let's raise the minimum wage, also, and give everyone health care. Let's bring America into the modern age of economic justice, European-style.
Hear hear! I just keep thinking, "Stay in your lane, AI!" It is an incredibly useful technology for certain tasks, like the ones you cite. But please let us keep our human creativity and relationships!
I think there are plenty of people who would sign up to act as Sancho Panza on this quest, Your Grace. ;-) Discipline of any type does not come prepackaged. It must be earned the hard way. No technology can change that.
I saw Don Felder live back in 2016. He told the story of how the Eagles would warm up back stage with "Seven Bridges Road" to see who was in good voice that evening. Then he and his band gave a great performance of the song.
"To me, this is evil. It’s literally dehumanizing."
Agreed. Also, I question where he got this data on "the average American having less than three friends." It sounds suspiciously like when people say "most people" to mean "me".
Before I read the article, I just have to say how much I'm cringing on behalf of the guys at the Hellespont, forcing to whip a body of water while shouting "naughty, naughty river!" because your idiot boss made you do it. I think I would have died from embarrassment.
AI is already everywhere in the university. Here's a thoughtful thing I read today, highly recommend. It's about how to let AI be the tool that it is, but also how to provide an education that shows students how to become the sort of conceptual thinkers who can deploy AI effectively.
Thank you for the link! I do think it is possible to transition to using AI in education that is helpful rather than harmful. The article makes me feel more hopeful.
My high school teacher husband is spending his summer rewriting next year's lesson plans and tests so that his classes (and students) will be completely off-the-grid. A majority of kids feel pressured into using AI even though most of them don't want to (so the studies tell us, but don't ask AI as you'll get a different result). And the adults I know outside of my IT team at work feel pressured into using AI even though we hate every single thing it represents. AI should be used to make the world better, like, you know, curing cancer and whatnot. Using it for creating a grocery list? egads.
Also, at a communicators conference I attended a few weeks ago, there was a thoughtful AI breakout presented by an English prof who outlined when using AI is "useful" (aka allowable as long as her students cite) such as for brainstorming a topic or creating an outline, and when it is not, like using Grammarly which will rewrite rather than check content. We watched two commercials -- one generated by AI and one created by humans -- that illuminated the stark differences between what AI does and what humans can do. Until AI becomes sentient (which is likely will) it cannot outperform humans in creating competent, tangible, engaging content. AI doesn't have the human spark.
And we haven't even touched on the political forces behind AI (also, dare I say, lacking the human spark) and the so called energy centers that, at best, squander precious resources, and at worst, will destroy what is left of our fragile planet.
Your husband, and teachers like him around the world, are true heroes. They know that it is bad for our kids to delegate all their thinking to AI--and they also understand that all the pressures are pushing them toward that exact situation. I agree that AI has many important uses, and it is good that so many of us want to confine it to those uses, and nothing more!
I lived in an area with a certain amount of striving by parents. The Texas worship of sports kept it kind of real, ironically. No matter how smart you thought your kid, the social atmosphere was always going to most reward “fit and athletic - and pretty”. Hardworking kids were as likely to get into elite schools (and get the scholarship to make it feasible) more on the basis of athletic prowess, or occasionally singing ability, than intellect. Which was fine and preserved a certain balance.
In fact, so important to the community was football that people in the area whose kids had long since graduated or even childless folks would attend the local high school games. I remember having only a small child and being asked, was I going to the game? I was surprised because I never really even attended my own high school’s football games.
Nonetheless, even in this milieu of success and anti-intellectualism I noticed at one point in the shopping center around the corner from my house a new storefront whose offered service was “balancing your baby’s brain”.
I’m ashamed now that I didn’t think to get together a brigade with pitchforks to drive out this sorcery.
As to the many services available locally, as a frugal person I marveled at them all, especially those connected to female beauty. But none - not even the one that would come by and wash out your trash bin for you, close cousin to the one that would come by and scoop the dog poop out of your own backyard - baffled me more than the local business that would teach your child to ride a bike.
Where I’m going with this: in reference to cooking being superfluous because “you can DoorDash” - I don’t plead that there’s necessarily any particular virtue* in cooking for yourself, or doing any other task - and depending how you go about it it could be just as expensive as DoorDash. Some people grill steak multiple nights a week, or prepare fish flown-in from the Pacific.
But although most of one’s friends are probably in “the 5%”, or “the 2%”, owing to unique recent history - the way to have money and keep money is not to never develop the capacity to feed oneself. To DoorDash, in short.
I don’t think anything about that truism has changed for 99% of us, even if you got in on the SpaceX IPO the other day.
I know it’s tacky to talk about money but it’s there. Even if they have been insulated by their (comparative, world-historical) wealth from thinking about it much, it is no one’s hope that their kids will not have a job because of AI. It is no one‘s hope that the jobs that will be available will be either, be a visionary entrepreneur (Mozart, Musk) or be a sweeper. It is no one’s hope that their kids will ever not be *alright* money-wise. I think the creative and indeed cognitive deficits created by a misplaced reliance on AI are important, and ultimately the most important thing; but I think going straight to them skips over what the profound effect on the structure of society will be. I think the future is going to be very harsh.
*I’ve always disliked the story of Mary and Martha, having felt it as curiously exclusionary - one of the few direct call-outs in the NT. It is probably something I need to hear, I readily acknowledge that. But Martha is stubborn. She is never going to hear. The good news is not for her.
This is so beautifully said, especially your point that the job losses and further fracturing of our society that AI is likely to bring would be devastating--and certainly "no one's hope."
And I agree with you about Mary and Martha! Where would we be without the Marthas to keep everything running smoothly? Who will make dinner and take out the trash if everyone acts like Mary and sits at Jesus's feet? I might write a post about this one day, in fact. Thank you for making me feel like I'm not alone in my opinion!
I think it's foolish to call AI or its creators evil. They are our native freaks, let loose, and they're pushing the boundaries. I don't find that shocking. In a strange way I'm glad its playing out in such an extreme fashion, instead of a slow drip that makes it all feel normal Extreme change is a two-way street, and I expect the opposition to react in kind. I believe if AI becomes ubiquitous in schools there will be a reckoning. There will be a radical, core-value split between those that opt-in and those who opt-out. Separate schools. Separate meeting spaces, separate entertainment, separate thought processes. We will not be able to share a meal. What we are hearing now, about how AI is going to change our world, no one is considering how the opt-outs will chose to live, what kind of example they will set, what generations in the future will choose (and fight for). I believe in humanity, and what humans will do when something threatens the lifeblood of childhood. It seems to me we should be very busy right now, building those opt-out options (as you and your readers have mentioned here). When the shit hits the fan, our kind will be ready:)
Yeah, I think the same thing--that AI is going to fracture our society. We're already seeing tech-free private schools because so many parents are concerned about Chromebooks in the public schools.
I don't actually want to come off as calling AI's creators evil per se, but I do think that inventing bots specifically to replace human relationships is evil. Maybe Mark Zuckerberg is a good person in general, but this particular action of his is going to lead to a lot of needless suffering.
You really hit the AI nail on the head in this essay, Mari! The thing that bothers me the most about the spread of AI is how willing people seem to be to abandon their humanity to technology. By all means, let's use AI to make certain human jobs easier, or to do them better (transcribing notes for physicians, reading xrays along with radiologists), but the idea should never be to replace the skills that humans alone possess: for writing, thinking, and complex social interaction. It's so sad to me that these tech overlords, who seem to have no use in their lives for ordinary human interaction, have sold this awful bill of goods to the world at large. It is evil and I hope that the backlash that seems to be building is real and we put some real regulatory limits on AI and social media. While we're at it, we could limit how much people work, as you suggest. And hey, let's raise the minimum wage, also, and give everyone health care. Let's bring America into the modern age of economic justice, European-style.
Hear hear! I just keep thinking, "Stay in your lane, AI!" It is an incredibly useful technology for certain tasks, like the ones you cite. But please let us keep our human creativity and relationships!
I think there are plenty of people who would sign up to act as Sancho Panza on this quest, Your Grace. ;-) Discipline of any type does not come prepackaged. It must be earned the hard way. No technology can change that.
I saw Don Felder live back in 2016. He told the story of how the Eagles would warm up back stage with "Seven Bridges Road" to see who was in good voice that evening. Then he and his band gave a great performance of the song.
Wonderful story! That must have been an amazing concert!
"To me, this is evil. It’s literally dehumanizing."
Agreed. Also, I question where he got this data on "the average American having less than three friends." It sounds suspiciously like when people say "most people" to mean "me".
Excellent point. I am a fairly normal person, and I don’t know anyone who only has three friends. I can’t believe that my experiences are so atypical.
Before I read the article, I just have to say how much I'm cringing on behalf of the guys at the Hellespont, forcing to whip a body of water while shouting "naughty, naughty river!" because your idiot boss made you do it. I think I would have died from embarrassment.
Ha! When in fact it’s Xerxes who should have been embarrassed!
AI is already everywhere in the university. Here's a thoughtful thing I read today, highly recommend. It's about how to let AI be the tool that it is, but also how to provide an education that shows students how to become the sort of conceptual thinkers who can deploy AI effectively.
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-multiversity-is-finished?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=61579&post_id=202140738&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=47d42&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Thank you for the link! I do think it is possible to transition to using AI in education that is helpful rather than harmful. The article makes me feel more hopeful.