The article reflects on the author's ambivalence towards automation and AI, highlighting both the conveniences technology brings and the potential dangers of outsourcing personal interactions and meaningful experiences to machines. The writer aligns with philosopher John Gray, acknowledging the paradox of technology improving lives while also complicating human connections. The author expresses a strong preference for maintaining the humanity in communication, preferring direct engagement over AI summary tools that reduce personal narratives to simplistic fragments. In this context, the author critiques the oversimplification promised by the AI revolution.
I give my computer the work that I do not want to do, and that I gain little by doing myself... I'm a busy man (lots of cool bird videos to watch).
One of the many things about the so-called AI revolution that makes me want to run for the hills is the promise that AI will simplify things that should not be simple.
In matters of technology, I operate on one guiding principle: if I sat there with a piece of paper and a pen, I could probably do most of the sums myself.
What I am not happy to outsource is most of the things that AI is desperate for me to outsource... the work of being updated on the lives of those I love.
Collection
[
|
...
]