5 Choices We Can Make for a Better AI Future
5 Choices We Can Make for a Better AI Future
"Amistics" is not saying we need to be Amish, but it's not NOT saying that.
Writer Bryan J. A. Boyd adopts the term “amistics,” coined by novelist Neal Stephenson, to cast a vision for a path forward in society’s developing relationship with artificial intelligence.
The long article is split into 3 parts, and if you’re short on time, Part III is well worth skimming at least.
In Parts I and II, Boyd lays out some specific problems with society’s current discourse around AI. First, he explains how the collective “we” doesn’t really describe a coherent or singular viewpoint. Society is simply too fragmented. There are many different groups who say “we.” It’s pluralism, and it can’t be smoothed over. Ignorantly, big tech companies want to pretend that they speak for everyone, but the truth is, they don’t.
Second, there’s the issue of power. In an attempt to speak for everyone, some groups end up speaking for other groups. The powerful speak for the powerless. And big tech, even as it advocates for the rights of the marginalized, also determines what options those groups have to choose from. This simply doesn’t work. The injustice of it is inescapable, but AI is seeming to stratify it.
Thus, in Part III, Boyd suggests a better way forward. Here are his key recommendations:
“We must deliberately choose which ends we want AI to serve and which we don’t.” What kind of future do we want for ourselves and our children?
“We must deliberately choose which AI paths will serve those ends and which won’t.” Some futures are not worth pursuing, so why create AI that will try to bring it about? Boyd points to autonomous weapons as a clear example.
“We must know who ‘we’ are before we know what we want from AI.” We need clear, cogent, identifiable communities in the first place.
“We must work to build we where it is missing.” Boyd’s most creative suggestion is here: create multiple “superwise AIs” that represent various communities and set them in dialog on behalf of those communities.
“We must seek to serve head, heart, and hands.” When it comes to “thinking, loving, and doing,” AI will form us and we need to think carefully about each one.