Correctly understood, machine learning refers to the use of data processing coupled with complex statistical models to extend human knowledge by uncovering previously unverified information — for example, that millions of people will shuffle off values they previously endorsed if a consumer technology promises some marginal utility.
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I'm sorry if anyone feels personally affronted by that, but I'm not sure being polite about it does anyone any favors. The consumer AI bubble is doing so much damage to such a broad range of values that the number of users who aren't compromising some prior value commitment must be pretty small. I don't know how to interpret that but to suppose that they either haven't thought very critically about their involvement, or they've consciously decided that AI use is worth abandoning their values.
What do you value?
(Select all that apply.)
☐ Authenticity
☐ Cognitive health
☐ Conviviality
☐ Cultural heritage
☐ Economic equality
☐ Environmentalism
☐ Free speech
☐ Individuality
☐ Intellectual property
☐ Interpersonal relationships
☐ Local autonomy
☐ Meritocracy
☐ Personal responsibility
☐ Privacy
☐ Public discourse
☐ Sincere expression
☐ Skill cultivation
☐ Social justice
☐ Transparent governance
☐ Truth
☐ Work ethic
Consumer AI undermines all of those and more.
That's the thing about consumer AI: It does damage across such a broad swath of intersecting values that, unless yours are comparatively few and self-serving, it's virtually impossible to use it without compromising multiple things that you yourself value.
That's part of why pro-AI folks have such a hard time defending it to the staunchly anti-AI crowd: Even if you have an answer for, say, the environmental concerns, that's only one of potentially dozens of values that are negatively impacted.
And if you're wondering why people would disengage from a project, a brand, a product, a job, a community, or anything else over its embrace of AI, this might be the answer: that consumer AI represents an attack on such a complex tangle of values, the person no longer believes the group adopting it will stand in support of, or at least tolerate, the things that most matter to them personally.
And if you're wondering why people would disengage from a project, a brand, a product, a job, a community, or anything else over its embrace of AI, this might be the answer: that consumer AI represents an attack on such a complex tangle of values, the person no longer believes the group adopting it will stand in support of, or at least tolerate, the things that most matter to them personally.
