I always try to use polite language and still, there are exceptional times that I feel polite language fails to express my true emotions. Based on Google Ngram Viewer, the different versions of "bullshits" are on the exponential rise in printed works in recent years. See the following graph generated by the "Google Books Ngram Viewer" as a reference. "The AI bullshit" as the title of this blog post truly captures my emotion on this subject, and I don't feel that I am making a nuisance of myself as the use of "bullshit" in printed work is becoming more acceptable.
Now that I presented something in defense of my impolite title for this blog post, let me mention the reasons for choosing such a title. Recently, I see many "expert" opinions on how AI is going to end the human race [1] and human civilizations [2]. At least predictions in the job sector are more balanced. While AI like any other "paradigm-shift" kind of technology, makes some jobs obsolete (AI may replace some 85 million jobs by 2025), however, it creates even more new jobs (an estimated 97 million new jobs at the same time) [3]. But when I turn to ordinary guys on the internet, I see multitudes of people coming up with creative ways to enhance their work by the generative power of AI, be it in generating texts, images, voice, or video. The Internet or the world wide web has been here for enough time (34 years [4]) to allow us to reflect on its impact on the human race, civilization, and job market. Like any other technology, the Internet has had both positive and negative impacts, common sense, right? We can point to positive and negative impacts on every aspect of society, but there is one impact that comes from both negative and positive aspects of the internet that surpasses everything else, and that is forcing humanity to be even smarter in order to function in the digital world. Everyone knows about the positive impacts that the internet had on their personal lives. Let's debunk some of the negative aspects of the internet. Is the internet spreading mass misinformation? Yes, and that is why humans in the digital age have to rely on their rationality, be up-to-date and use their digital skills to distinguish between fake news, propaganda (Psy-ops [5]), fake images, voices, videos, plagiarism, etc. Did the internet increase scams and Ponzi schemes [6]? Undoubtedly, it forced ordinary men and women to be more diligent, do their own research, learn about businesses and investments, and become more smart about their finances in the long run. The same is true about social app addictions, sedentary lifestyles, body images, and self-perceptions. Individuals learn about the negative health impacts of these factors and try to be more active and find a supportive community online. The changes in perspectives of people about health, education, relationship, money, and investments to the societal and ecological changes are enormous. As I mentioned earlier, and repeating myself to stress the importance of this subject, by changing the way we learn, by expanding from the people we learn, and interact with, the internet has changed us, and our perspectives whether we are aware of it or not. One of the readers who is very confident and sure about his solid way of thinking may stop me here, and say nope, the internet did not change the way I think at all. Alright, alright, he or she may be right but still the internet forces even the most hard-headed among us to think about things that he would not have thought about in the absence of the internet. The internet bombards us with information every day but then from now and then, it brings a storm of information about a subject that makes us respond like me writing on AI bullshit 😜😜😜😜😜😜
An image generated by Bing AI
I want to shift gears now and return to the topic of AI but I can't help myself not mentioning some other aspects of the internet that would allow me to argue better about the AI bullshit. There were 12 to 24 million e-commerce sites [7] on the internet in 2022, and the number is increasing. In the fall of 2020, 11.8 million undergraduate students took some online courses in the U.S., alone [8]. In short, the internet not only has been the disrupter of the key services to the public by creating alternatives to the exclusive clubs in entertainment, education, business, politics, religion.....etc, but it also proved to be the growth engine of the economy and general prosperity. The Internet has connected 2 billion people across the globe who exchange 8 trillion dollars worth of goods and services via e-commerce sites [9].
See not only internet didn't end the human race or human civilization, it actually served as a growth engine in every aspect of human life. AI has been part of the internet and has been part of the growth engine. I think of AI as a better version of the internet. It forces me to be even smarter. While in Web 2.0 I could be consuming tones of bullshits from "experts" who couldn't resist their biases, or sometimes, I could fall for their sophisticated (right, you already understood, the ancient sophist kinds of arguments) arguments, the AI offers a much-balanced version of any topic. While interacting with AI, I know that I am interacting with an algorithm, and do not take its answers at face value but as suggestions or starting points to dig deeper and do my own thinking. If I query something, and it produces something that I didn't mean, I know I haven't asked proper questions and it forces think more straightforwardly, more clearly, and more precisely. The balanced and straightforward answers help us to be more balanced and more precise. Will there be unintended harms and negative aspects of more conscious or advanced AI? Definitely, but by forcing us to become even smarter, AI does not end the human race or human civilization but will push us to become a much better version of us capable of functioning and handling smart tools such as generative or maybe tomorrow sentient AI.
Image generated by Bing AI
References
[1] Cellan-Jones, R. (2014, December 2). Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540
[2] Yuval Noah Harari argues that AI has hacked the operating system of human civilization. (n.d.). The Economist. Retrieved June 6, 2023, from https://shorturl.at/brwIR
[3] Thomas, M. (2019, August 27). AI and the Future of Jobs. Built In; Mike Thomas. https://builtin.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-replacing-jobs-creating-jobs
[4] Wikipedia contributors. (2023, May 8). History of the World Wide Web. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:16, June 6, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_World_Wide_Web&oldid=1153796078
[5] Wikipedia contributors. (2023, May 31). Psychological warfare. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:29, June 6, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Psychological_warfare&oldid=1157798018
[6] Wikipedia contributors. (2023, May 16). Ponzi scheme. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:37, June 6, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ponzi_scheme&oldid=1155018798[7] IBISWorld - Industry Market Research, Reports, and Statistics. (n.d.) Www.ibisworld.com. https://shorturl.at/biFIU
[8] National Center for Education Statistics. (2015). The NCES Fast Facts Tool provides quick answers to many education questions (National Center for Education Statistics). Ed.gov; National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=80
