AI, Distribution, Ownership, & Energy Source

I‘ve been on this subreddit reading through comments and posts and wanted to share my thoughts on the anti-AI topic.

It’s easy to be anti-AI, but we need to dive deeper as to why.

I think the real issue isn’t necessarily the technology behind it but the means, the distribution, energy source, and ownership.

AI in the U.S. should have been established as a public utility and not as a product. Or it should have been owned by a group of nonprofits with governance and oversight. Since this country loves the ”free market” and monopolies, that always allows for corruption at its highest level and form, which we‘re seeing playing out in real-time.

It’s unfortunate that AI companies and platforms have scraped the entire internet and stolen everything from people and particularly artists and creators. If there was a payment solution or method that was installed at the beginning to allow for payments or even micropayments made to people for all the trained material generated, this would have helped create a new microeconomy and would incentivize people and allow for artists and creatives to make something in return for their effort. For example, if we each got paid every time someone generated content based on our creations, this could help everyone financially.

The energy source is of importance, especially with the pollution and water usage. This is where green energy and environmental policies need to have been put in place. If the U.S. had moved forward with establishing renewables, wind, solar, water, etc., and reduced its dependence on oil, natural gas, and/ or coal, this in turn would have created new jobs and would have helped make AI worth the effort. So now the plan is to go nuclear to have more abundant energy, not necessarily good 🤯

Most of the macro problems we face in the U.S. are an allocation and distribution problem, especially when it comes to technology, resources, and finance. There’s plenty to go around for everyone. In the tech circles they always talk about this idea of “abundance.” From what I can tell they mean “abundance“ for them not for you or me.

To me, AI is just an extension of all of us. It‘s a tool that can be used for good. It‘s the investors, the CEOs, and the inadequate government policies that have allowed AI to turn towards a dystopian path.

A lot of the criticism of AI should have actually been directed towards social media, because social media and its algorithms have warped people’s minds for 20 + years now. We‘ve traded cheap dopamine hits for terrible ads that helped these companies develop AI, and by posting our entire lives away for free, which they in turn used our thoughts, likeness, and emotions against us.

Check out Jaron Lanier, Andrew Keen, Sherry Turkle, and Douglas Rushkoff, they‘ve published many great books, articles, and essays on this for years now.

At the end of the day, I’m still optimistic and I believe that some good will come out of all of this, but it may not be from here.

But what da fuq do I know? I’m just boi with a cat and posting on Reddit lol 😝 Feel free to disagree, or agree, or do whatever.