Other than Trump, the other annoying phenomenon that’s talked about ad nauseam in the world these days is, of course, AI. Sadly, I too have been guilty of indulging it, devoting at least one blog post on AI in 2023 and again in 2024.
And today, another post.
I take comfort that, at the very least, I have been consistent in what I have to say about AI. And given recent news, I am glad I have been, because I plan to stick to my gun. Against all conventional wisdom to the contrary.
What, you wonder, is that smoking gun?
It is this: Going down the AI rabbit hole is a recipe for absolute disaster!
AI The Disruptor Is Everywhere. Even Supplanting Arts in Acronyms!
That AI is a disruptor everywhere is beyond dispute at this juncture.
Jobs, school, healthcare, you name it. Each one of these and more will have at least some imprint of AI now. Company systems powered by Gen AI. Educational tools that tap on a plethora of AI mobile apps to fast track learning among students. More accurate medical diagnoses offered up in minutes by AI machines.
And the list goes on. The list of disruptions that is.
And it is only growing. Exponentially. Uncontrollably. So long as AI stays in the hands of a few tech oligarchs, whose names I refuse to utter! They’re prominent enough, so why give them more airtime? One annoying you-know-who is already a perpetual and phenomenal pain from here to Greenland!
My concern is that we let it overwhelm us to the point where we simply must blanket an entire nation with constant calls that the citizenry learn, learn, learn all they can about AI in order not to “lose out” in the global digital economy.
Proof? My nation’s latest budget announcement’s over-emphasis on AI, made by none other than the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister.
Oh, and the fact he’s creating and heading a brand new government body called the NAC (National AI Council). Not to be confused with the other NAC (National Arts Council) that’s been around for decades.
Hmmm…am I the only one seeing the irony?
AI versus Art. The ultimate debate!
But I digress.
What Do I Wish To Say?
I won’t waste another line or sentence recalling what my nation’s Prime Minister said. Better sites than this have done that.
I just recall feeling a wave of nausea and disappointment this week at the myopia that still plagues my nation’s leaders today.
Of course, I know deep down I am solidly in the minority. And if forced upon, I’ll have little data, facts, or stats to defend my stance. Let’s also not forget that Singapore continues to be held in high esteem by global heads of states for its leadership in forward thinking. So it is clearly audacious for a nobody like me to criticise it, having in many ways grown up here and reaped the benefits of its founding leaders’ foresight.
But you see, if we take the AI road, it would mean once again, mankind is falling upon the “same old same old”. That in order to survive, I must capitulate to what’s trending. That, in today’s context, means I need to figure out and master machine learning, wrestle it to the ground, and beat it at its game so as not to be overtaken by it (think Terminator’s Skynet, which is of course trending these days).
And let’s not forget that at the end of the day, it’s all about the money.
Proof? A guest essay published three days ago on The New York Times talks about the latest changes in ChatGPT – the introduction of ads, starting in two days time.
Written by a former researcher in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Ms Zoë Hitzig likens this decision to what Facebook did years ago when it promised the public votes on the company’s policies, then rescinded it. Do users really have such short memories of how these platforms surrender our private data in exchange for the all-mighty dollar?
My contention is why, but for the bottom line, are these amoral oligarchs calling the shots, racing among themselves to be the first to push out the best version yet of AI? Not once caring about the ethical implications such runaway technology will have on the world? (Moltbook anyone? Oh wait. Sorry. Members — of the AI race — only; not the human race!)
And why are governments like mine accepting their money simply for fear of missing out?
We’re Not Heeding Warning Signs
A recent example shows I’m not the only one who could be seen as going “off my rockers” for saying what I’ve been saying so far.
The head of AI Ethics in Anthropic (makers of Claude AI) quit this week because he has “repeatedly seen how hard it is to truly let our values govern our actions.”
In his resignation letter (you can click image below) made out to his colleagues, Mr Mrinank Sharma declared that he’s leaving his post to pursue, wait for it…
…poetry!
Hah!!
In another space came this warning salvo, this time from the Vice Dean of AI Initiatives at Columbia University.
The New York Times posted an essay two days ago by Professor Matthew Connelly where he said, among other things…
…It is still too early to know how A.I. usage affects young people’s ability to learn. But research suggests that students using A.I. do not read as carefully when doing research and that they write with diminished accuracy and originality. Students do not even realize what they are missing. But educators and employers know. Reading closely, thinking critically and writing with logic and evidence are precisely the skills people need to realize the bona fide potential of A.I. to support lifelong learning.
As an educator, you can be sure how disturbing assertions like this sound to me. And how it should sound to all of us if we care about raising the next generation well.
My (Likely) Final Thoughts On This AI Scourge
Following Mr Mrinank Sharma‘s example, I too wish to end here with the late William Stafford‘s poem The Way It Is.
But not before penning some (likely) final thoughts on AI, because I’m so sick and tired of it!
I seriously believe that if we don’t understand and cultivate our inner selves, and our intrinsic humanity and purpose in this mortal, temporal world while we can, but allow AI and technology to usurp our very souls and identity, then we are a race of living beings doomed to extinction much sooner than we would wish.
If any of what I’ve said so far resonates even a tad, then I hope that you, my dear reader, will join me on a quest to discover ourselves and double down, no cling onto (like to a thread), our humanity and who God made us to be.
To do any less, would be a life unexamined. And lost.
Enough said.
Now, over to you, Mr Stafford!
There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.
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Thank you so much!
Don’t agree that AI is as big a negative as you argue, but I do agree that ppl care too little for the negatives in general. It doesn’t help that in the US the current regime is of the billionaires, by the billionaries and for the billionaires. It seems, though, like you have your own “just AI nothing to see here” in Sing…
Haha…thanks pal. Appreciate the feedback. I was thinking when I wrote this to “go big or go home”, hence the level of negativity you saw. But overall I just worry there’s not enough pushback in my country, and some day we will look back and see this near-unmitigated governmental support for the error I still believe it is.
I agree. i have to learn more about how things are with this in your part of the world. have been very focused, obviously, on EU and US. But a lot of the AI dev is happening in Asia!