Tech pioneer Judy Estrin warns about AI as "Authoritarian Intelligence" - dangers of Big Tech (Time) [View all]

[highplainsdem]

This is one of the most perceptive things I've read yet about AI. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Estrin for some of her background. She's sometimes been called "Mother of the Cloud" for her role in cloud computing - https://www.forbes.com/sites/richkarlgaard/2017/12/12/mother-of-the-cloud-silicon-valleys-judy-estrin/ .


From Time magazine today: The Case Against AI Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

https://time.com/6302761/ai-risks-autonomy/

I cringe at being called “Mother of the Cloud," but having been part of the development and implementation of the internet and networking industry—as an entrepreneur, CTO of Cisco, and on the boards of Disney and FedEx—I am fortunate to have had a 360-degree view of the technologies that are at the foundation of our modern world.

I have never had such mixed feelings about technological innovation. In stark contrast to the early days of internet development, when many stakeholders had a say, discussions about AI and our future are being shaped by leaders who seem to be striving for absolute ideological power. The result is “Authoritarian Intelligence.” The hubris and determination of tech leaders to control society is threatening our individual, societal, and business autonomy.

What is happening is not just a battle for market control. A small number of tech titans are busy designing our collective future, presenting their societal vision, and specific beliefs about our humanity, as theonly possible path. Hiding behind an illusion of natural market forces, they are harnessing their wealth and influence to shape not just productization and implementation of AI technology, but also the research.

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The very fact that the evolution of technology feels so inevitable is evidence of an act of manipulation, an authoritarian use of narrative brilliantly described by historian Timothy Snyder. He calls out the politics of inevitability “...a sense that the future is just more of the present, ... that there are no alternatives, and therefore nothing really to be done.” There is no discussion of underlying values. Facts that don’t fit the narrative are disregarded.

-snip-

Much more at the link, and PLEASE read all of it, because Estrin knows Big Tech very well, and when she explains why the stampede to force AI upon us is particularly risky, her warning is VERY expert advice.

Mine isn't, though I've been using PCs since the 1980s and first got online then, pre-internet in the days of individual platforms, with many of those online then techies. I met quite a few techies as well as people advocating for more reliance on tech in areas where the tech could be risky, and activists warning about those risks. I'm in no way anti-tech or a Luddite, though I've been accused of that here - even, amusingly, accused repeatedly by one DU critic of having watched Terminator too often (just once, and I'm not sure I watched it all the way through).

You don't have to be a Luddite to be aware of the risks of tech. Or to see that the rush to implement AI in "everything, everywhere, all at once" is foolish and dangerous.

Estrin has warned about the problems created by tech before. This opinion piece in Time links to one sample: https://psmag.com/ideas/i-helped-create-the-internet-and-im-worried-about-what-its-doing-to-young-people

I found more inadvertently by googling to see if I could find anything on her politics. Googling her name and Democratic turned up what she's said on tech threats to a democratic society:

https://www.google.com/search?q=judy+estrin+democratic

And no, I haven't begun to read all of those. I wanted to post this first.

i think her use of the term "Authoritarian Intelligence" is particularly good, in her description of the mindset of the people driving Big Tech's stampede.

I've posted about that mindset before. For instance, after a statement issued by OpenAI:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217678412

Or news about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's separate company, Worldcoin:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217746655

Big Tech leaders talk about the need for regulation of AI - that's good PR - but behind the scenes they're lobbying to block it.

They admit the generative-AI products they rushed to dump on society in their AI arms race have caused problems, and AI-generated text and images SHOULD be clearly labeled, but they didn't have a way to do that earlier and don't have one now.

They make occasional noises about respecting copyrights, but didn't when they stole unimaginably vast amounts of intellectual property they had no right to for their data sets for training AI. They're now fighting multiple lawsuits, and lobbying against enforcement of copyright laws against AI companies.

And Microsoft just altered its service agreement to make users of its various AI products SOLELY responsible for any copyright infringement by its plagiarizing generative AI.

Because in an authoritarian Big Tech world, the buck stops anywhere but at the top, in terms of responsibility. In terms of cash, of course, the money flows to them.

Bill Gates has admitted that the goal of the Big Tech companies is to have THE dominant AI, the one everyone depends on for every aspect of their lives, eliminating the need for search engines, or online shopping on separate sites, and so on. All this AI-controlled convenience packaged in a friendly chatbot, like the ones Microsoft has been peddling in China for years.

He hopes Microsoft will win that AI arms race.

He didn't quite say "One chatbot to rule them all" but given techies' affinity for science fiction and fantasy, I wouldn't be surprised if he or others have.

With Big Tech, AI really is Authoritarian Intelligence.

And kudos to Judy Estrin for pointing that out.