Truth Decay

Luddites. That’s the term that is thrown around a lot by AI advocates with respect to people who are against or even simply refrain from using AI. They think we’re all just desperately clinging on to the past, enough to blind ourselves from the potential future. And, look, this argument has been dismantled and answered so many times that it‘s not what I‘m here to talk about today. Instead, I want to address that, whether or not it is solid reasoning, many people who aren‘t familiar with the arguments against AI are wholly convinced by this logic. They see AI as the future, and being against it as silly as being against the wheel. If you can‘t beat em, join em, right?

I mean, how do you explain to someone with no respect for the environment, no love for art, no sense of humanity or humility, that AI is bad? All of our arguments, in the end, boil down to an appeal to an individual‘s ability to resonate with the implications of AI on our society in a meaningful way. As long as this AI ‚future‘ we‘re headed towards is sold to us as this ethereal, enlightened shift from the typical problems our society faces, people will continue to fantasise about how AI is going to free them of tedium and responsibility. They will continue to ignore the wider implications of generative AI for the simple reason that they are far too complex to think about.

All this is happening alongside AI crippling education and all sorts of industries that benefit society greatly. Critical thought is being outsourced to the thing I personally believe humankind should be more critical of than pretty much anything in the current zeitgeist. AI is being used to make propaganda from both sides of every issue you can think of, and involves shady practices that most people, when they understand them, would agree are unethical. But again – all of this is awfully complicated. It involves developing your own set of personal values that may or may not align with the status quo, and holding yourself to a standard that cannot be given to you by generative AI assistants. And that… that is incredibly difficult. More so today than ever before.

We forget that sometimes. How hard it can be, despite everything that influences you, everything you’ve been exposed to, every trauma or lingering memory that shaped the way you interact with the world, to do what’s right. How much we are asking of people when we demand they stand up for things they have been conditioned to despise, or stand against things they think are good for people.

To them, we are luddites because our conviction, though misaligned with theirs, is equally strong. Such conviction, they believe, is reserved for the truth. Their truth. Their reality. Their bubble. That’s why anyone who doesn’t want in on the game is just a loser to them. We‘re missing out. Unfortunately for us, we don’t really have that option. I would love to miss out. But… as I’ve said before, there is no opting out of artificial intelligence. Not anymore. So instead, we vocalise our discontent with the rise of AI. We call out people who are using it in ways that, in no good faith understanding of morality, could ever be seen as ethical. We demand more from the future, we demand better. And for that, we will forever be labelled stuck in the past.

To anyone who feels sad when they hear that, I invite you to remember that no matter what anybody says, real, human art very much still has a future in this world. As we drift away from what once was and the spaces between human and AI are forced together, as you question whether AI will rob you of your career or your future, find some way to create. Make art. Music. Learn how to dance. Just do something, anything, to contribute to the future of art and human expression. Not because you want to continue the fight against the rise of AI, but because you are a unique, intricate individual with the potential to interact with and interpret the world in meaningful ways. This is how we will preserve what it means to be human.