“I tend to think that most fears about A.I. are best understood as fears about capitalism. And I think that this is actually true of most fears of technology, too. Most of our fears or anxieties about technology are best understood as fears or anxiety about how capitalism will use technology against us. And technology and capitalism have been so closely intertwined that it’s hard to distinguish the two.”
—Ted Chiang
“We are talking so much about the technology of A.I. that we are largely ignoring the business models that will power it.”
Image Credit: Tara Winstead, Pexels
Why are we uneasy about AI?
In this NYT article, Ezra Klein discusses the issues that we are largely ignoring within our current society: paywalls that cause distributive inequality, the skewed power dynamics of companies in advertisement and user privacy. In addressing and acknowledging these issues that come with our current system, Klein reframes the argument of AI ethics in terms of capitalism and societal issues, rather than the evolution of AI technology itself. Through this framework, Klein argues that we may be better prepared for the future to enact regulations and safety systems on AI systems to avoid exploitation and further ethical concerns.