This section of Imminent Readings delves into the impact of artificial intelligence on human societies and cultures.
Updated weekly (last update 11/11/24)
One in five GPs use AI such as ChatGPT for daily tasks, survey finds A fifth of general practitioners in the UK embrace the power of AI in their daily tasks, like crafting letters or formulating diagnosis. Despite the survey revealing a significant number of doctors, important questions are being raised about patient privacy and the accuracy of ChatGPT’s responses. Read the full article on The Guardian
Rethinking Society’s Response to AI-Generated Explicit Content The rapid development of AI is bringing out several side effects, especially concerning the explicit images generated by AI and deep fakes. These phenomena, in addition to generating the usual uproar, pose important questions about the answers that society has to issues such as consent, context, legal consequences and the sense of shame. How can this cultural shift happen and what role does the tech industry play in it? Read the full article on The Sunday Guardian
The AI We Could Have Had Today’s technology is the product of decades of conflict between opposing factions: those who saw machines as humanity’s slave and those who viewed them as artisans. The types of interactivity and intelligence we see in our everyday devices are not the only ones out there. Are there alternatives to the dominant ideology promoted by Silicon Valley? In this article, sociologist Evgeny Morozov delves into the brief yet significant cybernetic revolution led by the Environmental Ecology Lab group. From the reflections of its founding fathers, Johnson and Brodey, we arrive at a broader understanding of the technology we could have had. Read the full article on Financial Times
iPad Kids Speak Up This article delves into the connection between Gen Alpha and technology. Despite the widespread belief among older generations that children and young people who have grown up since 2011 are lobotomized by excessive technology use, the outcome of such an extensive relationship with their iPads is not necessarily catastrophic. Read the full article on Vox
The Paradox of Open AI “Open” AI is more often a marketing tool than a genuine commitment to transparency and accessibility. This paper highlights how Big Tech uses the rhetoric of openness to maintain dominance, suggesting that even “open” AI often benefits these companies more than the public. Read the full paper by David Gray Widder, Sarah West, Meredith Whittaker
The Other Big Problem With AI Search: What if plagiarism is the whole product? Perplexity is a startup that presents itself as an excellent alternative to Google, answering users’ questions in a simple and narrative way, citing sources and simplifying web browsing. However, recent cases of plagiarism are posing an important question: how do you protect the work of humans from the massive aggregation of data used to train artificial intelligence? Read the full article on Intelligencer
Could AI help cure the ‘downward spiral’ of human loneliness? Starting from the Hollywood example of Her, where the protagonist falls in love with the voice of an artificial intelligence, this article examines the positive (and negative) effects of forming relationships with chatbots. As more and more people suffer from chronic loneliness, ChatGPT4 is investing in models increasingly capable of reading and responding to human emotions. Read the full article on The Guardian
AI is already an environmental problem The race to generative artificial intelligence started in 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT and since then the water and energy and consumption, as well as their carbon emissions, skyrocketed. Many of the biggest companies want to reach neutrality before 2030, but it’s very unlikely. Read the full article on El Pais English
The Danger Of Superhuman AI Is Not What You Think Modern generative AI is often described as “superhuman,” a term that misleadingly suggests AI possesses human-like consciousness and emotions. This rhetoric reduces human intelligence to mere computational efficiency, overshadowing our rich emotional and conscious experiences. The author argues that this ideology risks devaluing human uniqueness and emphasizes the need to resist such reductionist views. Historical resistance to industrial reductionism underscores the importance of preserving human dignity and autonomy. Read the full article on Noēma Magazine
Elon Musk’s Starlink has connected an isolated tribe to the outside world — and divided it from within. A report on the impact of the internet connection provided to the isolated Marubo tribe through Musk’s Starlink. It covers how it all started, what effects it is having on the community, and future perspectives on connectivity and indigenous communities in the Amazon Rainforest. Read the full article on the The New York Times
Today’s colonial data grab is deepening global inequalities Drawing a parallel between Big Tech’s extraction of data and the colonial extraction of natural resources, our essay of the week explores the rise of “data colonialism” and how to fight back. Read the full essay by Nick Couldry, Ulises A. Mejias
Colombia’s Wayúu people live on land rich in resources. So why are their children dying of hunger? This report is about the living situation of Indigenous communities in Colombia. Due to a lack of water and malnutrition, these communities experience many deaths in their families. However, the problem isn’t insufficient resources – it’s corruption in the organizations who should be helping them. Read the full article on The Guardian
The man who turned his dead father into a chatbot A highly lucrative new frontier is emerging for AI: the creation of avatars or chatbots of our loved ones, which remain with us even after their death. This is the case with James Vlahos’s father and the South Korean company DeepBrain AI. What will the consequences be for how we as humans experience grief? Read the full article on the BBC
Black Box: a new podcast series about AI and us A podcast series that connects stories from everyday life through one common denominator: the use of artificial intelligence. Listen to Black Box on the The Guardian
Non-White American Parents Are Embracing AI Faster Than White Ones AI is disrupting the digital-divide narrative, mostly when it comes to personal use. While 72% of white parents are using AI, 80% of Black and 84% of Hispanic parents say they use it. AI is changing the life of Black parents: a specific case shows how it can help with attention-deficit diagnosis and school-related issues. The key lies in the fact that AI is accessible for free through smartphones, which lower-income families use more than laptops. There is also a crucial cultural factor: white families are more bothered by their children using technology than Hispanic and Black families, who need to find a way to build a better life for their children when it comes to tutoring at school. Read the full article on The Economist
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff calls artificial intelligence a ‘new human right’ in 2019 Five years ago, Marc Benioff stated that AI was going to be a ‘new human right’ that everyone should have access to. Nowadays, his claim is starting to make more sense. Read the full article on Business Insider
In the age of misinformation, who holds the power to categorize the ‘truth’? In this article author Mohamed Suliman focuses on one of the problems that characterize modern society: disinformation. Read the full article on Global Voices
Teaching with AI In an attempt to educate teachers about the existence of AI tools that students might use, OpenAI has prepared a guide for educators to help them use ChatGPT with their students. Read the guide on OpenAI
How to regulate AI AI offers opportunities but also potential dangers. In this podcast episode, sociologist Alondra Nelson focuses on the Biden administration’s efforts to draft regulations for AI and its applications. Listen to the Foreign Policy podcast here
A number system invented by Inuit schoolchildren will make its Silicon Valley debut Mathematics is often defined as the “universal language.” These schoolchildren have brought to life a new dialect. Read the full article on Scientific American