AI as a Rorschach Projection Screen

I’ve been in several group meetings about AI in the past days and weeks. The overarching feeling I get, is that we’re flailing around in the dark.

All over the place

We’re all trying to come to terms with what AI is, or is not; and how it will impact our world. The conversations I’ve been part of are all over the place. The topic seems to invite grand sweeping statements, about what makes humans special, about the state of society, about capitalism.

What technology are we even talking about?

The fuzziness starts with the technology. I’m not hearing definitions. Are we talking about generative AI, LLMs more generally (which also includes encoder/decoders)? Are we talking about natural language processing? Or machine learning in general, which also includes product categories like license plate readers and face recognition?

All of that still excludes the so-called good old-fashioned AI. None of that provides AGI—Artifical General Intelligence.

Are you not dizzy yet?

Society and existential dread

Beyond the tech, we’re talking about how technology intersects with society. Which soon becomes a conversation about data capitalism, extreme wealth inequality, and before you know it you’re discussing a far-right march in London.

The discussion sooner rather than later addresses existential anxieties: what does it even mean to be human, when we consider that machines may be on the cusp of becoming intelligent? Or are advertised as such, see below.

Rorschach canvas

My point is this: if we’re discussing everything, we’re actually discussing nothing. The topic is apparently so intractable, that it’s hard to have a fruitful discussion, that would result in deep insights and actionable outcomes.

What we have is a situation like a Rorschach test: an amorphous canvas to project all our hopes and fears on. AI presents all-transforming potential for change that is so un-specific, that everybody can project all their concerns onto it, and ride their hobby horses.

The AI con

On a more meta level: this confusion is probably intentional. It’s greedily amplified by the AI grifters, whose business models are predicated on projecting aggressive growth, and whose marketing is propagated by us having such wide-ranging speculative conversations.

That’s the argument made in The AI Con, a book that covers “the many ways in which AI hype covers for a small set of power-hungry actors at work and in the world”.

That book is still on my reading list, waiting to be read. I guess it’s about time to dive in.