This summer, Open AI CEO Sam Altman urged congress to pass laws regulating Open AI.
Raise any eyebrows? Well, when was the last time you saw any other tech head or CEO voluntarily appear in front of congress, and basically say:
“I made something that could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Regulate me.”
Did Zuck do that when he knew their Instagram feed hurt the mental health of young girls?
Nope.
Did gun manufacturers such as Colt, Smith & Wesson, or the myriad of other companies producing AR-style rifles recognize the crisis surrounding these firearms? Have they called on Congress to step in to make our schools, malls, and lives safer?
No sir.
Anybody else? Oil Companies? Drug Manufacturers? Car Companies?
…I’ll wait…
I’m not an idiot. No way would a company ever do that, unless it was absolutely necessary, and the benefits truly outweighed the costs and headaches from regulation.
In the eyes of Sam Altman, he thinks it does.
And while many focus on the consequences such as lost jobs and a displaced workforce, there is another facet that concerns me more. Something insidious, that is more dangerous than lost jobs. Something that is sneaky and darkly purposeful. And while we do our best to fortify our front doors, the real AI problem will probably enter through the back.
But, we’ll discuss that later.
I wrote about AI before, and what it can do to us as thriving, creative individuals who willingly outsource the left half of our brain to a text-based prompt engine. As troubling as I sometimes find teasing out that scenario, it is not wholly existential. It is more about melancholy and change than survival.
When it comes to AI, just like anything in life, we can do three things, accept it, change it, or ignore it. Regulating AI is a complex and evolving task that requires a deep understanding of the technology’s intricacies and potential implications. Many politicians lack expertise or knowledge in this area, making it less likely for them to prioritize AI regulation or legislation.
Let’s face it, it’s a hard job for most politicians. Much easier to deal with matters that are easy to message and signal their ideology or firebrand to constituents.
So they simply take a highly charged issue like trans, books, gays, abortion, the border and voice a textbook position that is already obvious. No risk there. And we know, politicians are all about false flags, risk aversion and self preservation. Not many in Washington know or better yet, will take the time to really learn about AI, or participate in the technology. Because of that, they don’t understand how it will completely change the world.
The Crisis Of Truth
What happens when there is no source of truth? Think about that for a moment. Truth. We fight for it, die for it, lose jobs for it. The truth is the basis of all social and economic relationships. There is no love without truth. There is no hate without truth. And sadly, there is no truth without truth. Which is the world we are inching towards.
Many times, people need to see the truth for themselves, with their own eyes. Yet, as the world has gotten bigger and more digitally connected, our devices have become a proxy for our senses. And many times, that truth can be manipulated, or retold in different ways, depending on the source.
So, what happens when our eyes and ears are not the source of truth. Then, does truth really exist? And how is it measured?
Will Truth Continue To Exist?
Could a deepfake video of Joe Biden change the election? Can a deepfake audio from a CEO investor call tank the stock market? Can a deepfake of your husband kissing another man or woman destroy your marriage? Yes, yes, and yes.
Sadly, we have entered a sphere where seeing is not believing, so what do we rely on for the truth? Or does the truth even exist in whole? Right now, our country, our world, has many truths, and they are defined by our beliefs, rather than objective facts. The personalized truth that AI presents will further push us into an echo chamber as a politician’s speeches can be manipulated in real time, sent out to people, and passed around as truth faster than the real speech.
Recently I rewatched 24 (I wouldn’t recommend a second pass, btw). But, there was a scene where Jack Bauer’s daughter was kidnapped and he needed proof of life to carry out a demand. He wanted to hear her voice. So she got on the phone and reassured him that she was ok. Yet, today, someone’s voice is hardly an arbiter of truth as AI can easily clone it. And that is scary.
Days and Confused
Politics, financial institutions, businesses, our courts, personal relationships are all at risk. Video evidence has always been the ultimate arbitrator, in the absence of those rare cases when you witness something in real time, with your own eyes.
The problem with AI is that it leaves us confused about what to believe, so we simply take part of the story and adapt it you our own belief system. It’s called implicit bias.
This manipulation started with deepfakes, with cloning voices several years ago. I remember hearing about it at SXSW, before that event became a panel popularity contest with no real value to anyone beyond the presenters.
But I digress.
Back then they needed to use Obama or a public figure with hours and hours of their voice available for the public to capture and analyze. Now they can clone our voice in 30 seconds.
Society’s Truth Crisis
When we don’t know what to believe, when our belief system is torn apart, what’s next? Deep fakes of our friends, our wives, our bosses saying or doing hurtful things? Without a source of truth, we are left rudderless. And when that happens, we are aimless. All of us.
And that may be the way AI wins. Society can’t survive without a belief system. And people can’t survive without a society. So it becomes a cultural implosion.
AI is not going to turn on us (yet). It is a neutral technology. But in the wrong hands, it presents a tool that turns us against one other, fully believing we are on the right side of history. Fully ready to fight for those beliefs, and twist the truth to match them.
Ultimately, AI was a tool with the intention of helping people. Like any tool, it can be used for good or bad. An axe can cut firewood to heat your home or be used to break the windshield of an asshole Tesla driver (too specific?).
Sure, there will be bad actors who use AI for personal gain or to disrupt society. And that is simply human nature, fueled by all of the human things inside us like anger, greed, power. Although the tools to accomplish those tasks have changed, the behavior has remained the same since the beginning of time.
But the important thing to remember, the one shred of this new world we can control, is whether we will easily adopt the truth that AI presents.
Or whether we will zoom out, look beyond our senses, our biases, and find truth in ways we have never experienced.
