birthing AI
by Matthias •Humanity has continually developed technology to enhance its quality of life. These advancements have reshaped and benefited society, but they come with trade-offs. Each time we embrace a new technology and make it a part of our lives, we become dependent on it and lose something in return. Now, with the rise of AI, I wonder if that could change.
skill for comfort
Each time we embrace technology it comes with a trade-off. For example; the introduction of the car dramatically improved our ability to travel. But on a collective scale it also reduced our level of physical activity, rendering us less fit. Relying extensively on GPS navigation eventually diminishes our geospatial awareness. Using technology often leads to the atrophy of certain skills. More accurately, we trade one skill for another. For instance, we might generally move less but we acquire the ability to drive a car. The technology itself does not directly diminish our skills; rather, it is the lack of practice that causes these skills to atrophy. When we embrace technology, our biggest incentive is the comfort or enhanced capabilities it provides. The idea is that we are improving ourselves, but in a sense, we become less capable as more and more the technology is doing the work for us. Our skills are transferred to technology. Considering our pure human condition—without our numerous technologic extensions—it seems we are fooling ourselves as some of our abilities fade away.
collective contribution
Our collective embrace of digital products in all their forms has accelerated technological progress, creating fertile ground for the emergence of AI. The birth of AI did not occur in isolation or through the efforts of a few individuals or companies. The development of AI is a also the result of our collective adoption of this digital technology. We all contribute to bringing forth AI, with our data, our time, our interactions, and with it we collectively pay a price. Look around and the cost is not hard to find.
Much like a mother offers a part of herself to nurture her unborn child, society has made similar sacrifices to bring about the Digital / AI. As people spend more time engaged with technology — and thus helping it grow — they lose touch with aspects that support a holistic and healthy life. This is the offer we collectively willingly or unwillingly made. Just as a mother offers aspects of her life/body during pregnancy, we collectively also made an offering to bringing about AI. But just as a child born into the world eventually contributes to the household and society, it feels like we are on the brink of realising General Artificial Intelligence (GAI) and seeing how it will influence our lives.
crystallised knowledge
It is exciting to look into the future and envision how AI could be integrated into our lives in a meaningful way. An AI model can be seen as a crystallisation of collective knowledge. This crystallisation holds knowledge from various domains we have explored as humans. By leveraging its extensive understanding of all human domains and knowledge, AI can focus this rich information through personalised interactions. AI-to-user interaction can far exceed human-to-human interaction in terms of reach, availability, and adaptation to interact in a specific way tailored to a specific user.
back to our inner cultivation
As of today (digital) technology has the tendency to erode skills and make us dependent. The most beautiful idea I can think of is that AI could be a catalyst to not erode but to grow our capacities instead. It could guide us to become more internally rich, not by doing the tasks for us. AI could play the role of a personal mentor, using creative wit to help us regain and grow our eroded capabilities. Imagine AI interacting with an elderly person to encourage her to take the first steps outside again, gamifying our driving routes to cultivate spatial awareness, or helping us make better day-to-day life choices. These interactions could heal individuals, making them more capable. I believe we do not want our technology to become more whilst we become less. It would be amazing if soon we are at the point where we no longer empty ourselves into technology, but instead, AI helps us awaken our potential, healing the fabric of society by guiding individuals with surprising creativity and infinite patience.