Will AI save us or kill us?
Muderbots, Big Lies and a "Frictionless" life? Issue #99
I’ve been reluctant to write about the boom in AI because, honestly, I’m not sure what I think about it. Well, I do. Kind of. But I’ve struggled to put it all to words.
So let’s give it a try.
On the one hand, some good things have already come from AI. For example:
My brother in law is a high school science teacher and as always towards the end of the year, he’s asked to write college recommendations. After many years of teaching, this can become a grind. This year he called up an AI, gave it some prompts, and les voilà! The recommendations were done in minutes instead of days. So, score one for AI.
It occurred to me a few minutes before starting to write this prompt: Could a good word processor do something similar? No? Yes?
Likewise, another family member was told by his employer that 90% of all emails now need to written with AI prompts. That’s a good way to generate more time for more valuable projects. Presuming most of your emails are boilerplate.
Narrator’s Voice: Most of my emails are not boilerplate.
So yes, if AI could save me from “handcrafting” some of my emails, writing up proposals, updating sales reports, I could be for it. But we’ve also seen some pretty foolish uses of AI and as we’re talking about the human race and capitalism (Both of which I am in heartily in favor of - preferably with reinforced guardrails), we have to expect the some foolishness mixed in.
And that’s my primary issue with AI. With many apps. With the way tech sometimes works. If using an AI will save me some time, energy money, I’ll jump onto the bandwagon. But if it means that the tracking I receive is even more granular, if the latest update is really just more kludge, if I get more come-ons, more pop-ups, if they take over more and more of my time…nah! Go away and leave me be, please. I’d like to alone with my thoughts now.
Therein lies my problem. I’m not confident that the developers and users of AI will be careful with this incredible technology. I think we’ll see some companies abandoning their employees, giving their customers a terrible experience all the while proclaiming that they are “world class”.
So, how’s your summer going?
one_Scott Galloway: Techno-Narcissism
A little honesty at the start: Years ago I hate watched Galloway’s L2 videos. But lately I’ve been touched by the humanity and the humility in many of his weekly “No Mercy/No Malice” writings.
Last week he brought to light some of the misgivings I have about the tech behind AI and the creators who brought it to us. As he stated:
“The tech innovator class has an Achilles tendon that runs from their heels to their necks: They believe they're press. Making a dent in the universe is so aughts. Today, membership in the Soho House of tech requires you to birth the leverage point that will alter the universe.”
The question isn’t so much, will AI become sentient and create robots that will kill us all. The question is will the AI that’s already in use (At your bank, in customer service, screening your resumes), get smarter and make your life better. Or, will it continue to do stupid things like not provide you with service, point you in the wrong direction, give you a made up answer?
I think there’s an additional question. Will corporations shed human staff in favor of AI bots that aren’t ready for prime time? Will citizens have to contend with even smarter scams and phishing come ons?
I know it’s hard, but let’s try not be cynical.
two:__Journalism is in crisis because…
Journalist, blogger and author Cory Doctorow posits in this think piece that the “financialization” of the news media began well before the internet era.
Think back to the 1980’s and 1990’s. There were a lot of mergers and acquisitions in newspaper, radio, television and, of course, the magazine world. Remember K-III, Primemedia, Family Media (I had a close and personal experience there), EMAP-USA? How many times was Ziff-Davis sold and for how many billions?
This hollowing out of cash, dumping of debts and right sizing made it impossible for the media to aptly respond to the challenges that arose during the rise of the internet.
The thing I like about this article from Doctorow, as opposed to some other opinion pieces about journalism, is that he not only ably diagnoses the problem, he also offers a solution or two.
His suggestions range from breaking up the ad-tech sector, to opening up app stores to real competition, to the passage of a more comprehensive privacy law.
Check the whole thing out. It’s a thoughtful read.
three__The Ebony Magazine test kitchen is acquired by the National Museum of African American History and Culture
The only employees of Johnson Publishing I ever met were members of their circulation team. They always presented as very cool and confident about how they did business. They were a revelation to a naive 20something who suddenly realized that he didn’t know nearly as much as he thought he did.
The coolest thing about Johnson’s newsstand strategy back then was that unlike most other publishers, Johnson magazines were “self distributed.” They didn’t use the services of a national distributor and went direct to wholesalers and retailers. Not many publishers could successfully make that happen.
Johnson did. And they did that for a very long time.
It seems fitting that this iconic publisher, who operated out of a prime location in the heart of their home city would also have a very iconic test kitchen.
And this Chicagoan is very happy to know that both the building was preserved and as this article shows, the “test kitchen” is being preserved and on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. I have lots of reasons to visit Washington DC these days and it will be nice to have one more.
four__Flagrant Magazine gets some “local” coverage
I periodically do searches for news coverage of local and indie magazines and every now and then something out of the ordinary turns up. I’m not sure if these are relatively new or old stories (maybe an AI at Yahoo picked up an original story from 2019?) but they were very fun to uncover!
Flagrant Magazine is a fascinating concept that covers the sport of basketball in an entirely different way. Founded “by women, for everyone,” Flagrant creates a community of basketball enthusiasts.
A quick visit to their site confirmed that like so many indie titles, they are doing a great job of creating different ways to reach their audience and being very direct in getting the magazine into the hands of their audience. I am super impressed!
five_Well, why not? A print magazine about podcasting to launch this fall
The Verge’s newsletter, Hot Pod, uncovered the launch of this crazy brave new magazine covering the world of podcasting.
Good Tape Magazine will be a bi-annual print publication covering what happens in podcasting. Billed as “created by podcasters for podcasters,” the magazine will publish articles covering the “pressing issues” of the podcasting industry.
I love to see these types of launches. We’re not talking hundreds of thousands of copies and pages and pages of advertising. But we are talking about what magazines can be when they’re at their best: Advocates and enthusiasts about the topic they cover. If they’re well edited and full of art and photography, even better.
This week in odd magazine merchandising…
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That’s all I’ve got for you this week. May your summer weather be nice, your meetings short, and your deployment of the “Do not disturb” notice strategic. And, hey, be careful in the break room. The bosses installed an AI in the vending machine!
