I know you make much in your book of the idea that actually the directions that technology goes in is a choice that we make. And that the current directions in AI are around automation and the replacement of workers. How do we, people listening to this, policymakers may be writers, academics, what do we do about that? Well, I think those are exactly the right questions. But again, I don't think that's new. Technological leaders pushing their agendas existed long before AI"
In the Middle Ages, agricultural advancements enriched the nobility and the Church, which used the wealth generated to build themselves magnificent houses and cathedrals, while the peasants went hungry. The early years of England’s industrial revolution brought stagnant incomes for the working class. In recent decades technological advances have put untold amounts of wealth into the hands of the 0.1 per cent, while today, the sudden leap forward in artificial intelligence is threatening jobs and democracy through automation, data collection, and surveillance.
But does it have to be this way? MIT economist Daron Acemoglu has an alternative vision. His big idea: wrest control of AI from the hands of a few arrogant tech leaders and empower society instead. Is technology too important to leave to the billionaires? Can AI really be democratised? Listen now to this conversation hosted by Carl Miller, recorded in London.
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