AI operates as a 'bullshit engine,' lacking true comprehension but producing grammatical text.
AI embodies neoliberal values, ranking individuals and replicating societal injustices.
AI in the public sector automates processes, categorizes individuals, and may exacerbate inequalities.
Deep dives
AI's Bullshit Engine: Plausibility Over Substance
AI technologies, like language models, prioritize being plausible over having actual semantic content. These tools, such as chat GPT, are designed to make up text without understanding the meaning behind it, essentially acting as a 'bullshit engine.' Despite their ability to produce grammatical and creative texts, AI lacks true comprehension and operates based on statistical optimization.
AI's Alignment with Neoliberalism and Austerity
AI's development mirrors neoliberal values, embodying an anti-social, privatizing agenda that emphasizes hyper-individualism. AI's mechanism of division, ranking, and essentializing attributes aligns with neoliberal and austerity practices, acting as an 'austerity machine.' These technologies reproduce existing injustices and exacerbate societal divisions, contributing to the perpetuation of neoliberal values.
AI's Impact on Public Sector and Social Services
The integration of AI technologies in the public sector has implications for service delivery and social welfare programs. These tools are employed to categorize individuals based on deservability, leading to potential reductions in public sector labor and costs. By automating processes and classifying recipients, AI facilitates efficiency measures that could exacerbate inequalities and negatively impact marginalized populations.
Impact of Universal Credit and Privatization on Vulnerable Communities
Universal Credit's approach of sanctioning individuals for trivial matters and providing only a minimum for survival creates a hostile environment for beneficiaries. The privatization of essential services intensifies this by prioritizing profit over accountability, making it difficult for oversight. The system's inherent cruelty and inhumanity, influenced by market ideology, highlight the concept of necropolitics, where systemic actions limit the continuation of existence for many, affecting marginalized groups disproportionately.
Concerns about AI's Influence on Politics and Society
The episode delves into how AI's integration into systems can exacerbate exclusion and harm, potentially aligning with far-right ideologies. The discussion raises questions about the political perspectives of AI developers and how AI empowers a shift towards far-right politics. It challenges the notion of 'AI for good,' emphasizing the need for a comprehensive response that scrutinizes AI's role in perpetuating systemic issues and advocates for a techno-politics that fosters care, solidarity, and mutual aid.
Paris Marx is joined by Dan McQuillan to discuss how AI systems encourage ranking populations and austerity policies, and why understanding their politics is essential to opposing them.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.
Dan mentions TWIML as a podcast that has conversations with industry players that’s informative for how these technologies work (though you’re not likely to get a critical perspective on them), and Achille Mbembe’s book Necropolitics.
