Dan McQuillan, a lecturer in creative and social computing and author of "Resisting AI," shares his insights on the dystopian potential of artificial intelligence. He discusses how AI technologies can intensify oppression and perpetuate biases in sectors like education and healthcare. McQuillan delves into the colonial roots of AI and advocates for an anti-fascist approach, highlighting the need for collective resistance strategies. Engaging with historical movements like the Luddites, he emphasizes the importance of solidarity in facing the challenges posed by AI.
Dan McQuillan emphasizes how AI systems, often misrepresented as neutral, exacerbate existing social inequalities and injustices.
The discussion highlights the colonial and eugenic roots of AI, illustrating how these biases shape its technological applications in society.
An anti-fascist approach to AI underscores the need for collective resistance against oppressive systems while promoting mutual aid and solidarity.
Deep dives
Upcoming Event in Brooklyn
An event titled 'The Headless Politics of George Bataille' is scheduled for November 9th in Brooklyn, featuring discussions with notable participants including Craig from Acid Horizon and Stuart Kendall. This event, running from 4 to 6 p.m. at Public Records, offers attendees a chance to engage with like-minded individuals and deepen their understanding of Bataille's theories. In addition, attendees can purchase tickets through the festival link included in the show notes, giving them access to the festival's other highlights, which include performances by prominent musicians such as Andy Stott. This gathering serves as an important opportunity for fans of the Acid Horizon podcast to connect in person and explore relevant philosophical themes.
Understanding AI and Its Dual Nature
The ongoing debate around artificial intelligence (AI) encompasses its definitions, implications, and the social consequences of its applications. Often regarded as a combination of 'good old-fashioned AI' and modern machine learning techniques, AI's development reflects a history of attempts to recreate human-like intelligence through various computational frameworks. This history traces back to early algorithms designed to emulate reasoning and the more contemporary developments centered around neural networks. The discussion emphasizes that while AI can offer remarkable operational capabilities, it is fundamentally a constructed system shaped by human biases and societal values.
Critique of AI's Representation and Consequences
AI's internal operations and methodologies often mask its limitations and inherent biases, leading to misrepresentations of its capabilities. The processes by which AI functions, particularly concerning neural networks, reveal that these systems can produce misleading or 'hallucinated' outcomes, demonstrating a lack of true understanding of the data they process. Furthermore, the critique addresses how AI applications, while presented as neutral tools, typically exacerbate pre-existing social injustices and reinforce systemic inequalities, particularly within institutional frameworks like welfare and education. Acknowledging these consequences is crucial to understanding how these technologies can perpetuate harmful stereotypes and amplify societal division.
The Interplay of AI and Existing Social Structures
The integration of AI into various sectors of society raises profound ethical and political concerns, especially in relation to existing structures of power and control. The use of AI in domains such as healthcare and social services reveals a tendency to amplify the discriminatory aspects already present in those systems. Increased reliance on AI tools often results in heightened surveillance and categorization of vulnerable populations, reinforcing a systemic suspicion of those in need of support. This dynamic not only perpetuates existing biases but also serves to obscure the underlying power relations that shape institutional decision-making.
Anti-Fascism and the Future of Technopolitical Resistance
Drawing parallels between the rise of fascism and current technological trends, the discourse emphasizes the importance of an anti-fascist approach in resisting the governance of AI. This perspective suggests that the deployment of AI systems can replicate historical oppressions while raising new ethical challenges. The notion of 'technopolitics' emerges as essential to address the intertwining of technological advancement with social justice, advocating for collective action against oppressive systems. By understanding the relationship between technology and individual agency, movements can cultivate a politics of mutual aid and solidarity to counteract the dehumanizing effects of AI.
Adam and Will are joined by Dan McQuillan, a lecturer in creative and social computing, to discuss his book "Resisting AI: An Anti-Fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence", an essential read to understand the computational processes of optimization, dataification, and efficiency that are sold to as 'AI' solutions to social problems, but instead serve to intensify forms of control and oppression in contemporary capitalist society. We discuss the meaning of neural networks and machine learning, the colonial and eugenic roots of the 'AI' view of the world, and how to resist it philosophically through new materialist, feminist, and indigenous approaches to science, as well as politically through non-representational worker and democratic councils.