Shaping AI's Future

How Will Humans Impact Artificial Intelligence?

This week was filled with so many life-giving conversations about Know Curtains! Jill and I were part of a parenting conference last Saturday (2/22) that represented the unofficial launch of our online course, Driver’s Training for Social Media.

At the end of the conference during the Q & A portion, someone asked how AI will impact us in the next ten years. It’s a great question and something I’m currently researching (my hope is to do a mini-course on AI in the near future).

Expert predictions are all over the place… somewhere between an overblown bubble on the brink of bursting to a Terminator-end-of-humanity apocalypse and everything in between. We can try to imagine, but there’s a feeling of powerlessness even considering it.

That sentiment makes sense. As a society we haven’t completely come to terms with the social media experiment of the last twenty years. We still feel unsettled with the blessing and curse of it all. The Center for Humane Technology recently posted on X:

Social media was society’s first contact with artificial intelligence. Generative AI (including image generators, chatbots and more) is society’s second contact.

Our family has gone through Driver’s Training for Social Media, and we see how much our smartphone and social media use is compulsive. It’s a struggle, and in a way, the Matrix is here. We’re already serving digital masters. The question we’re really asking ourselves is, what AI will the tech overlords force upon us for the next ten years?

The current US administration, for better or worse, is taking a more hands-off approach to AI regulation believing that the free market will decide its fate. So maybe the best answer… is a question.

How will we impact AI in the next ten years?

Until we change our posture from how tech will influence us, to how we influence tech… we’ll remain in the Matrix. Gone are the days of passive acceptance. It’s time to speak our minds about the ways we do or do not want AI in our lives.

Sexualized chatbot companions for teenagers? No. Decoding animal communication? As long as we’re not weaponizing orcas, yes. Resurrecting dead actors? Unnecessary. Better ways to detect breast cancer? If it protects jobs and privacy, let’s try it. Crafting an essay for a Ph.D or a kid’s fan letter to an athlete. Nope. Looking for pork barrels in a congressional bill? Yes. AI-driven win probabilities? Probably dumb.

What if the answers to those questions informed how we spend our time and money? Postpone (postphone?) the smartphone upgrade. Hire a graphic artist. Delete an extra social media account. Stop watching AI-generated YouTube channels.

Facebook didn’t grow to 3 billion users without us. We enabled it. I don’t know. Maybe it’s naive. AI is here, but what it looks like in the next ten years… should be up to us.

What are your do’s and don’ts?