AI: A question factory
And: The cathedral and the bazaar; A measure of sacrifice; Unfree agents; The trend against skeuomorphic textures; The changing uses of social
Hi all,
Here’s the second part of the collaboration with FUTURX and Larrosa. This time it’s a piece by Angel Mestres Vila, who wants us to understand AI from a perspective of curiosity. He asks that we take in all aspects, and then question its use and results.
Love, Maarten
What am I looking for when I address a chatbot, or any generative AI tool? What do I ask for? What do I ask of it? My vision as a cultural worker outside the realms of music leads me to search for answers within the fertile and interdisciplinary discussions between scientists, technologists, philosophers, legislators and other stakeholders in order to address the complex questions that AI poses to me on an ethical, social and existential level. And the truth is that I have several questions.
Through cultural management, how can managers use AI to foster democratic participation in content creation and curation, aligning themselves with principles of fairness and equity? Can cultural management anticipate and adapt to the possible futures that AI might create? How might this be possible? What steps can we take to ensure that AI does not perpetuate existing biases or intensify cultural and social inequalities? Can we ensure that the use of AI does not monopolize or homogenize cultural production and distribution, i.e., how do we maintain a diversity of ideas and expressions? In what ways can we employ AI to enhance human creativity and expression about the evolving potential of living with technology? What strategies will we propose, what conversations will we open, what risks will we take to ensure that ethical reflection on AI becomes an integral part of popular culture? In other words, what plan do we have as a means of preparing humanity for the challenges of the future?
From there, the above questions branch out and bring in other satellite questions: How can we use the data economy to understand and improve public participation? What are the risks of privatizing cultural data and how can we ensure equity in access to this data? How can AI contribute to the creation of sustainable business models based on data analytics? What are the plans that each of the communities affected by the implementation of AI have to maintain autonomy in an environment increasingly dominated by these systems?
Socially, we must ask how AI can be designed and implemented to reflect and respect the cultural and political diversity of society in line with inclusion. How are we going to use it to foster intercultural and political dialogue, critical thinking and reflection? This is essential to prevent its use from reinforcing the user’s pre-existing preferences and only contributing to perpetuating a cycle of superficial cultural consumption.
It is important to include the educational community, the institutional field, in this scenario. So, how can these cultural programs and exhibitions be designed to help the public understand and participate in decision making about future AI developments? Can cultural institutions use AI to resist the influence of big technologies that seek to control patterns of cultural consumption and production, how? How can cultural institutions implement AI practices that promote transparency and informed consent, avoiding the pitfalls of surveillance capitalism? A cultural institution should be able to approach this book with a holistic view (all the texts include it) of how its work will mutate. I can make this reference because many of the questions that I share with you have found answers or paths to resolution during the reading of these pages.
So, I leave you to choose between a blue pill (and ask new questions about AI and live quietly) and a red one (and think the whys, because if AI brings a change to our lives, what is it that led us to create it?).
LINKS (by Maarten)
Hey, so these links are all mostly older writings about the Internet and the above piece triggered me to share them with you. This approach to thinking about AI as a question factory brings me back to the way people thought about the Internet before homogenization took over. Or, the way people critiqued the Internet when it had all become the same.
⛪ The Cathedral and the Bazaar (Eric Steven Raymond)
“Linus Torvalds's style of development—release early and often, delegate everything you can, be open to the point of promiscuity—came as a surprise. No quiet, reverent cathedral-building here—rather, the Linux community seemed to resemble a great babbling bazaar of differing agendas and approaches (aptly symbolized by the Linux archive sites, who'd take submissions from anyone) out of which a coherent and stable system could seemingly emerge only by a succession of miracles.”
🕰️ A measure of sacrifice (Nick Szabo)
“Early public mechanical clocks were also (or even mainly) works of art that both demonstrated the perpetuum mobile ideal – specific mimicry of the sun, moon, and stars in a mill-like machine, and the automata ideal, in the form of parades of crowing cocks, bowing Magi, and a variety of other life-like creations. The technological breakthrough, the escapement, provided the “heartbeat” of these automata while also allowing the long-lived mimicry of the regular movements of the cosmos.”
⛓️ Unfree agents: Spotify pushes an Uber-like model for independent artists (Liz Pelly)
“So despite Ek’s protests, Spotify is becoming more like Uber, a company that disingenuously bills itself as a mere service for connecting drivers and customers, one used by everyday people seeking a flexible side job. Yet it’s common knowledge that Uber drivers are not considered employees in most countries, not offered benefits or traditional protections—they’re “independent contractors.” Simply by offering lower prices than city taxis, Uber has given many longtime drivers no choice but to embrace its platform. There is little “independence,” in other words, for workers whose industry is dominated by an enormous platform. And often, the “product” is being sold to workers as much as it’s being sold to users.”
🛹 The trend against skeuomorphic textures and effects in user interface design (John Gruber)
“But what’s going on today is more than just a rejection of over-the-top skeuomorphic textures; it is instead a very strong push in the opposite direction … What occurs to me is that the timing of this trend, and the fact that iOS — and the iPhone in particular — is its leading edge, is not coincidental. It’s because of retina displays.”
🐦 The changing uses of social (Rosie Sherry)
“Sharing is something that helps my well-being, not because of “social status”, but more because it helps me process what I’m learning. At the heart of this change, is also rediscovering fun on the web again. I’m sensing and seeing people being quirky again.”
MUSIC (by Maarten)
This is one of the most compelling sets I’ve heard in a long time. It crosses a very broad spectrum of electronic music - from baile funk to dnb and much more! Assyouti definitely killed it.