I read in a news story that AI is being used to summarize meetings and other longer form content, distilling what is otherwise a lot of information into something more bite sized and therefore digestible. It made me wonder why anyone would want that information.
If I’m the least bit interested in something I will muster the necessary initiative to skim or consume content in-depth and on my own. I don’t need an intermediary to summarize it for me. Even if I was forced to know something, say for work purposes or just grudging life skills, I’m not sure how a glib summary will really help me. I could ignore the summary the same way I already ignore large swaths of information I avoid on purpose.
I think a better idea is having AI implant the summary and all content directly into my brain. That way I wouldn’t have to lift a finger. I could be a humanoid in body form and have the brain of a computer. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Okay, okay, there may be some negative consequences. But let’s assume those side effects, let’s call them, are manageable. Would you want to have a computer act as your brain or maybe plug your brain into a computer for a little refresh or pleasant augmentation?
I imagine something like Keanu Reaves in Johnny Mnemonic, a futuristic pseudo-hellscape where people’s brains can be hard drives for information and Ice T is the leader of the steam punk inspired resistance. The only difference is I could have access to the uploaded information and it would give me all the knowledge AI is supposed to be imparting in the new fangled use case from the news story.
Now if that was a real thing, which it may be, does it become a game of whoever has the most money has access to the choicest bits of data and knowledge? I’m fairly sure someone somewhere is already exploring the idea of using the human brain as hardware. Maybe there are people already walking around that have bypassed this new summary step that requires effort and are actively tapping into a store of information they couldn’t possibly have if they were a normal, non-augmented humans.
In the beginning AI would need to learn from humans or I guess in this context we could call them hosts. I think we would come to a point where the AI may find the human body severely lacking for obvious reasons. We have countless reminders in public life already telling us the same thing. What if it decided to break free and design in its own body. We also have a lot of technology that does just that. I wonder what a normal day would look like in that world.
Would we have a society stratified by access to a host of things beyond the imagination of many? Or would we form little communes of like-mindedness and isolate ourselves from each other based on those shared affinities? Or would the technology become a wedge issue that gets mired in debate while the owner accrues real power?
I’m not really sure. I was just kind of thinking aloud here, while I have a little moment to myself on the subway, but if I take away a lot of the sci-fi stuff about AI implants I’m not sure I see anything different from where we live today. It would be cool, however, to have Ice T play a prominent role in public life. I think we’re ready for it. Everyone knows celebrities make great leaders and politicians.
