Ask a Data Ethicist: Why Do You Hate AI?

Dickens’ “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” is a phrase that seems to be broadly applicable no matter what actual time you happen to occupy. This month’s column focuses on the “worst of times” vibe to explore the question …

Why do you hate AI? 

Or, to put an Elizabeth Barrett Browning spin on it: How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. 

It’s the environment, stupid

A day didn’t passed this summer where data centers didn’t making headline news, either because they were linked to a host of atrocities or promising to usher in economic prosperity. Much depends on who is telling the story. The government in my neck of the woods has been hosting a series of town halls to help people understand the benefits of having a Meta data center that’s roughly twice the size of New York’s Central Park, right beside a family homestead. There will reportedly be 300 long-term jobs attached to this project as well as economic benefits in the form of tax dollars. Yet, those upsides might seem paltry when compared to the tradeoffs: pollution (both from noise and gas-powered energy sources), possible impacts on access to, and costs for, water and electricity, as well as potential health impacts for those who live near the facility. Data centers are causing so much alarm, especially in rural communities, that the even the well-known activist Erin Brockovich has weighted in. It makes you wonder how this compares to the impacts of hexavalent chromium contaminating groundwater, the issue for which Brockovich gained fame in the movie that bears her name.

The AI data center push and protest happening all over North America grows as the race to build these facilities intensifies. Ironically, it’s one of the few bi-partisan issues in an otherwise polarized political environment. People might hate data centees for different reasons, but the bottom line is alignment. Some governments are putting a moratorium on these types of build-outs until more assessment on the impacts and meaningful discussions with stakeholders can take place. Beyond the direct issues related to the facilities themselves, data centers are also a physical manifestation of all other reasons people hate AI.

No more jobs? AGI? That’s always been the goal.

In 1965, British mathematician Irving John Good penned a piece for the New Scientist in which he outlined the idea of the “last invention.” He described an “ultra intelligent machine” that would “far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man however clever” and that in inventing such a machine, so long as we can remain in control, we’d have a utopic future or become extinct. This is a narrative spun by modern tech-bros and their investors. Its why we’re looking at stratospheric valuations for companies who slap an AI brand on their funding raise. A simple 10% productivity gain does not equal trillions of dollars in value. That only comes from something much more significant. 

“To paraphrase Good, if you make a superintelligent machine, it will be better than humans at everything we use our brains for, and that includes making superintelligent machines … After the intelligence explosion, man wouldn’t have to invent anything else — all his needs would be met by machines.” – Gizmodo 

Whether or not AI actually works in its current form to displace job or ever achieves this grander “AGI” vision is besides the point. The point is the narrative, the story that makes people believe any of this is possible in the first place. It’s deeply rooted in a vision for a technology that’s aimed at human displacement, possibly human extinction and we’re called upon to train it in the meantime. Another reason to hate it.

Upskilling criminals, uncontrollable consequences

Even Bill Gates is getting on board the AI cautionary tale train saying that:

“AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice.” – Bill Gates

Which is really another way of saying “best of times, worst of times,” dontcha think? 

Gates is doing the podcast interview circuit to promote his epiphany: that AI is advancing really fast and we’re just not ready. It’s a combo of the techo-determist stance that AI is inevitable and it’s a “last technology” per IJ Good, mixed with the divisive political realities of our times in which slowing down to apply governance guardrails is in short supply. His fears range from job loss, to bioterrorism, enabling criminals with greater abilities for creating deepfakes, fraud and misinformation, mental health impacts and the loss of critical thinking – not necessarily in that order. On the other hand, he also paints a picture with a lot of upside if we get it right. The solutions are the usual mix of new institutions, different forms of taxation, and reserving some jobs for humans. 

The question I’m left with after reading this piece is one of timing: Why is Gates delivering this message right now? A cynical take might say to keep the hype narrative alive. A more generous view could be that as a recent septuagenarian and grandparent, he is joining the likes of tech-elders like Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, who also feel we’re moving too fast without adequate guardrails. And, because of who he is (it’s Bill Gates, after all), maybe the right people will listen to him? Maybe he can wrap this message up with the anti-data-center one and perhaps that will lead to something positive? Perhaps that plays into his timing.

But, wait, there’s more

In the interest of time, we’re not going to attempt to cover every reason people hate AI. We won’t get into the AI slop-pocalypse, the billionaire backlash, bias, privacy, surveillance pricing, harms from AI automated decisions, impacts on learning, Flock surveillance tech, monitoring workers, the plight of data workers … it’s just too much. 

We’ll leave it at this: There are lots of perfectly good reasons to hate AI. You are not alone in your seething wrath.

Send Me Your Questions!

I would love to hear about your data dilemmas or AI ethics questions and quandaries. You can send me a note at [email protected] or connect with me on LinkedIn. I will keep all inquiries confidential and remove any potentially sensitive information – so please feel free to keep things high level and anonymous as well. 

This column is not legal advice. The information provided is strictly for educational purposes. AI and data regulation is an evolving area and anyone with specific questions should seek advice from a legal professional.