https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/29/hobbesian-slop/#cui-bono
'I think it behooves us to be a little skeptical of stories about AI driving
people to believe wrong things and commit ugly actions. Not that I like the AI
slop that is filling up our social media, but when we look at the ways that AI
is harming us, slop is pretty low on the list.
The real AI harms come from the actual things that AI companies sell AI to do.
There's the AI gun-detector gadgets that the credulous Mayor Eric Adams put in
NYC subways, which led to 2,749 invasive searches and turned up zero guns:
<
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/nycs-subway-weapons-detector-pilot-program-ends/>
Any time AI is used to predict crime – predictive policing, bail
determinations, Child Protective Services red flags – they magnify the biases
already present in these systems, and, even worse, they give this bias the
veneer of scientific neutrality. This process is called "empiricism-washing,"
and you know you're experiencing it when you hear some variation on "it's just
math, math can't be racist":
<
https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/23/cryptocidal-maniacs/#phrenology>'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
