Why AI is the new fast food
Would you like fries with that?
TW: Mention of suicide
The absence of originality in Western mainstream culture is one of the many ramifications of a civil structure based on colonisation. Like a magpie stealing trinkets to line its nest, the appropriation of culture, character, and practices from other cultures comprises many fundaments of the first world. In this matryoshka context increasingly comprised of remakes, wannabes, and dupes, it's little wonder that AI - the ultimate convenience - has rapidly become the powerhouse it is. Fast fashion and fast food have finally met their perfect third; the fast freelancer, which ensures that every answer we could possible want is a simple search away. We’ve cultivated a lust for convenience so extreme that it’s slowly killing our ability to so much as think for ourselves.
We live in society comprised of crutches, and it’s exactly as fragile as it sounds.
We all know by this point that AI poses significant intellectual dangers. The next generation’s doctors, lawyers, and writers are coasting by on a mechanism founded on plagiarism. Even for those students committed to undertaking their studies ‘manually’, the mounting social pressure to use AI tools is an obstacle in and of itself. We know, too, of the damage being done to the environment as a direct result of AI (we’ve all heard by now that one ChatGPT enquiry uses the equivalent of one 500ml bottle of water), and thanks to writers like
from The Content Girl, there is increasing attention being directed to the social implications of AI. In her piece on AI and feminism, Ellen discusses some of the ramifications AI has on women, including the mistreatment of female-coded AI assistants:So basically, while you’ve got one guy shouting “stupid bitch” at Alexa, you’ve probably got another a few streets over calling Cortana a slut and describing what he wants to do to her in graphic, violent detail.
And yes, it’s technology. Yes, it’s technically a victimless interaction. But don’t tell me it doesn’t make you feel a little bit uneasy.
Because, unfortunately, it doesn’t bode well for women in the real world. The people who do this are doing it because they view this vaguely female, submissive secretary type thing as something they can abuse. So, what happens when they get bored and want a bigger challenge, a more realistic experience, or something with an element of physicality?
If this were the only flaw of AI, then this in itself would be terrifying enough.
But another fear I can’t shake — and on the subject of which I’ve seen a concerning lack of discourse — is regarding the emotional harm of AI. The Shift’s article on the role of AI in the suicide of a fourteen year old boy in Florida was an appalling wake-up call, in which we are brought face-to-face with the emotional and intuitive limits of artificial companionship. Children and young adults (not to mention adults themselves) are deeply at risk from the lure of AI companionship, because what child wouldn’t want the perfect companion? The one who’s always there when you want to play, willing to be whatever you want them to be, and perfectly available to supplant actual human connection? The Imaginary Friend 2.0. But AI companionship blurs the line between imaginary and reality, because your fictional friend, dream partner, loving relative — whatever you want them to be — is right there with you, filling in the gaps and implausibilities that a pure fantasy would leave behind. In what way are we more than soft animals, trying to let our bodies love what they love? We are unprepared for artificial intelligence and will hurt ourselves pawing at the mirror of AI companionship.
There’s more to the damaging unreality of AI personalities than emotional vulnerability. Unrealistic precedents for companionship have lasting negative impact for the consumers and yes, we’re going to talk about porn. There have been copious studies on the emotional and physical risks of porn, and there are measures in place to prohibit those under 18 years old from engaging with the world of sexual consumerism. The potential dangers of this medium are recognized, but artificial companionship and porn are two sides of the same coin and AI is still flying under the radar, accessible to anyone with a device and an internet connection. I’m not talking about deep fakes or AI generated sexual content, both of which are particularly thorny subjects worthy of their own discussions, but rather of the unrealistic standards being set. Porn is not real sex, and AI cannot provide true companionship. Both stand a risk of damaging an individual’s capacity to healthily engage in emotional or sexual relationships.
I’m not flatly against Artificial Intelligence. I think it is perhaps an unnecessary development — advancement for advancement’s sake — for which humanity wasn’t truly prepared, but I can see the uses for AI as a well-managed technical support. But using this technology as a replacement for the very things that make us human — connection, art, and thought — is deeply insidious, and can only end poorly.
Just like a big mac is a poor substitute for real food, AI is a damaging replacement for human connection, thought, and creation. Why do you think we as a generation are drawn to film cameras? Vinyl? Typos, lowercase, and backstage edits? We're craving humanity in the face of inhuman perfection.
I’m holding out for a future in which humanity has re-centered the act of creation, and in which human imperfection is seen as the true marker of value.
B.
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