A Grave New World: My Most Pessimistic Views on Ai

Every year at my school, the staff participates in a lottery. Not the Shirley Jackson variety, the other kind: the kind where everyone pitches in a few dollars and dreams a little. And, every year someone asks, "When we win big how long will you all continue teaching?" Most staff count off their scheduled years until retirement and do a little math. I'm a little different. I always reply, "I don't know how long I'd work, but I'd probably be back Monday morning." 

Do I teach to make a living and pay the bills? Certainly. But I teach for other reasons too. I teach because doing so brings me purpose; it's a potent antidote to my existential angst. When my colleagues and I aren't chatting about potential lottery winnings, we chat about anything and everything. Lately, we've been discussing the rise of artificial intelligence and its implications on education and every other aspect of society. Some worry a little; I worry a lot.

The other day, I stumbled across an Ai themed Bloom's Taxonomy graphic that delineates what generative Ai technology, such as ChatGPT, is good at and what tasks are better suited for human beings. At first glance, the graphic brought me a dash of optimism, which proved fleeting upon realizing those columns would become lopsided with time. Ai technology is only in its infancy and will inevitably and exponentially evolve with time.

Some cite generative Ai's infinite potential as a point of optimism. But for myself, as a human constrained by the very finite mechanisms of the human mind, I find Ai foreboding to say the least. I know many will claim, myself too at my most optimistic, that Ai will be a powerful tool that will alleviate us from having to do all those tasks that once monopolized our time, such as writing tedious emails and soulless reports. But with time, I believe future Ai technology, including the next generation of ChatGPTs, will too take over those tasks that once brought us meaning. The antidotes to our existential angst.

Just hear me out. It's like when we're grinding through average days thinking: "I can't wait for the weekend to come!" or "I can't wait for break to be here!" At some point, we may realize that all we had were those days we once hoped to pass. I fear our reliance on Ai will be of a similar spirit. We'll lean on it more and more until we realize that we have nothing left but a chasm in our life that even the most formidable Ai technology cannot fill. We will give away all we have for the promise of actualization that never actualizes. Maybe Ai can do what hypothetical lottery wins cannot: Keep me home.

But what about human authenticity? Human ingenuity? Human creativity? Won't they always matter? I believe as Ai technology progresses, it'll become very much proficient at emulating what was traditionally thought to be the domain of humanity: our heart, our reflection, and our creativity. For example, it's suggested that Ai technology already provides more empathetic advice and bedside manner than the average doctor; I don't even want to find out all the ways it's a better teacher than me. Someday, the only characteristics that'll make human products stand out are their inefficiencies and mistakes, at least until Ai mixes some in to capture that human touch.

As human beings, we strive for perfection that never comes, or at least it never did before. However, in the future, perfection will always be a couple clicks away. But maybe it won't come free. Maybe it'll come at the cost of our purpose. But, don't just take my word for it. Just ask ChatGPT.