There are some strong benefits \u2013 at least for the people who want to sell us on using generative AI \u2013 to being associated with the image and concept of \u2728 sparkle \u2728. Firstly, the sparkle is connected to magic; the unknown, the unknowable. Many of us feel nostalgia towards magical stories and characters from our childhoods, like Tinkerbell, the genie from Aladdin, Sailor Moon, or (if you are capable of overlooking the real-life evil that is JK Rowling), Harry Potter. With magic, we are not invited to look closer. We are encouraged to let the magic exist; to have faith in what we see, without explanation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The companies pushing AI on us rely on our ignorance for us to continue wanting to use their AI products. They don\u2019t want us to think about the mass theft of human thought and art that makes generative AI possible, or the enormous environmental impact, or the intentions of the men spearheading the use of AI, or all the human biases and prejudices that influence the \u201cthinking\u201d of generative AI models. Far better that we see that little sparkle on every app on our phone and think of how it can magically improve our lives than to see AI for the man-made tool that it is.<\/p>\n
Magic also suggests convenience, often without consequence. In the Harry Potter series, characters generally use spells freely to do things like travel instantaneously, transform objects into different objects, become invisible. That\u2019s what AI companies keep telling us they can offer: convenience and, ultimately, freedom. Driving through Mount Eden in Auckland the other day, I spotted a large billboard promoting Samsung\u2019s suite of AI-powered products. It simply read, \u201cLet AI do your jobs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
These companies are desperate for us to believe that we should want to outsource our lives to AI. That we should want convenience above all else. What I want to know is, if we\u2019re outsourcing every daily decision and chore to AI (from writing a shopping list, to deciding the setting on a washing machine, to writing a text to a friend), what exactly are we saving that time for? Certainly not the jobs that we\u2019re likely going to lose to AI. I personally don\u2019t see that outsourcing the everyday tasks of life to a machine is going to give me a better life. What is life without the mundane to balance the rest?<\/p>\n
A screengrab from an ad for Samsung AI<\/p>\n