Illustration: Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images
In 2025, there will likely be as many AI stories as there are startups peddling AI. Will it transform society into a utopia and free us from all responsibilities, or will it breathe life and kill us all? And who will benefit from the results in the first place?
According to respected sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom, the answer is clear. No matter how you slice it, the future of AI belongs to the wealthy.
“The reason people try to sell the idea that the future is already fixed is because it's so unstable,” Cottom said during a recent panel discussion at the Metropolitan Consulate General in Detroit. “I think this promise about the future of artificial intelligence is really just a collective anxiety that very wealthy and powerful people have about how well they can control us.”
“If they can get us to accept that the future is already solved, that AI is already here and the end is already here, then we will create it for them,” Cottom continued. “My boldest idea is to refuse,” she said to applause.
Cottom cuts to the heart of an issue that both AI destroyers and AI promoters seem to take for granted. That means a future dominated by AI is inevitable.
A future built on large-scale language models (LLMs) is far from a lock, given the recent development stagnation that technology companies have experienced. (Consider, for example, the fact that after the most recent December update, ChatGPT can no longer even produce accurate alphabet posters for preschoolers.)
“My proposal for a post-human future is a future in which humans exist only to be subjected to inhumane treatment,” Cottom said. “We're not going to stop creating humans or humans. We're just saying they're not going to treat you as humans. And I refuse. And I think we can all do that.”
City Consulate General: Jason Reynolds & Treci McMillan Cottom
Cottom points to the historical record. For example, the fact that chattel slavery was once considered a predetermined reality, a myth propagated by the wealthiest people of a bygone era. “I think being black is an act of refusal, and I think we know how to refuse,” she told the audience. “I think everyone else needs to learn that from us.”
And while Cottom's claims are bleak – the idea that the world's most powerful billionaires are using AI to take complete control of humanity – she is not lacking in hope. “I think refusing is actually a more hopeful and expansive vision of the future than one that tells us the future is already decided. That's my bold idea.”
Learn more about AI: Google CEO says we'll all have to go through this pain as AI pushes society into a wood chipper
