My Case Against AI

I think a lot about what technology costs us... psychologically, environmentally, communally, and financially. I can't get past the idea that, if the chat bots don't convince us to end our individual lives, then their data centers will certainly do their part on us, collectively.

And then there's the AI music absolutely swamping streaming services these days, a lot of it impersonating and crediting actual musicians – though certainly not paying them. If tech companies let that slide, then the community of artists we know, love, and support will be upended even further than they already have been by streaming.

I am against AI for anything other than uses that will benefit all of humanity… like scientific research that mere mortals can’t handle. I will not use it to save time, simplify life, or see what I look like old because it destroys everything it touches.

And, yet, almost every time I see a musician post about being anti-AI for music creation, they caveat it saying, “I’m not anti-AI. I use it for _____.”

Folks. This lack of resolve and solidarity is why we can’t have anything truly nice in this world.

If you don’t want AI to take YOUR job, then you shouldn’t help it take someone else’s, especially when the real price we all pay is the dual decimation of the planet and the global economy.

Companies are slated to spend $650 BILLION on data/surveillance centers this year in the U.S. and all of those computers will need to be replaced in 3-4 years. All the while, very few people are actually willing to pay for AI because they understand its destructive nature. The financial model DOES NOT WORK yet the oligarchs are gambling our futures on this while destroying some folks’ presents.

Maybe, for once, let’s all demand that these tech broverlords show their work and prove their worth, rather than just jumping on board because they told us universal adoption was inevitable. It isn’t. Especially if we lock arms in solidarity with the people being poisoned and displaced by it. Because we are all in danger of being one of them.

In an interview earlier this year, Abena Koomson-Davis told me that the only "AI" she was interested in was Ancestral Intelligence. (She credited someone else with the original thought, but I can't recall their name.) I'm with her on that. Sharing music and meals, conversation and community with actual people may seem quaint to the tech edgelords of our time, but I'll take that any day over their vision for our shared future.