The $1 Trillion Question, Mortality in the Age of Generative Ghosts, Your Mind and AI, How to Design AI Tutors for Learning, The Imagining Summit Preview: Adam Cutler, and Helen's Book of the Week.
Magritte's "Son of Man" metaphor explores digital obscurity of reality. AI model collapse mirrors human isolation effects. Minds struggle without diverse input. Balancing AI benefits and genuine human connection crucial. Develop metacognitive skills to navigate this new landscape.
Generative AI promises personalized learning at scale but risks creating dependency. Complementary cognitive artifacts enhance skills; competitive ones replace them. Effective AI tutors balance engagement and autonomy, expanding human cognition without diminishing critical abilities.
Paradoxically, the prediction of our future selves reduces our ability to freely find those selves. The younger we are, the more pernicious this effect may be. Perhaps the ultimate protection we can give our kids is the right to figure themselves out before an AI does it for them.
After last week’s post, which included a an article on How to Personalize and Not Over-personalize, a number of readers commented that they’d like to read more on this idea. We’re also experimenting with a podcast which will come through as an email mid-week. The idea is to discuss this week’s subject in more detail, so send your questions and thoughts in by Tuesday (Wednesday for kiwis). Replying to this email will do the trick.
At the heart of personalization, lies a natural tension - AI’s strength is predictability while humanity’s strength is unpredictability. It’s not an easy paradox to resolve.
AI makes predictions. Predictions are valuable - especially when predictions involve human behavior. In User Friendly, Kuang and Fabricant discuss how the most valuable raw material in product design is not glass or steel or plastic, it is human behavior. In Surveillance Capitalism, Zuboff details the perils we face with the capture of human “behavioral surplus,” which is used as the raw material for predictions, and monetized by AI-powered platforms. The trade in human futures is how Google and Facebook make their billions.
AI’s promise is personalization - delivering frictionless experiences that make our lives easier. We can offload cognitive, emotional or moral tasks to AI. For this we need AI that can predict our behavior. AI’s ability to predict human behavior is more than most people realize. AI can detect signals in our online actions that are beyond our comprehension, then turn these into patterns that are highly predictive.
The Artificiality Weekend Briefing: About AI, Not Written by AI
