Critical Perspective on AI

1.

The first interesting thing I learned which I actually find quite smart is how billionaires in the tech industry take advantage of the AI takeover fear in order to avoid legal liability so they are acting like they are taking responsibility, but instead they are creating a diversion or distraction in which they are heroes.

Second is rather on the shocking side, not in a factual way as I kind of disagree with it because gebru says that there are armies of underpaid workers who are hired in order to prevent AI from saying certain things. I think the way she put the wording is false as yes they are underpaid, but in american standards that is, and they are hired in order to improve the machine not to keep it “Alive” part of what machine learning is.

Lastly, is that apparently Artificial intelligence is not a scientific term. I did not know that, it is a marketing term popularized to bring up venture capital which in what they said is the word “Intelligence” has a psychological effect on the human brain to give it a “pass”.

2.

We learned in this course a very valuable skill: AI critical literacy and avoiding general bias. Having to look through things in a critical lens which I have done so as I was listening to the podcast. We emphasize becoming critical digital citizens who question who holds power behind technology. Gebru’s breakdown of ‘AI hype’ was a perfect example of this lens in action. And another is identifying her overstatement on underpaid workforce.

3.

In my own life, when evaluating conflicts, reading news articles, or writing my blog posts for this class, I will consciously question the language being used. I will look critically at how passive vs. active voice shifts blame. If a headline says something in a certain way I will use my new literacy to recognize how the grammar itself is trying to shape my memory and judgment of the event.

4.

Well based on what is already included on the course and my not very creative mind which thinks everything is already covered one thing that isn’t covered but mentioned in the podcast is the ideology of longtermism in which they argue that preserving far-future human consciousness is more “morally” important than fixing current worldly issues. What I am trying to say is it would teach future students to apply a highly critical lens to see that the biases built into modern software tools aren’t just technical accidents. Instead, they are deeply rooted in elitist, exclusionary philosophies that treat real world global issues like immediate climate change,labor exploitation, and systemic discrimination as secondary to a sci-fi fantasy of digital immortality.