From Floppy Disks to Fake News
How we built a world that knows everything — and believes nothing
In elementary school, we had to purchase floppy disks for computer class. Our teachers would tell us that Wikipedia was not a trusted source of information and that we should be careful about where we got our information. By the time I entered middle school, floppy disks were obsolete, and Wikipedia was widely becoming a trusted starting point for any topic we wanted to learn about. Two decades later, anyone with a smartphone has the entire world’s knowledge in the palm of their hand.
I’m about to turn 30 now and we’re entering a technological age that I spent my entire childhood dreaming about. AI growth and adoption is already unprecedented compared to previous technological advances. Groundbreaking scientific discoveries feel like they’re right around the corner, helping us uncover mysteries that would have taken decades of work.
But we are not ready for the ramifications of widespread AI usage. The same technology that I once dreamt about is so often used to disinform and deceive through images and videos that are increasingly becoming indistinguishable from reality. Works used to train these large language models will not be credited and the people behind those works will not be rightfully compensated. When only a small handful of corporations control how and what the models are trained on, can we truly have faith that this technology is more trustworthy than those early days of Wikipedia?
I still dream about a future where AI is a net positive for the world. I think it’s possible that we can make that future a reality. But we must be informed about the dangers and pitfalls along the way and enact necessary guardrails to prevent and mitigate the potential for harm. We need to demand the same of our elected officials, or elect and support candidates who do.
AI will change the world as we know it. It’s up to us to determine if that change will be one to look forward to.
—Ethan Mook
Have thoughts?
As I have said in my Letter to the Editer , I am not against AI as long as It is well understood from the start and will be closely regulated for the benefit of all Americans , especilly guarding against mis-information.
Thank you, Ethan. This is a New World. Just like when we were building our New Country, we need the wisdom of our fore”fathers.” Even as they protected us with checks and balances, they knew there would be power-hungry people that would subvert them for their own benefit.
We need a diverse group of altruistic and visionary people to build safeguards into this New World. Unfortunately, what we have right now, is the opposite group of people building it for their own enrichment and control.
But the good news is, recognizing that, is the first step to fixing it.