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The AI ‘arms race’
AI’s precipitous and dramatic entry into the technology mix has ushered in what Time magazine and other mainstream publications are calling an “AI Arms Race.”
The designation is telling, given that AI has been developed with significant funding from the defense and government sectors.
This accelerated deployment is happening without the benefit of thoughtful political oversight because elected officials, often at a disadvantage in the face of technologies they don’t completely understand, are providing little guidance, regulation or pushback.
U.S. citizens are being subjected to a relentless onslaught from intrusive technologies embedded in the everyday fabric of our lives, creating unprecedented levels of social and political upheaval.
Parsing the subtler impact of technology in our lives is tricky. That’s because it sneaks up on us. It doesn’t happen by a vote or by some distinct series of events. Rather, it just creeps along, establishing itself in maddeningly minute increments.
The sum total of these technological intrusions, fostered by government and corporations often working together, constitutes a semi-invisible overlay of technocratic governance that has no central organizing principle, unlike the traditional government structures we’re familiar with.
Just because these systems are “distributed” (to use a little computer jargon) doesn’t mean that they are any less powerful. And while the internet presents the appearance of democratized participation, it’s important to remember that its ultimate Oz-like control is centralized in the deep corridors of Big Tech companies.
