Stephen Downes

This article considers the arguments for and against AI by first discarding the most popular artuments for each position - "depriving each side of its best weapon" - on the grounds that it is unconvincing to the other side. So, no 'analogy with humans' for the pro side, no 'it violates copyright' for the con side. The result is an argument between 'it may result in great scientific advances' for the pro side, and 'it may put the entire creative industry out of work' on the con side. For me, the scenario not considered is far more interesting: what if it were a good thing to replace our entire creative industry with AI? People complain about how much energy AI consumes; consider how much more energy all the people in the creative industries consume! Consider how much we have to pay for all manner of creative content! Why must artistic genius be rare, when we could produce it for pennies every day? What would all these people do instead? I don't know - something useful? I jest, of course, but only a little.