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Societal disruption: Artificial intelligence

Societal disruption: Artificial intelligence
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Kevin Frazier is an Assistant Professor at the Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University. He previously clerked for the Montana Supreme Court.

Who decided the world should be disrupted by AI? Do you recall receiving a voter pamphlet on the pros and cons of AI development and deployment? Was I the only one who missed election day?


The truth of the matter is that the most impactful decisions about AI are being made by a few people with little to no input from the rest of us. That's a recipe for unrest if I've ever heard one.

A couple dozen AI researchers think there's a chance that AI could lead to unprecedented human flourishing. So, they have taken it upon themselves to develop ever more advanced AI models. At the same time, they have freely admitted that they increasingly have limited control over the technology itself and its potential side effects.

Is it any surprise that more than a few folks feel disenchanted with a governing system that purports to give power to the people but, in practice, empowers computer scientists to more or less unilaterally throw society into a potential doom loop?

It's as if we've been asked what we wanted for dinner, answered, "Thai," and then we're told we could decide between Pepperoni or Canadian Bacon. That's not a choice. That's not power. That's democratic gaslighting.

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A functioning democracy should not leave decisions that may create irreversible harm for generations to a room of computer scientists.

In addition to allowing a small set of AI labs to introduce humankind-altering technology with no input from you and me, now our elected officials are asking these same unrepresentative and unelected tech leaders for advice on how best to regulate this emerging technology.

News from D.C. last week included headline after headline about Senator X consulting with tech leader Y. Missing from the headlines and, more importantly, from those meetings– representatives of the communities– foreign and domestic– who are going to bear the brunt of the good, bad, and ugly generated by AI.

It's again worth noting that some of us, perhaps many of us, think AI should not have been introduced at this point or at least not at this scale.

If you’re still with me and you still agree with me, you might be lamenting the fact that it’s already too late. We’re at the “Pepperoni” or “Canadian Bacon” stage of this decision making process, so whatever influence we wield now over the development of AI will have an insignificant impact on its long-term trajectory. Worse, there’s a chance that if we succeed in halting the deployment of AI models, China or [fill in the blank “bad guy” country] will just keep advancing their own models and eventually use those models against us in some war or economic contest.

Such arguments are flimsier than cheese-filled crust. I’d rather live in a U.S. that has strong communities where people perform meaningful work, still use their critical thinking skills, and trust their social institutions than a U.S. that leads the world in A.I.

In fact, I’d bet on that version of the U.S. to outlast and outcompete any other country that thinks technology is the key to human flourishing.

We need to shift the narrative from “how do we shape the development of AI?” to “when and under conditions should we permit limited uses of AI?” In the interim, it’s fine for our officials to consult AI experts and leaders but voters, not tech CEOs, should be the ones determining when and how AI changes our society.

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Johnson said the federal government reversing course on the allotted funding has left community groups who were set to receive it in the lurch.

“That just seems wrong, to take away these public benefits that there was already an agreement — Congress has already appropriated or committed to spending this, to handing this money out, and the rug is being pulled out from under them,” Johnson said.

Climate Power has tracked clean energy projects across the country totaling $56.3 billion in projected funding and over 50,000 potential jobs that have been stalled or canceled since Trump was elected in November. Michigan accounts for seven of those projects, including Nel Hydrogen’s plans to build an electrolyzer manufacturing facility in Plymouth.

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“America is losing nearly a thousand jobs a day because of Trump’s war against cheaper, faster, and cleaner energy. Congressional Republicans have a choice: get in line with Trump’s job-killing energy agenda or take a stand to protect jobs and lower costs for American families,” Climate Power executive director Lori Lodes said in a March statement.

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In support of its clean energy goals, the state fronted some of its own taxpayer dollars for several projects to complement the federal IRA money. Johnson said the strategy was initially successful, but with sudden shifts in federal policies, it’s potentially become a risk, because the state would be unable to foot the bill entirely on its own.

The state still has its self-imposed clean energy goals to reach in 25 years, but whether it will meet that deadline is hard to predict, Johnson said. Michigan’s clean energy laws are still in place and, despite Trump’s efforts, the IRA remains intact for now.

“Thanks to the combination — I like to call it a one-two punch of the state-passed Clean Energy and Jobs Act … and the Inflation Reduction Act, with the two of those intact — as long as we don’t weaken it — and then the combination of the private sector and technological advancement, we can absolutely still make it,” Johnson said. “It is still going to be tough, even if there wasn’t a single rollback.”

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