A month or so ago, ChatGPT launched and the world of AI was upon us. Within a week or two, kids were using it to complete assignments and course work. Last week, companies were preparing to roll out AI bots to replace thousands of employees. Yesterday, a paralyzed man managed to walk again, within minutes of his brain implants being connected to an AI backpack. Today, an announcement that a vital new antibiotic had potentially been discovered using AI. The future is Artificial Intelligence. Probably.
And yet. I suspect the smart entrepreneurs will find that the quick buck with be made from Artificial Unintelligence. There is clearly a market for people who prefer to live a life soused in bullshit, fakery and unreality. I proffer as evidence the new and unimproved Twitter. Very few, if any, of the folk paying $8 a month to Elon Musk seem to be living on the same planet as the rest of us. Antivaxxers, pro Ruzzians, conspiracy theorists, fascists – they’re all well represented. Paying good money for a blue check mark that has become a quick and easy means of identifying the loons and louts. An Artificial Unintelligence app capable of producing demonstrable nonsense would prove popular. And profitable.
On the subject of Artificial Unintelligence, the Republican Party is gearing up for the start of the 2024 presidential race. Surely someone will play Trump at his own game. There is a gold mine of material ready to go. “I’d just like to thank my fellow candidates, Tom, Roy, Marco, Inmate 36528 Trump…” “The only thing that has changed from his first campaign to this one is that Lock Her Up turned into Let Me Out.” “The American people need to know that the person they elect to the White House, or Cell 2654 Wing B, Rikers Island Penetentiary as the case may be…” “No means no. Rape is rape. Unless they let you rape them, as some people say. What say you, Inmate 36528?”
Not that politics in the UK is any more blessed with much intelligence, artificial or otherwise. The Conservative Party has been ripping itself apart since 2015. Because of Brexit. Because they allowed the right wing fringe to dictate policy. A smart politician, on the left or right, would look at a situation and assess where it is likely to end – and then make sure he/she gets there first and gets there quickly. In Rishi Sunak’s case, that means swinging the party back towards Single Market membership, taking the whip away from the ERG nutters and calling a general election. Will Sunday do that? No. He’s weak. But that is what an AI PM would do.
Some folk are worried that AI will take over and destroy us all. I think that maybe those folk have taken their eye off the ball and haven’t noticed where the real thing is leading us…
The Mexile 
On politics: the pendulum is due to swing back left on both sides of the Atlantic With current demographics, it should not be severe. I think your observation of getting there first is accurate .
Musk seems to be a nutter in spades, we’ll see how long he goes before he flames out. I think he knows the danger of government regulation and largeness. Both government funding and regulation could be used to take away his pony if he trips up in the public trust department-he walks a fine line today.
As to AI, I’m not sold yet, maybe I’m missing something?
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Musk seems to have settled on a strategy of defending free speech by saying the indefensible. An odd strategy. An odd guy.
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I haven’t noticed much difference on Twitter since Elon took control. But then I tend not to wander far afield on it either. My guess is people shell out the $8 so that they can actually fix typos for a change.
I think you are right though. At least in 2023 there’s a much bigger market for Natural Stupidity than for Artificial Intelligence. And it was Natural Stupidity that worried Isaac Asimov the most too, not AI and robots.
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Natural Stupidity is something we have in abundance, sadly. And as long as we have oxygen to burn, stupidity will continue to churn.
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There are already at least two geysers of Artificial Unintelligence, spewing out bullshit daily. One is Truth Social, headquartered in Mar-A-Lago. Another is Fox News. A good-sized segment of the population lives by them.
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Sometimes you speak to a person, and you can see why bigoted news channels would appeal to them. There’s always a market, and those folk don’t throw any surprises. And sometimes you speak to a smarter fellow who should be able to see it for what it is….and yet. They don’t. So here we are in 2023 waiting to see if the US lurches back to the insane fringes of the right wing.
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