Advances in AI Less About Flashy Robots and More About ‘Creeping Incrementalism’
Artificial intelligence, disguised as helpful hints on web search results, is already having an active effect on society.
WASHINGTON, February 2, 2022 — Experts in artificial intelligence said that the future of AI is less about flashy robots with facial expressions and more about subtle advancements that entice users to give away more time and information.
“We’re no longer in the emerging phase of AI,” says Chloe Autio, advisor and senior manager at the Cantellus Group, a boutique consultancy focused on strategy and governance of emerging technologies like AI, in an exchange with Broadband Breakfast Editor and Publisher Drew Clark.
Autio and fellow Broadband Breakfast Live Online speaker, Sarah Oh, senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute, made clear that AI is no longer a far-away concept that won’t be realized for many years, instead it is already a part of our everyday lives.
“For me, it’s less of this fear that we’ll all turn into robots or that robots will turn into us,” says Autio. Instead, Autio says her concern sprouts from the growing dependency society has on AI technologies without knowing it.
These technologies vary from Alexa and Siri to apps like Instagram and Twitter. “Social media platforms have changed to optimize for engagement and participation,” said Autio.
Chloe Autio
In doing this, social media platforms are utilizing AI technologies that help them learn more about users. Autio also gave the example of advanced search engines that give users responses in complete sentences rather than just a list of resources.
“People need to be more wary of these sorts of advancements through creeping incrementalism,” warned Autio.
Oh echoes these concerns in a more generalized way: “It’s like electricity, it’s a general technology. It empowers both negative and positive uses,” she says.
While the conversation did highlight some of the exciting potential AI holds, the fears of AI’s potential, if not already active, effect on society were abundantly apparent.
Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place on Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. You can also PARTICIPATE in the current Broadband Breakfast Live Online event. REGISTER HERE.
Wednesday, January 26, 2022, 12 Noon ET — AI’s Impact on Media, Law, Finance and Government
Artificial Intelligence is continuing to transform wide realms of our society and economy, and machine-based intelligence is just getting started. In this forward-focused session of Broadband Breakfast Live Online, we’ll speak with thinkers, innovators, and policy-makers about how journalism, law, finance and government services have been or will be transformed by AI. Join us for a world of discovery, as well as caution, about policies that need to be in place to harness the power of AI.
Panelists for this Broadband Breakfast Live Online session:
- Chloe Autio, Advisor, The Cantellus Group
- Dr. Sarah Oh, Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute
- Other guests have been invited
- Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast
Chloe Autio is an Advisor and Senior Manager at The Cantellus Group, a boutique consultancy focused on strategy and governance of emerging technologies like AI. Chloe specializes in AI policy and applied practice, most recently as a Director of Public Policy at Intel Corp. Chloe is a founding board member of the DC chapter of Women in Security and Privacy (WISP) and holds an economics degree from UC Berkeley where she also studied technology policy.
Sarah Oh is a Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute. She has presented research to the Western Economic Association and Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, witness testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, and has co-authored work published in the Northwestern Journal of Technology & Intellectual Property, Berkeley Technology Law Journal, and other peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Oh completed her Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University, and holds a J.D. from Scalia Law School and a B.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
Drew Clark is the Editor and Publisher of BroadbandBreakfast.com and a nationally-respected telecommunications attorney. Drew brings experts and practitioners together to advance the benefits provided by broadband. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he served as head of a State Broadband Initiative, the Partnership for a Connected Illinois. He is also the President of the Rural Telecommunications Congress.
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