Why is AI Being Pushed So Hard?
“Why is AI being pushed so hard?” is the core research question I’m proposing. I will be approaching this question under the framework of dialectical materialism (or something adjacent) and would like to investigate this question through three lenses: First, a brief history of the boom and bust structure within the tech industry. Second, commodification as it pertains to the consumer, the laborer, the executive/shareholder, and AI. Third, the death of self-reverence. The first two lenses are self-explanatory, the third is a bit more complex. “The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe (the Communist Manifesto),” is what inspired this lens. The point of interest, for me, is the dynamics by which AI supposedly makes writing irrelevant. Writing (or more generally, creating) is something that AI can do for you, but to what end? The ultimate answer is profit, or perhaps something like “usefulness.” The implication is that the reason to write (create) is solely because it is profitable (or “useful” in some other way), but part of the reason to write (or read, or create, or engage with creations) is because it enriches and empowers you as a person. That’s the self-reverence which is being lost. Writing (and by association creating, and by association the “self” that creates) is implicitly being shunned as a thing that needs to be done, rather than a method of self-exploration and empowerment.
I expect to primarily be interacting with two main types of sources. First, books that: detail the history of the tech industry; detail labor, social, and material conditions; detail commodification. Second, pieces of marketing, PR, etc. which are created to push for AI (or similar movements in the past). I predict a few issues with this paper. First, it would require a copious amount of reading. That’s fine, as I am a quick and eager reader, but it could be tough. Second, the third lens that I proposed is incredibly difficult to synthesize and refine, but is also hard to drop as it is the most important lens. Third, I already have an idea of the kind of paper I want to write going in, which will likely subject me to confirmation bias. Fourth, I’d like to avoid riddling this paper with nuanced terms unless they’re ones that I clearly define for my readers, which could bloat the paper. Lastly, this paper would, by necessity, be long and arduous.