Don’t Fuss About Training AIs. Train Our Kids
People worried about AI taking their jobs are competing with a myth. Instead, people should train themselves to be better humans.
Esther Dyson is a longtime tech industry analyst and author of “Release 2:0: A Design for Living in the Digital Age."
Humanity is waking up to the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence, but we don’t yet understand our role. People talk about unexplainable AI when they should be more concerned about the unexplainable humans running the companies that develop the AI. (Hiya, Sam!) People worried about AI taking their jobs and taking control are competing with a myth. Instead, people should train themselves to be better humans even as they develop better AI. People are still in control, but they need to use that control wisely, ethically and carefully.
The first step is to understand the fundamental difference between humans and AIs. We are analog, chemical beings, with emotions and feelings. Compared with machines, we think slowly—and we act too fast, failing to consider the long-term consequences of our behavior (which AI can help predict). So we should not compete with AI; we should use it. At the same time, we should become better humans: more self-aware and more understanding of the world around us, better able to understand our own and others’ motivations. We should know enough to manipulate ourselves and to resist manipulation by others.
