The One Percent Rule
“Do you think I am an automaton?—a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!…And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you… and we stood at God’s feet, equal—as we are!”~ Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre [1847]
I'm very much in favor of AI and believe its benefits can be significant. I've personally built and implemented AI solutions with positive impacts for users, such as an AI-powered voice control system enabling blind and partially blind individuals to interact with their banking apps. However, history has taught me that unchecked technological optimism can be detrimental. Therefore, I strive to balance my enthusiasm by acknowledging the potential pitfalls of AI if left unregulated.
I also strive to help people understand what AI is and can be, not the AI of folk stories, or existential threat, but tools which can enable individuals to creatively explore novel ideas, and by doing this, help people to consider the values inherent in AI technology, and critically evaluate the long-term effects this technology may have on the world.
