Excessive automation can remove the positive aspects of the human experience from the equation, introduce error states that would otherwise not exist,

Optimal automation – Aral Balkan

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2024-10-16 18:30:02

Excessive automation can remove the positive aspects of the human experience from the equation, introduce error states that would otherwise not exist, introduce unnecessary erosions of human rights (e.g., privacy implications via ubiquitous surveillance and mass centralised data gathering) and/or lead to excessive consumption of resources, needless environmental damage, and habitat loss.

Automatic transmissions and cruise control are examples of optimal automation, while self-driving cars are an example of excessive automation.2

Small language models and on-device applications of machine learning such as translation and personal knowledge management are examples of optimal automation, while the global rush to implement large language models/generative AI – glorified autocomplete that spews bullshit, poisons our global network of knowledge, and is scaled at great environmental cost and misleadingly marketed as a pathway to artificial general intelligence – is an example of excessive automation.

Capitalism – growth-driven as it is – is unable to stop at the optimal level of automation and careens head-first into excessive automation time and time again.