Transcending Technopessimism

Technopessimism is reaching a fever pitch, fueled by headlines like, "Meta’s AI internet chatbot starts spewing fake news," "Self-driving Uber Car Kills Pedestrian in Arizona," "Artificial Intelligence Has a Racial and Gender Bias Problem." Artificial Intelligence can be sexist, racist, or just profoundly stupid. The knee-jerk reaction to these sensational headlines is to call for limits and constraints on AI. But we need to pause and realize that to err is both human and AI. Substitute a human for the AI in those headlines, and they become completely mundane. AI misconduct garners great attention, but that’s because human transgressions are taken for granted, not because technology is necessarily worse. In many cases, even the most egregious of AI errors can be audited and corrected. In extreme cases, AIs can be shut down. Society generally frowns on “shutting down” humans whose behavior is stupid or insulting.