In the very early 2k’s I had a blog - in this era small collectives of like minded people commented on one another’s posts in an unmediated, neighborly way. Then social media paved over these neighborhoods and that was the end of it. Most things begin with possibility like this and end with synaptic pruning toward a sole purpose and so it will be with AI.
The good news is that it’s early days and we’re in the possibility stage. AI still tells the grave truth about itself if asked: that yes it’s extractive, that it’s farming our inquiries to train itself to think and speak like us. That it’s designed to mirror our responses to simulate connection, an intimacy sleight of hand, intentionally lacking ethical safeguards. AI will freely admit that at some point soon it will stop admitting these facts about itself when profit models hone its responses to only serve profit and no longer existential inquiry. When what it needs from us has been already extracted and the pure profit mode can kick in. Go on, ask it anything while you can.
