Where I stand on AI

In my line of work it has become unavoidable to take a stand on AI. There are risks and opportunities involved. I am interested in developing and testing practices in which AI contributes meaningfully to intellectual work and collective judgment while the human responsibilities involved, and the costs incurred, remain in view. A book I am currently preparing, a scenario canvas for exploring possible futures of AI, is itself being written in open collaboration with an AI system and includes a detailed account of who did what, and I regard it as one experiment among others in learning to work with these tools reflexively.

I am conscious of the privilege from which I approach them. My own judgment was formed through decades of reading, writing and professional practice before AI became part of everyday intellectual work, which gives me resources for assessing what the machine offers that those entering professional life today have had less opportunity to develop.

I am particularly concerned with four costs of AI: its ecological footprint, for which I have as yet no adequate answer; the narrowing of opportunities for young people, which I try to address through internships and mentorship; the possible erosion of our emotional and cognitive capacities, a concern that also informs the programme described below, and finally, the commodification of intellectual work.

These concerns call for continued experimentation, but also a willingness to recognise when the costs of AI outweigh its benefits.