IT Essentials: Nobody wants this

We’re going get it anyway

Big Tech’s relentless campaign to force AI into every interaction is beginning to show real signs of backfiring as awareness grows of the cost.

Google’s announcement last week that it was killing off its traditional search feature and replacing it with “AI-powered interactive experiences” was deeply unpopular, and not just with the digital publishers it will put under even more pressure, but with Google Search users. Why?

Because they want a search engine to direct them to other, more reliable sources of information as opposed to having Google synthesise a summary that might be partially or wholly inaccurate. If you’re researching a serious piece of work, the last thing you need is a torrent of slop and made-up citations.

Above all, what seems to have really infuriated many academics, writers and internet users everywhere is the prospect of Big Tech using AI to control more of what they see online. Do you trust Big Tech to serve up accurate information? Reader, I do not. Give me the links and I’ll decide for myself what deserves my attention.

Anti-AI attitudes are hardening

Google has added to the simmering pot of anti-AI feeling. We saw it in the research from King's College, London about public attitudes to AI, particularly those of younger people who are becoming increasingly hostile towards technology they have been repeatedly told is ruining their job prospects. Crazy, huh? The comments about replacing "lower-value human capital" from the Chief Executive of Standard Chartered, as he announced both record profits and more job cuts will have no doubt registered with many in the same demographic.

We saw it in the boos directed at former Google-CEO Eric Schmidt as he addressed graduates of the University of Arizona and we also saw it in a similar address by Gloria Caulfield, a property executive, at the University of Central Florida.

We even saw it last month in a LinkedIn post by a software engineer who tried to hand distribute a few hard copy CVs to potential tech employers. Spoiler – it didn’t go well.

Losing agency

What all these experiences show is people losing agency – over their careers, their future prosperity and the very information they see. As critical thinking is eroded by AI summaries - sorry, experiences – we are collectively ceding our ability to decide for ourselves whether a piece of information is useful or even true.

There’s also the increasingly troubling question over the way chatbots like ChatGPT encourage users to cede control over their mental health – questions which Big Tech continues to wave away as it does any suggestion of harms arising from the use of its products which are purposely built to flatter the user.

At the same time, the miniscule number of people AI is enriching, are telling people that they must use AI lest they be ‘left behind.’ Meta has taken that to its apogee, with its open and explicit monitoring of Meta employees digital work to better train its AI.

Every time Big Tech peels away a layer human agency in the name of convenience or productivity, it chips away a little more at our ability to think, choose, and decide for ourselves. And very, very few are profiting.

People are noticing.