Why is our Government shilling for AI companies?

I am feeling pretty salty about the AI boosterism coming from the people we elect to represent us, and decided to put this into print in today's The Irish Examiner.

I wrote about the Government's AI Ready training portal, which, I argue has at its heart two assumptions; one is that

knowledge gaps are the main barriers holding Irish people back from embracing AI. As the minister {said}, “it is about giving people the skills, confidence, and understanding they need to participate fully in an AI-enabled society.”

And the other that

AI is an economically transformative technology, similar to previous waves of industrial revolution in the past. Speaking at the launch of the training portal, minister James Lawless said that “AI readiness is no longer optional — it is essential".

But these assumptions don't stand up to much scrutiny. On the first, I pull on a piece of research - by marketing academics - that found that people with lower AI literacy are typically more receptive to AI. In other words, the less you understand the technology, the more likely you are to be excited to use it.

And on the second - the idea that AI is like "electricity or the internet" - I counter with this rant bridge;

This is part of a trend of policy makers treating AI like an exogenous force of nature. AI is not electricity, or the internet, both of which were non-proprietary infrastructure systems, built over decades and not controlled by any one company.

What most people mean when we talk about AI is not infrastructure but a set of privately owned products, built on jealously guarded models, competing to “win” the race to dominate a new marketplace. AI is not a force of nature, it is a fight for power among the wealthiest companies to have ever existed.

We hear a lot that nostalgia is the most potent fear of this political age. I would argue that FOMO is even more powerful; watch as duly elected Governments bend over backwards to divert their energy to data centres and reorient their education and economic systems over an unproven fear of being left behind.

In the piece I say that if we are going to see benefits from AI adoption, then people need to trust the tech. We don't trust the companies (*gestures wildly to the last decade) so we need to feel like our governments are on our side; that there is someone, somewhere in this quagmire who has our back, and who will try to redirect this creative energy to public goods and benefits.

The research I referenced above lays out in stark terms to AI firms that they should go after the most gullible; “companies may benefit from shifting their marketing efforts and product development toward consumers with lower AI literacy.”

We need our Governments to prepare for the possibility that the "AI revolution" is one of the most successful marketing campaign ever executed by an industry, and not mistake marketing guff for an economic blueprint.

{Do also read Elaine Burke's great piece about signing her Mam up for AI Ready, which I reference in the piece}

{And let me know what you think - you can reply to this email, or use the "thumbs up / down" button below - thank you!)