Chris Khatsch

"In his 1976 book, Weizenbaum wrote about something he called “civil courage”. “Every individual must act as if the whole future of the world, of humanity itself, depends on him. Anything less is a shirking of responsibility and is itself a dehumanizing force, for anything less encourages the individual to look upon himself as a mere actor in a drama written by anonymous agents.” That might sound a little grandiose for a book that is, at least ostensibly, mostly about computer programming. But as someone who escaped the Holocaust as a boy, Weizenbaum knew that it is a dangerous thing when people begin to see other people as “non-player characters” — and even more dangerous if they begin to see themselves that way. My sense is that the era of “AI malaise” is coming to an end — at least, everywhere except the place that is supposedly in charge of it. Admittedly, trying to shape the application of technology through human debate, compromise and action can be wearying and effortful. Participating in politics, at the level of the workplace, the community or the nation, can be frequently enraging and unsatisfying. But it is better than watching passively as a handful of people race to make the future, when even they don’t seem to think they can be trusted with it." - Sarah O’Connor