Utah speaks: Axios SLC readers voice resistance to AI
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
We asked for your AI takes, and the response was almost unanimous: resistance.
The big picture: AI's rise is driving people into three camps, Axios' Ina Fried reports: power users, doubters and resisters.
- A lot of the resistance is fueled by concerns that AI will make workers redundant, especially in white-collar fields, Axios' Emily Peck reports.
What they're saying: "I do think about what it means for my kids' education and career prospects," reader Jason Stevenson wrote.
- "For them, will 'prompting' become more important than actual writing?" he asked. "What are the inter-personal careers and jobs they should pursue that AI cannot replace? How do I convince them this is something to think about when I seem like a Chicken Little character to them?"
The intrigue: Many of you were less worried about losing jobs to AI and more concerned about losing our minds to it.
- "We are already living in a world where people can't even agree on what is 'real' and that will only get worse as we delegate our thinking and decision making to AI," reader Linda Bosen wrote.
"It makes our memories worse, our creativity stalled, and becomes an external decision maker [for] everything from: Should I shower or brush my teeth first, to help with mental health."— Shannon Mussett, philosophy professor, UVU
The other side: Some of you acknowledged AI has potential to make you more productive at work and boost certain industries.
Yes, but: We didn't get any optimistic responses that weren't tempered with a broader fear that AI is doing too much, too quickly.
Case in point: Reader Iva Williams uses it at work in the software industry and anticipates likely benefits in health care — a service we all need but can't always access.
- But, Williams noted, "we should be approaching it like nuclear or bio engineering, as it has the potential to be devastating to our economy ... and honestly, possibly, humanity."
"I haven't sworn it off, but every time I use it my soul does lose a little of its light."— Maria Harman, graphic designer
Meanwhile, Williams and other readers who described themselves as AI moderates still expressed "moral" and "ethical" objections to data centers, due to their consumption of natural resources.
Between the lines: You can't really have AI without data centers.
The bottom line: As an "AI pragmatist," reader Ben Cook said he's found many helpful uses at work — but returned to the wisdom of the fictional Dr. Ian Malcolm from "Jurassic Park."
- "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."