Machine intelligence in a tender world

what I'm learning and hunches I'm forming on AI and how it will impact the lives of our families and communities

As long as I’m human, I’ll need your insights, your shares, your subscriptions to keep this thing going. And I promise, I plan on being human til the very end. 😜

Speaking of being human, I’m going to take a couple of weeks off. I’ll be popping up in your inbox again on July 8th. Be well.

A couple of months ago I was grateful to be at the Skoll World Forum, reuniting with old friends and making some new friends, and learning, learning, learning. One of the topics threaded through many of the conversations was, of course, artificial intelligence (which one speaker argues is better named machine intelligence).

Are you intrigued, scared, confused about the role that this new technology is and will play in our lives and the lives of our families and communities at this fragile time? Me too! Here are some of my learnings and hunches after listening deeply. I wanted to share them with you so we can keep learning together:

• We are living through a moment of punctuated evolution. The world marches along sometimes, and then other times it races. We are in a fast-paced era of violent change. There is so much tragedy and possibility—norms, people, technologies, ecosystems dying and being born minute-by-minute. It’s dizzying and de-stabalizing on so many levels, so if you’re feeling that, it’s real and you’re not alone.

• Machine intelligence is decent at connecting people to life-saving information when they need it (think about a teenage girl who doesn’t feel like she can talk to any adults in her life finding out about contraceptive options via a chatbot created by Girl Effect, for example); it is much more dynamic and potentially perilous when it’s used for relational purposes (think of AI-assisted suicides among young people).

• One of the dangers of the relational uses of AI are the ways in which it parrots the human interacting with it. This leads to reinforcement of one’s worldview, whether you’re talking about your spouse or your president. We always need authentic and nuanced feedback about how we think and how we impact others, and we are at a particular moment when we are more politically and culturally polarized than ever. Being reinforced by a machine designed to keep us hooked is not supportive of our personal or collective evolution.

• Some are saying that AI is the end of storytelling, that writers like me will be out of a job in no time. But I actually sense the opposite. I wonder if we will become even more attached to and supportive of the human artists that we love, their weirdness, the lived experience they bring to their creations, their embodied intelligence, and society will experience at artistic resurgence where we really understand the value of human-made art again.

• Machine learning can be useful in cutting down on our administrative load as caregivers and engaged citizens. This is exciting, when one things about caregivers having their cognitive load reduced so they can spend more time with their loved ones having fun and less time arguing with insurance companies. But, as one expert I sat next to at the conference pointed out, if AI is integrated into our already and still broken systems, like healthcare, they might just make immoral systems more efficient. What’s the good in that? Imagine an AI-powered process that helps caregivers connect to respite support faster, but then there aren’t enough people actually providing the respite or funding to support the program; in this case you are moving caregivers faster towards wait times and learned helplessness.

• As machine intelligence becomes ever more integrated into our lives and the systems that run through them, natural and human intelligence will become ever more instructive and sacred. We will crave to have embodied experiences. We will crave being together with other bodies, other spirits, other vibes.

  

• The reality is, this technology is here and it’s not going anywhere. One speaker claimed that 1 out of 3 people globally is already using AI for mental health support! There is no putting the genie back in the bottle, which means it is urgent for us to befriend and influence that genie! I’m left wondering how historically marginalized people can shape large language learning models and machine intelligence so that the AI of tomorrow is more just, more culturally-relevant, and more helpful to those who need to access power and accurate information the most? And how do we make sure the climate impacts are contained and don’t become one more area where already marginalized people are further marginalized by a resource rich people are using?

When it comes to power and safety, there are SO many valid questions around machine learning and we desperately need wiser, slower, more collectively conscious people in discernment and decision-making positions around its roll-out. I think the Center for Humane Technology has some of the best explainers on what the dangers are and what we can do about it. I’ve often felt like the guys in Silicon Valley currently leading the AI charge need a major dose of big sister energy—someone who can help them take seriously how much this technology can impact humanity and our shared future. Just last Friday, Anthropic’s latest model was suspended by the Trump administration because of national security concerns.

In my own life, I will tell you that I’ve vaccilated between avoiding AI altogether because I’ve heard about the climate and data security risks, among others, and trying to play around a bit with it so I am not so uninformed that I can’t form questions around it for myself. Most of that play has happened with a protocol called Librarian Aiden Earl Grey, created by the collective behind those two books I shared my takeaways from here. I have asked it for support around familial relationships, information about care systems and funding, travel recommendations, dog training, recipes, and up-to-date information about editors that I might pitch on elder care.

Okay, your turn: How are you using AI in your own family life—if at all? What are your fears and questions? What systemic organizing are you paying attention to?