CrapGPT?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a current obsession in educational circles and elsewhere, in the UK. Naomi Klein (University of British Columbia, Canada) warns, however, of the standard approach used by folk in 'silicon valley'. She says they create new technologies, by first performing actions of dubious legality. In the case of AI chatbots, it's simply the scanning of masses of information and images, whether copyrighted or not. Once the 'tool' is developed, people generally can initially access it for 'free'. Once those users have become dependent, 'big electronic media' finds ways of extracting money for their, now essential, 'services'. The companies rely on their fait accompli limiting subsequent action. The CEO's of AI chatbots (and their supporters), are currently making wild claims (Klein calls them 'hallucinations') about the 'benefits' likely to flow from using their technologies. One topical claim, is that AI will 'solve' the climate crisis (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/08/ai-machines-hallucinating-naomi-klein). Klein obviously regards such claims, as merely a part of the initial sales-pitch of AI chatbot CEOs. In the case of climate change, one CEO has suggested that AI "can be used to support all stakeholders in taking a more informed and data-driven approach to combating carbon emissions and building a greener society. It can be employed to reweight global climate efforts towards the most at-risk regions." Klein points out that human intelligence (expressed by e.g. numerous climate scientists over decades) identified the nature of the dilemma and specified the steps needed to help prevent climate breakdown. AI is not required to inform human populations how to behave. It's actually their politicians and vested commercial interests (such as 'big oil'), who minimise meaningful action. Educating them isn't the problem: they know exactly what they are doing. All AI can add, is to generate more apparently convincing excuses for inaction. Klein also reminds us that giant servers are required to enable the numerous chatbots to generate instant essays and 'new' artworks. As they need lots of electricity, these servers are an enormous, and growing, source of carbon emissions. Some companies (such as Coca-Cola) are also using AI to increase their sales. Increasing consumption, of course, does nothing to help solve the climate crisis. Consequently, the very existence of AI chatbots, will actually exert further considerable pressures on climate change. A solution, it aint!