The Old Fears, Faster The fears about artificial intelligence are the fears about the internet, rerun at twice the speed. When the public internet arrived in th
The author draws parallels between the fears surrounding artificial intelligence and those that emerged with the public internet in the 1990s. While early critics were often dismissed as alarmist, their concerns about human connection, cultural homogenization, the limits of knowledge, and the erosion of quality gatekeeping have proven to be prescient, albeit with a different timeline. The internet initially facilitated new forms of connection and information access, but over time, it has contributed to increased loneliness, cultural uniformity, the proliferation of misinformation, and the replacement of imperfect human gatekeepers with less discerning algorithmic systems. AI
IMPACT AI's development echoes historical internet anxieties, suggesting a need to critically examine its societal impacts on connection, culture, and information quality.