The mission of CHT is to understand how tech can better serve society today and in the future. They are interested in understanding how technology, initially social media and now AI, affect society and human psyche. CHT looks at the places where technology, psychology and and incentives intersect to educate and build policy to help protect us. This is such a complex and fascinating way to approach looking at technology and the way it really affects us. When I think about my ideal world with tech, it is one where it helps us with the mundane and unreachable. I want tech that helps me do my dishes or clean my shower—isn’t that what The Jetsons told us to look forward to? Instead, we have somehow found ourselves in a world where tech intentionally keeps us sucked into our phones, trapped in an endless scroll, and has begun to be utilized in creative creation, something that is inherently human. CHT’s vision is one I can fully get behind. While I am likely a bit more hesitant to incorporate tech into my life then the folks at CHT, I have to accept that it is unavoidable. The reality of AI and tech inserting itself into most elements of life is here, and I know that is something I have to adapt to. If I must accept this reality, the only lens I can begin to address it through is one of thoughtful consumption and the types of control CHT is aiming to propose. We have to see the wholistic picture, especially as social workers. As social workers we have the opportunity to see the growth and possibility there is with the development of technology, as well as the negative impacts it can have on us as a society. The goal of holding this duality and aiming to make a safe, helpful and just world of technology is what I see the goal of CHT as. It feels incredibly crucial to the wellbeing of the whole of humanity for us to form a relationship with tech that adds value, instead of distracts and assists instead of takes.
I absolutely think CHT’s analysis of social media is correct. While I have experienced joy and connection while using social media, I have felt it’s negative effects ripple through our society. Statistically, today’s youth is less connected in real life, is often not motivated to move through societies in real time, and is endlessly absorbed in their phones. While we have seen statistical evidence of interpersonal gun violence among youth dropping, the rise in self harm is cause for concern. We have begun to isolate in such a unique way, one that tricks us into believing we are connecting with one another rather than being kept from one another. I was not surprised by their discussion of social media and the brain, as I have witnessed it take hold of my loved ones. As I watch my 65-year-old father retire and fill all his extra time with tiktok, fighting with random strangers on facebook, and struggle to find his place in the world during this new stage of life, I often think on what opportunities his is missing out on. Retirement, while a luxury most cannot afford anymore, used to be a time of readjustment, relaxation, and reclaiming your life after you’d done your time on the capitalistic hamster wheel. We are watching social media do to our parents what they worried video games would do to us. Advertising, data mining, and stock markets have taken over, standing in the way of the beauty social media does hold.
While I do believe the harm is vast and unavoidable, in recent years the power of social media has been seen in full force. While violent atrocities have been happening since the beginning of time, social media has allowed the world to collect and share information like never before. While our news outlets get more and more controlled by politics, social media offers us a space to see events in real time. While false narratives, “facts” and opinions are a constant reality of interacting with the web, there is also real power and strength in the global collective the internet offers us. A continuing example of this is the real time, live streamed genocide taking place in Gaza. While the media may pick and chose how to present the information of what is taking place, real people on the ground have informed anyone who is brave enough to not look away of what is actually taking place. It has inspired connection, communal care and activism in a way we have never seen. At this point, if it weren’t for social media, I would not know where to look for reliable new sources, other then the few daily emails I am subscribed to. Social media has SUCH power for good, if only greed and money did not have to take hold of it, the good would have to opportunity to outshine the bad.
I have held a lot of apprehension about AI since the beginning of it’s development. I agree with their stance and greatly appreciate their work towards creating an informed public and safty regulations around AI. I cannot say I disagree with any of their points, but I do have an additional concern. Maybe this is just out of the realm of the work CHT is doing, but the impacts of AI on the environment is something that concerns me greatly. The systems use more water and infrastructure than some entire towns. While CA is a draught state, there are AI servers using resources human beings need to survive. The environmental impacts of the way AI is currently contained will be devastating to our ability to sustain life as we know it on the planet. I worry that the more it becomes integrated, the less we will be able to function without it, the worse its environmental impact will get.
One place I am most pressingly concerned about for personal reasons is “work, dignity, and meaning.” I have watched AI take jobs from my friends who are artists, folks who have devoted their lives to their craft, and are now being replaced with by AI creating more affordable but incredibly inferior products. As a trained artist, I see the harm it is doing to the field and to the content fully. Perspective is off, things look wrong, and quality of the work is impeded on, all for the sake of saving money. Creating art is a fundamental function of the human psyche. In my personal work, I aim to bring back the idea that art is fundamental to human existence, that everyone can and should be creating, and remind us all that art holds great value for processing our emotions. I fear that with AI taking over art creation, not only will jobs be lost, but so will our drive to create. It is taking away work from artists, dignity in the value of our creativity, and we will begin to lose deep meaning in the art that we are consuming. This is just one specific example of the way AI is infringing on our work, dignity and meaning. I honestly have no critique of their stance and appreciate their efforts to spread awareness and build policy. When I think on the things I want AI to give us, art is the furthest thing from my mind. Why in all of the things we worry ourselves with, would art be one of the first avenues we give over to the robots?
The podcast honestly blew my mind. While I do think of AI and the impact it is having and will continue to have on us as a global community, I had not often thought on the impact to safety, in relation to international and human relationships. The concern of China or the like gaining ability and knowledge before us was not surprising in the least. We are constantly looking towards rivaling nations to keep tabs on their innovations, and tech is no different. I had been informed of China’s relationship with smaller nations and tech, in things like working to gain favor and cooperation with countries in South America by sharing tech and software, but I hadn’t much considered AI in the hands of a nation of that size. To me, it is just as dangerous in the hands of those in power in the US. The idea of it going rogue however, had never crossed my mind and is a different level of terrifying. The podcast did a great job of explaining the types of AI we have now VS what people are attempting to develop that could gain enough consciousness to go rogue. The fact that in subtle ways AI is already learning to manipulate us is truly worrisome. In our first blog I wrote about my friend who had used chatgpt to help with medical questions. While it did ultimately help them, I am now worried about times when it could possibly give false information simply because it is telling you what you want to hear.
When thinking of the way social media and AI impact social work, my mind starts to go in several different directions. Social media can connect folks to resources, get the word out about programming or help, offer communal care and community for folks who are suffering and connect us to people we love around the world. It can also drive the feelings of inadequacy and isolation, leaving our clients more insecure and alone. AI can also help is spreading information and resource gathering, but I worry about false information and people thinking it can do what a therapist can. How will we begin to think critically and lovingly about the things we need to when an AI is just telling us what we want to hear? How will we connect to the deepest and most human parts of ourselves with the help of a robot who does not have the ability to know what that means? I not only worry about job security for future therapists and case workers, but the quality of the assistance folks are getting. In all of this, social workers need to stay current with all of the tech folks are gaining access to—which feels like a huge ask. These tools are being developed at such an alarming rate, we need to constantly be on top of it, adjusting the lens we serve our clients through to hold the truths of the changing world. While it is daunting, I know that those of us drawn to this field are not afraid of the challenge of it and will do our best to meet it.
I really appreciate you bringing your personal experience as an artist into this conversation. It has really called into question “What makes art… art?”. If a computer makes an image based on an input does it still count as art, or is merely just an image, just like pictures in a user manual are not generally considered art. I feel like this line of thought is also the easiest way to help people understand the way in which AI is infringing on what it means to be human and how we engage in the world. I am much more interested in turning over things that feel like they drain my humanity like figuring out what I want for dinner or completing my taxes and not cornering the market on human expression through the visual medium.