Everyone these days is convinced that the internet is a weapon…and that America needs to protect itself from evil foreigners who seek to use this tech to destroy the Great American Way of Life.
Not really on topic with the TikTok thing (which I maintain got kicked into high gear as a result of the latest Israel-Gaza conflagration and too many kids seeing the genocide in action and learning inconvenient truths), but your article today sent me down a rabbit hole of your previous articles. I just finished re-reading the Baffler piece you did back in 2018 called "All EFF'd Up" about the EFF and "privacy." That is "privacy" from government but free, unfettered lack of privacy where our corporate overlords are concerned.
Couldn't help but keep finding parallels between present day "AI" and what was going on with Google and the other nascent tech giants back when they started giving online products and services like internet searches and Gmail away for "free." You know the saying: if you're not paying for a product then you ARE the product. Same shit with this rapid proliferation and adoption of "AI" which relies on almost exactly the same business model - the tech giants (and startups who hope to become or be bought by giants) vacuum up and database as much online content as they can so they can monetize it themselves. With Facebook, Gmail, and Google searches it was to analyze every user's likes, styles, behaviors, connections, etc. and target specific ads at us.
With "AI" it entailed using all the publicly available content as well as whatever IP (songs, books, etc.) and EULA-enabled "private" personal content they could get away with (before it became obvious they are actually STEALING) each respective company had automatic access to (or could purchase) to feed their "large language models" to some other nefarious end. At this point it looks like eviscerating as many paying jobs that employ actual humans as they can. But I'm sure there are even worse things ahead (like the over-consumption of water to cool huge "AI" data centers in drought stricken states!)
You snagged the zeitgeist right there when you wrote:
"Our political and business elite has presided over stunning levels of national decline and degradation."
Congrats on that column and Pistachio Wars!
Pistachio Wars is a must see documentary! Thank you for getting it out so fast.
You seem to have a knack for being at the forefront of major events with your book as well.
So subscribe to Mr. Levine already!!!
P.S. someone just sent me this (on topic): https://x.com/5149jamesli/status/1880888299080098163?t=nPcszeJVnlq8XTWcFgxsHg
Not really on topic with the TikTok thing (which I maintain got kicked into high gear as a result of the latest Israel-Gaza conflagration and too many kids seeing the genocide in action and learning inconvenient truths), but your article today sent me down a rabbit hole of your previous articles. I just finished re-reading the Baffler piece you did back in 2018 called "All EFF'd Up" about the EFF and "privacy." That is "privacy" from government but free, unfettered lack of privacy where our corporate overlords are concerned.
Couldn't help but keep finding parallels between present day "AI" and what was going on with Google and the other nascent tech giants back when they started giving online products and services like internet searches and Gmail away for "free." You know the saying: if you're not paying for a product then you ARE the product. Same shit with this rapid proliferation and adoption of "AI" which relies on almost exactly the same business model - the tech giants (and startups who hope to become or be bought by giants) vacuum up and database as much online content as they can so they can monetize it themselves. With Facebook, Gmail, and Google searches it was to analyze every user's likes, styles, behaviors, connections, etc. and target specific ads at us.
With "AI" it entailed using all the publicly available content as well as whatever IP (songs, books, etc.) and EULA-enabled "private" personal content they could get away with (before it became obvious they are actually STEALING) each respective company had automatic access to (or could purchase) to feed their "large language models" to some other nefarious end. At this point it looks like eviscerating as many paying jobs that employ actual humans as they can. But I'm sure there are even worse things ahead (like the over-consumption of water to cool huge "AI" data centers in drought stricken states!)
Not convinced the TikTok ban is purely about Israel. Plenty of similar content on X.