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AI Friends Too Cheap To Meter - by Jasmine Sun

Trey Causey

That’s why it bothers me when tech critics describe AI as exclusively foisted upon us by corporate overlords. They deploy violent physical metaphors to make the case: Brian Merchant says tech companies are “force-feeding” us, Cory Doctorow says it’s being “crammed down throats,” and Ted Gioia analogizes AI companies to tyrants telling peons to “shut up, buddy, and chew.” In their story, everyone hates AI and nobody chooses to use it; each one of ChatGPT’s 700 million users is effectively being waterboarded, unable to escape.

Jasmine Sun is putting out some of the best sociology-adjacent writing on AI right now, occupying a rare middle ground of part of the "in group" in AI while also engaging seriously with dialogue from the "out group."

It’s a lengthy piece that rewards reading in its entirety, touching on:

  • the inherent demand for AI companionship (it’s bigger than you think)
  • how tech critics deny the agency of AI users
  • what to do about adults who wish to engage in specific behaviors with LLMs
  • how anthropomorphic AI unlocked broad LLM adoption (GPT-3 was out for quite a while before ChatGPT made it accessible) while also setting the stage for the problematic cases we see now
  • a plea to connect with real people

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