Cory Doctorow on bursting the AI bubble

Last year we featured a lengthy interview with tech journalist/science fiction author Cory Doctorow about his book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It . The prolific Doctorow is back with a provocative new book that serves as a follow-up of sorts, focusing on AI and related issues: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI . Doctorow doesn't actually enjoy talking about AI, but he's constantly being asked to comment on it.

"I made the tactical error of being sick of talking about AI," Doctorow told Ars. "So I wrote a book about why I think it's a dumb thing to keep asking people to talk about, and now I have to talk about it." Reverse Centaur is Doctorow's attempt to "sort out the bullshit from the material reality." In automation theory, per Doctorow, a "centaur" describes a human augmented with a technology, like machine learning, or even just driving a car, or using autocomplete. A reverse centaur "is a machine head on a human body, a person who is serving as a squishy meat appendage for an uncaring machine," Doctorow said in a speech last December.

He gave the example of an Amazon delivery driver, surrounded by AI cameras monitoring their driving, who essentially serves as a peripheral to the delivery van. Why this matters: Cory Doctorow's critique of the AI bubble is more than just a contrarian view; it has significant implications for the tech industry, developers, and consumers. By questioning the hype surrounding AI, Doctorow is pushing for a more nuanced discussion about the role of technology in society.

His concept of the "reverse centaur" highlights the potential risks of over-reliance on automation, where humans become mere appendages to machines. As AI continues to permeate various sectors, Doctorow's work serves as a timely reminder to evaluate the consequences of our technological advancements and ensure that they serve humanity's best interests. The questions that remain are: how will the industry respond to such critiques, and what will be the consequences of ignoring them?