Generative AI can involve citizens directly in decision-making, but not while developers’ incentives are only financial
The YouTube clip I return to most often is David Bowie being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight in 1999. Bowie is talking about what the internet might do: “I don’t think we’ve even seen the tip of the iceberg. I think that the potential of what the internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is unimaginable. I think we’re on the cusp of something exhilarating and terrifying.”
“It’s just a tool, isn’t it?” condescends Paxman. “It’s an alien life form,” insists Bowie. “Is there life on Mars? Yes, and it’s just landed here.”
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