I saw a post that Anthropic shared about a week ago where they spent an evening in small groups talking with ones about some “hard questions”. They shared that this took place with 37 cities around the world. Anthropic shared that this was for the small groups to be “digging into the hopes, the worries, and the asks people have for each other and for the people building AI”.
You can watch through the videos here on their Instagram account and see the comments and reactions that the world has had to this endeavour. But I wanted to dig into the relevance of this conversation, the thoughts that those involved had to say, and what this means for us.
Anthropic shared that they first wanted to tackle “the hopes” followed by “the fears” and then “what we might do.” These three questions are an interesting light for the current world of AI and focus on some very important points. In some ways it’s interesting that a company like Anthropic is even initiating a conversation like this, but it is also a very positive step to see.
The first topic “the hopes” showcased a variety of key thoughts from participants of the evening in New York, they shared that their hope for AI was that it would enable them to spend “more time with my kids”, have more “dinners with people I love” and for AI to “take the busywork,” so that it freed them to have more hours in their day.
Other thoughts circled around benefits such as “more resources for public service” which was an interesting point, and then looking at how it would allow ideation and coming up with ideas to “become easier”. A thought was also shared about AI lowering the barrier to entry and meaning that “non-technical people can build more.”
Then came “the fears” and this is where I felt most interested to hear the responses from those impacted by AI. A particularly interesting shot showed a participant filling out a paper form which had the heading “What does AI mean for my job?” and this question being asked by Anthropic is quite an interesting and relevant question for them to be asking.
But “the worries” that participants had to share over this evening circled around some very big and important themes, including “the erasure of entry level work”, then impacting creative outputs with a worry about us having “less creativity if we all use AI.”
Another very common theme that has been in discussion a lot right now was highlighted by someone’s thought of “asking people fewer questions.” Which has been a trending topic in news and media around if AI is making people dumb, or removing our curiosity and ability to research. Further worries shared by the evening’s participants covered some broad themes such as how as a result of AI one participant felt that “it’s harder to trust the media I consume.” Another shared that “AI is moving too fast for me to keep up.”
Finally the topic of “what we might do” or messages “to ourselves” was covered. And participants shared that “we need to learn through friction” as well as a pertinent point that relates to a concern/fear which was shared in the fears by participants; “you need to learn when not to use AI.” This point is heavy, but also of great value to take into consideration because it circles back to that key theme around humans verses AI and turning to humans verses turning to AI. But what was even more heavy was a thought that centred around a theme of trust by highlighting we should “take nothing at face value, and keep each other honest.”
The video finished on turning it back “to the builders of AI” by asking them to “talk about it plainly, don’t market it as a miracle.” Then reemphasising the theme of when to and when not to use ai by asking them to “build AI honest enough to say: don’t use me for this.” Which in of itself is a strong ask to put towards AI builders.
In summary what I really liked about this endeavour by Anthropic was that it brought to the surface some really big and important questions. It highlighted that the concerns we are all talking about are not concerns that Anthropic wants to brush under the rug, but actually find a way to address. It also highlights that the issues we are talking about, are not small, low-threat, or not likely to have an impact on us, but rather they are pressing and they are issues that need both discussion and action.
Please, share your thoughts in the comments. How would you have answered the questions asked by Anthropic? What did you think about this effort from them?