Friday Thoughts

AI, work, and the internet

Happy Friday!

I’ve come across a few pieces recently on how AI is impacting the quality and intensity of work and the internet. Far from decreasing workloads through increased productivity, AI seems to be increasing the burden on employees. These trends, along with increasingly limited opportunities for entry-level jobs and increased worker surveillance, will have some pretty profound implications for the nature of work over the coming years. Yet that is nowhere near a big enough part of the policy conversation.

Furthermore, while there is emerging evidence of positive productivity gains from AI, this often takes a very narrow view of how AI is actually used and deployed by real people. For every person using AI for a “productive” end, you also have people using it to create spam, slop, or porn. Yet those kinds of uses and the potential harms they create very rarely figure in studies of AI's positive impacts. If we want to understand AI’s impact, then it is essential to take off the blinders and look at the bigger picture.

I hope you enjoy the pieces shared below and have a great weekend!