Dave Eggers: AI Means Humanity Is Cooked as a Species

Author Dave Eggers, in a Guardian interview, argues that AI threatens human creativity and that relying on machines to think or write will lead to humanity's downfall. He discusses his new novel 'Contrapposto', set in the art world, and his ongoing efforts to nurture young creatives through initiatives like Art + Water, a free arts center on the San Francisco waterfront, and 826 Valencia, a writing center for children. Eggers is part of class action lawsuits against AI firm Anthropic for unauthorized use of his books to train language models. He writes first drafts by hand and uses a 1998 Mac never connected to the internet, working on a boat in San Francisco Bay to avoid distractions. Eggers also criticizes policymakers like US Education Secretary Linda McMahon for promoting AI in schools, and argues that AI-generated content cannot be considered art.