AI's Threat to Cultural Concepts: A Philosophical Warning

A piece in The Point magazine contends that artificial intelligence, particularly large language models, poses a danger to fundamental cultural ideas such as merit and authenticity. It draws a parallel to the Crow tribe's situation following their confinement to reservations in 1884, where Chief Plenty Coups remarked, "nothing happened." The article cautions that the unregulated proliferation of AI could undermine ethical discourse, making concepts like fraud lose their significance, while highlighting terms such as "slop" and "enshittification" as indicators of this decline. It stresses the greater risk to our collective ethical framework rather than just material consequences. The author calls for spaces devoid of technology for reading and dialogue, mentioning the Matthew Strother Center for the Examined Life and Dan Chiasson's vision of classrooms as "intentional communities." The essay concludes by advocating for the "radical preservation" of human language and thought.