Will our AI future be a new type of slavery? My scifi fan opinion.

What is to come burbles in my head all day every day. AI development is moving very rapidly. We are approaching the point where no one person can stay on top of all the AI developments being released pretty much on a daily basis.

So I felt the need to put in my twenty cents about where I think this will all go.

Stable diffusion. The right number of fingers. By me (with the help of all the artists who unwittingly contributed the product of their hardwork and talent to train the models that allowed a numpty like me to make images as required on my Macbook).

Economies

Modern ones require a workforce. Previously serfs were allowed a small bit of the local ruler’s land to grow their own food. They didn’t get paid, but at least they got to make some food for themselves. This idea faded out and the serfs were left with no land to work for themselves and had to trade their physical labour for what they needed to survive. This is what happens to this day. Each of us trade our skills and time to get a stipend that helps us not die from scabies or other diseases of malnutrition.

Or we jump off the treadmill and have a go at being a boss. We then trade our own skills and time for an opportunity to accumulate wealth, and if we are clever, we have enough to get others to trade their skills and time for the stipend we are prepared to give.

If we could have someone work for us for free, we’d make more money, but generally people are reluctant to work for free.