AI, specifically that driven by large language models, is a worrying bit of technology right now. Not purely because of what it is, but also because of the lack of government guidance and regulation around it. However, not all is gloomy, as senator Bernie Sanders points out there are ways it can benefit the average worker.
On June 24, Bernie Sanders appeared once again on Joe Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Episode 2341 is dedicated to a single two-hour conversation with the 83-year-old politician.
In typical Bernie Sanders fashion, this episode immediately kicks off with a critique of the control of power in America. In this, he notes income inequality, lampoons Elon Musk for "owning more wealth than the bottom 52% of American families", and condemns the funding of the American political party system. As originally spotted by Business Insider, it's Sander's reflection on AI that has really caught my attention.
Rogan asked Sanders, if he were the president of the United States, how would he react to AI's role in automation and its potential effects on workers?
Sanders argues that business owners implementing AI should offer a 32 work week, "instead of throwing you out on the street". But first, Americans must "Make the determination that we are not going to let a handful of CEOs make these decisions. They're going to be made by the American people."
As both Sanders and Rogan acknowledge, it's "not a radical idea" to implement a four-day work week. In the UK, two hundred companies, with over 5,000 workers total, have signed up for a permanent four-day working week, citing greater productivity gains on working days, alongside a benefit to worker health and happiness. The 32-hour work week is something Sanders has championed previously, and a 2023 paper argues that 35 million workers in America could shift to a four-day work week in light of AI developments in the workplace.
With trials spanning from 2015 to 2019, four-day work week testing in Iceland proved to be "an overwhelming success", so there's a precedent for its wider adoption. This is especially true in the light of AI advancements.
Sanders says, "Let's use technology to benefit workers. That means give you more time with your family, with your friends, for your education. Whatever the hell you want to do."
He then expresses that he has been told of the fears of generative AI on children, not only the potential effects of the internet on broader attention spans, but also of teachers afraid that all their homework is being completed by AI. "You go to the chat box, you give me a wonderful essay you know nothing about. What does that mean for your intellectual development?"
AI's potential effect on workplaces isn't the only possible threat to people's livelihoods. As well as concerns about energy consumption, artists fear that generative AI models that scrape their original work will create derivative renditions of their work, and that the undiscerning will pick the cheaper, quicker option. There is, in turn, a negative feedback loop here, pushing new artists out and replacing the old art with quickly made and increasingly plagiarised copies.
Both Anthropic and Meta have recently won suits concerning free use of copyright with their respective AI models. The former case acknowledges this doesn't count for pirated materials, and the latter case was won partially due to 'wrong arguments' from the plaintiffs. Regardless of the specifics, this sets the stage for continued anxiety around the future of AI.
There's a back-and-forth that Sanders represents in his Joe Rogan episode. He ponders how best to counteract the negatives of AI usage, whilst taking advantage of the positives. He says he thinks "artificial intelligence is going to displace millions and millions of workers" and that "the corporate guys who are running these companies could [n't] care less about these workers".
Sanders thinks "these are issues we have got to address in a bold way".
A four-day work week would certainly be a good start, though stricter regulations would help too.
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