If it’s only AI that’s keeping you up at night, maybe you’re doing OK | Letters
TL;DR
Poverty is far more pressing for many people, writes Lynsey Hanley. Plus letters from Martin Pitt and Michael Bulley Reading Alexander Hurst’s column on the frictionless experience of life promised – or threatened – by AI algorithms, I was struck by how little I recognised the picture he painted of daily experience being stripped of the friction necessary to furnish it with meaning (To be human is to live with friction. That’s something AI boosters will never understand, 23 April). Rather, isn’t it the case that, bar the mega-rich, we’re all suffering from an excess of friction due to rising living costs, an avoidably dilapidated public realm, poor housing and innumerable related stresses? I belong to a volunteer group that twice a week cooks hot meals for homeless and destitute people in central Liverpool. The hot meal they collect from us may be the only relief they get that day from t.
Nauti's Take
Nauti takes the point seriously: AI debates often crowd out more pressing issues — poverty, housing insecurity and crumbling public infrastructure don't matter less just because they lack a hype cycle. That said, the opportunities AI opens up for exactly these areas — cheaper diagnostics, smarter social-service planning — shouldn't be waved away.
A healthy reality check for tech communities, without losing sight of AI's positive leverage on real-world social problems.
Summary
Poverty is far more pressing for many people, writes Lynsey Hanley. Plus letters from Martin Pitt and Michael Bulley Reading Alexander Hurst’s column on the frictionless experience of life promised – or threatened – by AI algorithms, I was struck by how little I recognised the picture he painted of daily experience being stripped of the friction necessary to furnish it with meaning (To be human is to live with friction.
That’s something AI boosters will never understand, 23 April). Rather, isn’t it the case that, bar the mega-rich, we’re all suffering from an excess of friction due to rising living costs, an avoidably dilapidated public realm, poor housing and innumerable related stresses?
I belong to a volunteer group that twice a week cooks hot meals for homeless and destitute people in central Liverpool. The hot meal they collect from us may be the only relief they get that day from t
Sources