A quarter way through the 21st century, rapid technological advancements, from the rise of the world wide web to devices like the smartphone, have upended modern daily life. Perhaps above all else, the recent advent of artificial intelligence, or AI, will fundamentally transform society — or so those who seek to immensely profit from this budding industry would lead you to believe.
The AI industry, as with earlier tech innovations, is heavily dependent on a hype machine that incessantly pushes itself as natural technological progress.
But if the recent history of unfulfilled promises from the tech industry has taught us anything, it is that such overhyped claims should be approached with a healthy bit of skepticism.
A recent investigation from the Chattanooga Times Free Press into the AI policies, or lack thereof, from local governments in our region illustrates the consequences of deferring to an overconfident wealthy elite instead of centering social and political concerns.