In a captivating Festival of Books panel moderated by Joan McNeel, authors Adam Becker, Lucas Cantor Santiago, and Cory Doctorow dismantle the pervasive hype surrounding Artificial Intelligence. The panelists forcefully argue that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is less a looming technological reality than a highly lucrative marketing myth. Doctorow frames the current AI boom as an economic bubble designed to solve the tech industry’s growth paradox. He asserts that monopolies, having saturated their markets, rely on “enshittification” and speculative promises of non-existent technologies like AGI to appease investors, despite the sector’s unsustainable capital expenditures.
Becker expands on this cynicism by examining the ideological motivations of tech billionaires. He notes that the wealthy elite often co-opt science fiction narratives to justify their pursuits of AI supremacy and space colonialism. He humorously yet critically dismisses their ambitions to colonize Mars, pointing out the planet’s deadly radiation and lack of breathable air, emphasizing that Earth remains our only viable home.
On the subject of AI’s impact on art, Cantor Santiago offers a grounded perspective. Drawing from his own experience utilizing AI to complete Schubert’s 8th Symphony, he clarifies that AI models are essentially inert tools that require massive amounts of human intervention and creativity to produce meaningful art. He challenges the fear-mongering narrative that AI will inevitably replace human artists, noting that the fundamental issue for creators has never been technological capability, but rather output quality.
