Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg shared his own AI vision earlier this month that, to his credit, was a bit more relatable. He highlighted the broad benefits of personal AI, where each individual would have an “exceptionally capable personal agent that understands your goals, and everything you care about,” all through a Meta-equipped device. This agent would “work 24/7 on your behalf to improve your relationships, health, career, finances, home management, hobbies, and more. It will free up time for the things you enjoy, and help you accomplish more than you could otherwise.”
That sounds pretty good, right? One issue is that it really isn’t needed beyond just convenience. I’m doubtful that the AI industry has spent trillions of dollars to help me figure out who the Los Angeles Dodgers are playing this week or when my wife gets home from work, especially when Silicon Valley’s current products already assist with those tasks. I’m sure some people would find that useful. No doubt a few of them will email me about it after this is . But it seems like a big risk to assume there will be enough users willing to pay for it and not enough to outweigh the negative impacts that AI will also bring.
All of those manifestos may appeal to Silicon Valley investors but mean little to anyone else. For the average American, AI takes away far more than it gives back. Most Americans can’t do much about LLM model guardrails or how capital flows in Silicon Valley, but they can take action regarding data centers. The physical representation of our anticipated digital overlords is the vulnerable side of Silicon Valley’s leading business approach.
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