This month, artificial intelligence bots have slid into Santa’s grotto. For one thing, AI-enabled gifts are proliferating — as I know myself, having just been given an impressive AI-dictation device.
Meanwhile retailers such as Walmart are offering AI tools to provide frazzled shoppers with holiday help. Consider these, if you like, as the digital equivalent of a personal elf, who provides shopping and gifting shortcuts. And they seem to work quite well judging from recent reviews.
But here is the paradox: even as AI spreads into our lives — and Christmas stockings — hostility remains sky-high. Earlier this month, for instance, a British government survey found that four out of ten people expect AI to deliver benefits. However, three out of ten anticipate significant harm, due to “data security” breaches, “the spread of misinformation” and “job displacement”.