AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the rubble | Cory Doctorow

I’m a science fiction writer, which means my job is to create futuristic parables about our current techno-social arrangements, not just to question what kind of device it is doesbut whoever does it forand who does it To.

What I don’t do is predict the future. No one can predict the future, and that’s a good thing, because if the future were predictable, that would mean we couldn’t change it.

Now not everyone understands the difference. They think science fiction authors are oracles. Even some of my colleagues harbor the illusion that we can “see the future.”

Then there are science fiction fans who believe they are reading the future. A depressing number of these people seem to have become AI brothers. These guys can’t keep their mouths shut about the day their hot autocomplete machine wakes up and turns us all into paper clips. This has led many confused journalists and conference organizers to reach out to me to comment on the future of AI.

This is something I used to do…