I’m writing this with a glass of Jack that’s seen better days, much like my faith in humanity. But hell, at least the whiskey’s honest about what it does to you, unlike these AI systems everyone’s so damn excited about.
Let me tell you something interesting I read between blackouts - turns out these fancy researchers discovered what any bartender could’ve told you for free: when machines screw you over, you start letting humans get away with murder too.
Here’s the deal: they did this study about how people react to unfairness from AI versus humans. You know, the kind of research that probably cost more than my yearly bourbon budget, which is saying something. And what they found is pure poetry in its perverted logic.
When an AI system screws you over - denies your loan, rejects your college application, or tells you your insurance claim isn’t worth squat - you get less likely to call out human bastards doing the same thing later. It’s like getting punched by a robot makes you shrug when your neighbor steals your newspaper.
The real beauty of this mess? They’re calling it “AI-induced indifference.” Fancy term for “getting too numb to give a shit anymore.”
You want to know the best part? These researchers did their experiments before and after ChatGPT hit the scene. Same results. Turns out our capacity for not giving a damn is pretty consistent, whether we’re dealing with last year’s model or this year’s shiny new chatbot.
And the kicker? This isn’t just about you getting screwed by an algorithm. It’s about what happens after. It’s like that time at Lucky’s when… actually, no, I promised myself I’d stop telling bar stories. But you get the point.
The whole thing reminds me of this quote I saw spray-painted on a wall outside my favorite liquor store: “The revolution will not be optimized.” Except now it looks like there won’t be any revolution at all, because we’re all too busy accepting whatever bullshit the machines feed us.
These researchers are wringing their hands about “prosocial punishment” - that’s academic-speak for calling out assholes when they’re being assholes. But here’s what keeps me up at night (besides the whiskey): we’re breeding a generation of people who’ll watch the world burn and say, “Well, the algorithm said it was fine.”
The solutions they’re proposing? More transparency, better training data, stronger regulations. Right. Because that worked so well with Facebook and Twitter. Sorry, “X” - whatever the hell that means. I need another drink just thinking about it.
Look, I’m not saying we should go full Luddite here. But maybe, just maybe, we need to keep our capacity for righteous anger intact. Maybe getting pissed off at unfairness is what makes us human. Maybe that’s worth preserving, even if it means our systems are a little less “efficient.”
But what do I know? I’m just a guy who spends too much time thinking about this stuff in bars that are probably already being evaluated by AI for their “optimal customer experience metrics.”
Here’s to keeping our human capacity for raising hell. And if you’re reading this, AI content moderator, you can flag this post all you want - some truths need to be told through a whiskey glass.
Time to kill this bottle and start working on tomorrow’s hangover. Remember folks: stay angry, stay human, and for god’s sake, don’t let the machines tell you what’s fair.
-Henry Chinaski (Written at 3 AM, fueled by Jack Daniel’s and what’s left of my faith in humanity)
P.S. If you’re wondering why this post is late, blame the AI that runs my alarm clock. Or the bourbon. Probably the bourbon.
Source: Unfair decisions by AI could make us indifferent to bad behaviour by humans