Artificial intelligence will continue to be the focus of this 2024 edition of the Nobel Prize. In physics and chemistry, winners were rewarded for their work around AI… And some stood out for their harsh criticism of what this technology is becoming.
Simon Johnson received the Nobel Prize in Economics along with the Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu and the British-American James A. Robinson. And he is also fierce about the explosion of artificial intelligence.
“Will it increase the productivity and wages of low-skilled workers, or will it lead to excessive automation, laying off store workers and replacing them with automated kiosks?” he asks in an interview given to AFP.
“Don’t let the great gurus…”
“The vision that shapes the technology is absolutely decisive. We have spoken to the highest levels of the US government, saying: ‘Don’t let the big technology gurus dominate what is developed, how it is used and What impact does it have on employment? Because what they will get is their vision of the future, not for their population, not for their community, but for their own wealth,” he says.
Beyond artificial intelligence, what is also criticized is digital advertising, the heart of the technology giants’ income.
“The economic model of Meta (Facebook, Instagram…), Alphabet (Google, YouTube…) and some other companies is based on digital advertising, which attracts attention and manipulates emotions,” explains Simon Johnson.
“It’s bad for mental health, it’s very bad for children and it’s terrible for democracy, because what they want is to make you angry, to make you angry with other people. We must realize that digital advertising is like tobacco and junk food. “
According to digital advertising, it should be “heavily taxed” and the amount raised should go in part to “mental health, including the mental health of children.”
Source: BFM TV
