AI is a tool, not an operator

 AI is a tool

 

Tools have functions — they do not have purpose. Operators provide purpose, goals and objectives that will identify the need, if any, for a particular tool’s functions. 

 

As an example, airplanes are tools — usually very effective tools. But the aircraft does not choose the crew, cargo, course, departure place or date nor the destination and arrival time. That is all set by operators. Sometimes the operators decide that a different tool is needed for the same outcome. For instance, Apple Inc. has decided to ship its products by cargo ship rather than by air. This is not a decision made by an aircraft nor a ship, but one made by operators.

 

AI is a tool. The hype around this tool becoming functional enough to provide purpose is meant to distract you from some operators' intentions. For instance, these are operators: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/13/open-philanthropy-funding-ai-policy-00121362

 

 

Operators determine outcomes and intentions, and call for particular functions to be utilized in support of particular purposes. The reasons for choosing any specific outcome or intention are the operator’s, not the tool’s. Any distraction from this important point plays into the serious consequences of how and why a particular tool is used in the way it is — without mediation or mitigation.