Futurists concerned that we are gliding into an AI-fueled dystopia wherein the human race acquiesces its ethical, decision-making, and intellectual powers to a gaggle of corporate algorithms need look no further than Ulf Kristersson to justify their fears.
Kristersson, who happens to be the prime minister of Sweden, recently admitted during a Nordic news site that he sometimes asks ChatGPT for a “second opinion” when it comes to his governance strategies.
“I use it myself quite often,” Kristersson said during the interview. “If for nothing else than for a second opinion. What have others done? And should we think the complete opposite? Those types of questions.”
Predictably, Kristersson was immediately dragged for his comments. “The more he relies on AI for simple things, the bigger the risk of overconfidence in the system,” Virginia Dignum, a professor of responsible artificial intelligence at Umeå University, said while chatting with the same outlet that interviewed the PM. “It is a slippery slope. We must demand that reliability can be guaranteed. We didn’t vote for ChatGPT.”
The PM was also criticized by a variety of other outlets, all of whom seemed to feel that governance via chatbot was not the ideal route for Western civilization. “Too bad for Sweden that AI mostly guesses,” wrote Aftonbladet’s Signe Krantz. “Chatbots would rather write what they think you want than what you need to hear.”
Krantz makes a good point, which is that chatbots can