AI is going to become your gateway to information. AI is controlled by Big Tech. Big Tech is overwhelmingly liberal.
Nobody controls the way content is created right now. People can post anything they want — with certain limited exceptions. If you post something that Big Tech really hates, they’ll shut down your site.
However, tech platforms can control how much visibility certain content gets. They can “demonetize” a content creator on YouTube. (Funny how that starts with “demon.”) They can push content they don’t like lower in search results. They can “shadow ban.”
But that’s child’s play next to what’s coming.
The era of the search engine is on its way out.
Right now, if you want to find something, you go to a search engine, type your query, and get a list of allegedly relevant resources. (Web pages, videos, etc.)
Not very long from now, that will seem primitive. You’ll ask an AI-driven agent your question, and it won’t send you to independent resources, it will simply give you the answer. It might or might not show its sources, or other things to consider.
It will certainly give an answer with an ideological bias. That’s true with ChatGPT right now, and there’s no reason to believe that will change.
Even if people will retain the power to publish their own points of view, the chatbots will control most access to information.
It’s possible that there will be lots of different chatbots that have different filters and biases, so you might be able to select the one you want. But that’s unlikely. A few services — or a few back-end AI routines — will dominate the landscape, and control your access to content. And they will almost certainly have a liberal bias.
I have more confidence in greed.
If I watch Joe Rogan or Peter Boghossian on YouTube, Google starts to suggest that I watch some right wing filth. I think Google is going to do whatever they can to make more money and engage more people in outrage.
And if I’m going to rage some more…get tired of videos like “XYZ destroys college student WIZ U”. So a full grown person whose career is arguing all day every day gets the better of an undergraduate who probably isn’t used to public speaking or engaging is some kind of victory or destruction? Did this destroyed person cease to exist?
There’s a lot of assumptions being made that remain to be seen. I suspect AI might attempt to “influence” but it won’t ultimately eliminate one way or another.
Yet, if it did lead to the death of conservatism (in its current form), who’s to say…it’s possible the change could be for the better.