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One Jump Ahead: Trying To Survive in the Age of AI
It’s time to think of the children
As a child one thing brought me great joy — not having to do my homework. Much to the annoyance of my parents, teachers and other children’s parents who slaved for hours over their “child’s” art project I mostly found homework a complete waste of time. If there was a shortcut to avoid it, I would not only have taken it but embraced it with the enthusiasm of Rupert Murdoch signing a prenuptial agreement.
This is why I do not judge students for welcoming Generative AI into their lives, including over 84% of those from my alma mater LSE. However, much like Rupert Murdoch, it’s important to know who you’re getting into bed with and what the terms and conditions of your agreement are. When presented with “ts and cs” of products we use every day, often pages of incomprehensible and deliberately vaguely worded text, it’s easy to treat them like a Las Vegas wedding where you say I do and hope for the best.
Yet, this may not be the best course of action. A widely shared study from the Atlantic says it would take the average person 76 workdays to read the full terms and conditions of the products we use commonly. What makes me uncomfortable is that study is from 2012. TikTok was launched in 2016 and ChatGPT in late 2022. The terms and conditions we’re subject to from both products…
