How to Stay Smart in a Smart World: Why Human Intelligence Still Beats Algorithms by Gerd Gigerenzer.
Gerd holds a master of arts and a doctor of philosophy in psychology from the University of Munich. He received the postdoctoral degree of habilitation in 1982. Today Gerd is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy in Berlin.
He is former Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia. Gerd is a Fellow of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the German Academy of Sciences.
So, Gerd is providing a very compelling case for humans to stay in charge of our current world of algorithms. He is addressing with deep insights the fallacy of current state AI. He does certainly acknowledge the impactful use of AI yet provides an honest view that markets are shaped by companies promising AI as the holy savior of their organization’s marketplace.
In fact, the first part of his book “The Human Affair with AI” really provides a wake up call to all the hype driven by those companies and markets who stand to gain the most.
Free coffee ?
In addition, Gerd is constructing a well crafted message regarding the role of companies that need to exploit user’s data for profit. His idea of a coffeehouse in Europe is certainly well crafted to see Facebook. How is the current social media market dominated by a free product? In fact, to no surprise Facebook is not free and yet many cannot understand how Facebook generated $168 billion in 2022 revenue. I really appreciate how these messages are also reflected in Kate Crawford’s Atlas of AI. and Safiya Umoja Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression
Tesla’s driverless technology
So, Tesla is providing a more realistic view for Gerd to the marketing hype of Elon Musk. Every year Tesla claims their AI driverless technology will be fully operational. The clip below is well worth your time to dispel the myth of Tesla’s driverless technology:
Yet year after year, Musk misses the mark. Seemingly there is no accountability for Tesla as they dominate the EV market.
Sleepwalking into Surveillance
In chapter eight Gerd certainly documents existing systems that surveil citizens and users of various products. This includes in fact, social credit systems deployed in China and select third world countries. He points out how the slipper slope of scoring a citizens ‘social score’ can go sideways. Many may be surprised to think ‘this only happens in China’ when in fact Americans have been victims of this via credit card companies, healthcare insurance firms, car insurance companies long before PayPal, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft also got into this revenue stream.
Honestly, I really appreciate Gerd addressing Data Brokers including Acxiom and Oracle. Many do not realize those amazing 4k TVs that seem so cheap are collecting all of your TV data including the shows you record and Acxiom is selling ‘you’ to Facebook regardless of the accurately of their 3,000+ data points they are collecting on your daily online life. His observation of our Privacy Paradox is certainly on the mark.
Buyer beware
In conclusion, How to Stay Smart in a Smart World is a must read to move beyond the hype of AI and algorithms. Gerd is delivering a much needed real world view of AI to educate us why humans need to stay in control.