Last year, AI has become a great menace towards many jobs and professions. And some companies have started firing employees and replacing them with AI. Every week, Artificial Intelligence is becoming better and more types of AI (art, writing, music, voice acting, video, coding, user interface design etc.) are starting to exist. If we don't stop this, many people (maybe even you and me) are going to lose their jobs and to struggle economically.
Many of you might believe that it's too late, that this change can't be stopped. But I believe we can stop it. If an enourmous amount of people refuse to buy, own and pay for products and services created with Artificial Inteligence, it's likely that we will save hundreds of millions or even billions of jobs in the short and long term. There are few things that send a better message and economical threat to a company than a boycott.
What do I believe that we should boycott (avoid buying and using):
- Companies that from now (2023) on start firing and replacing workers for AI or that start using AI to avoid hiring workers.
- Products made with the use of Artificial Intelligence, such as art, books, music, articles, voice acting, applications, films, videos… that are made with AI.
- The Artificial Intelligences themselves. Avoid using AI whether it allows you to make homework, be more productive or you have fun playing with it. Avoid it. It doesn't matter if the AI is free or you need to pay for it. If you use it, you are likely funding AI companies or showing them that you have interest in their future products.
What do I believe that this boycott will achieve:
- The owners of companies want to make money. But to make money, they need people buying their products and services. If a big percentage (31%, 43%, 56%, 71% or 85%…) of their customers stop buying their products and services because they know that they use AI or/and replace employees with it, those businesses will lose tons of money and struggle economically. If we make a boycott that becomes mainstream in society, companies are going to be terrified of using AI and replacing workers with AI, since it could prevent them from earning (or making them lose) insane amount of money.
- Artificial Intelligence is also a threat to humanity in other ways, since it could be used to spread misinformation and manipulate the politics of a country, create fake evidence in criminal justice, be used for scams and fake kidnappings, be used for war and terrorism… If the average person and companies (point above) don't buy nor use AI, the tech companies that develop AI will slow or stop their research and development of it. This boycott could (either directly or indirectly) cause losses to technology companies that develop AI, stopping their AI progress, and therefore, weakening or even preventing many of those problems that Artificial Intelligence could cause.
Exceptions to the boycott:
- There might be some companies or organizations that actually need Artificial Intelligence for serious and important purposes (not just to make more money). One heart-warming example would be those Artificial Intelligences that have made it easier to detect diseases and health problems in patients, allowing professionals to cure them faster and preventing deaths. Another example would be Artificial Intelligences that allow to identify images of child sexual abuse in the internet, and help saving children from sexual abuse. I believe that companies, organizations and individuals that use AI for very important goals like these ones, should not be boycotted, called out nor criticized for this use. There are probably other good and important uses of AI like these ones. Sadly, many companies and people just want AI for selfish and trivial purposes despite the consequences that this could have.
- Some people won't be able to boycott all products and companies that use Artificial Intelligence either because of poverty, lack of other options, not knowing what companies use AI, receiving a gift from someone, extreme need of something made by AI etc. That is fine. While the more boycott, the better… any amount of boycott helps. Someone who boycotts 8 of every 10 products and services made with AI (or a comapny who uses AI) is already a big part of the solution. Someone who boycotts 1 of every 10 products made with AI, while they are doing quite little, it's still better than doing nothing. The more money that businesses (who use AI) lose, the better.
What do you think of this idea? It's fine if you disagree with it. Is there anything that you would do in a different way? You can share your own ideas too.
By the way, I don't want to be the leader of this boycott and I wouldn't know how to do it neither. So, if someone or multiple people want to be the one (or ones) who organize it, I would really appreciate that.
Feel free to share this post or rewrite it in your own way or a better way. Remember what they say, every time you buy something, you are voting with your money.