Nearly three out of four businesses already use artificial intelligence, and the AI market is projected to surge to $1.4 trillion by 2030. Amidst this new tech boom, assistant professor of sociology in the School of Arts & Sciences Benjamin Shestakofsky thinks it’s more important than ever to pause and explore the social systems that shape AI growth.
“Even the definition of AI itself is ambiguous, contested, and ever-changing,” says Shestakofsky, who studies how digital technologies affect employment, organizations, and the economy. “Regardless of what AI can actually do, people’s ideas about what AI is can influence their behavior.”
With questions swirling around how AI will shape society, Shestakofsky and Devika Narayan of the University of Bristol set out to analyze the social systems that affect artificial intelligence. In an article published in The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, they outline four big sociological themes that help make sense of AI.
With the potential to turn relatively small investments into millions or billions, venture capitalists encourage technology startups—including those that create AI—to take big risks and grow quickly in the name of profit, Shestakofsky says. “These funding structures are setting the agenda for technology development and the goals it’s aimed at achieving,” he notes, adding that investors often care more about the skyrocketing short-term valuations of AI startups than whether these companies will be sustainable in the long run.
Shestakofsky says innovation in AI is often driven by new, smaller companies, many of which build apps designed to run on tech giants’ popular platforms, like iOS and Android. In this way, he believes it’s important to understand how AI development is a push and pull between industry titans and scrappy start-ups, both of which rely on each other to prosper.
Whenever new technology is developed, entire industries adapt around it. While it’s still early days for AI proliferation, Shestakofsky says it’s likely AI development will push many industries to adopt new practices.
Thinking about the AI industry often conjures luxurious Silicon Valley offices, job perks like free meals and exercise classes, and sky-high salaries. But that image excludes the low-paid workers who make AI possible. The reality, says Shestakofsky, is not at all glamorous.
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