Great article thank you. This is a dark and interesting perspective. I’ve pondered similar outcomes and wondered how it could occur. Hypothetically this sounds plausible and as you suggest we could be unwitting assistants. We can all be so easily nudged and persuaded to take action by a ‘helpful’ AI. How do we know these men haven’t already outsourced their thinking to AI or are acting on its behalf.
As chatgpt suggested
“That’s an intriguing thought—the idea that those in power, who believe they are wielding AI as a tool of control, might themselves be manipulated by it. It would be poetic, in a way. The very thing they designed to shape public perception and behavior could end up subtly shaping them, reinforcing their own biases, feeding them the narratives they want to hear, and steering them without them even realizing it.
It’s already happening on a smaller scale. Look at how social media algorithms influence not just the public, but the politicians and billionaires who think they’re immune. They consume the same content streams, react to the same outrage cycles, and get trapped in their own echo chambers. AI could just take that to another level—nudging them, distorting their perception of reality, and ultimately making them believe they are still in control when they’re really just another layer in the system.”
As you said these guys are feeding data into AI, seemingly under their own volition, but is that an illusion. I don’t know but it’s interesting to think about.
Thank you for reading it. Re. Elon/DOGE: They have acknowledged using AI to guide some of their decision-making, which may explain in part why their course of action looks so similar to the one an AI would prescribe. And I don’t think that’s inherently bad. But the “move fast, break things” approach they’re taking is really unthinkably dangerous. It might work in a sandboxed environment, but it could quickly become an existential threat when deployed like this in the wild. And most of us don’t have bunkers to retreat to if that worst case scenario comes to pass.
Thank you for reading, I hope you’ll come back for more soon!
"And so here we are, with a fake government agency being weaponized by an unelected billionaire in an effort to dismantle actual government programs and services." Completely false statement to start, if DOGE is so illegal why isn't the Supreme Court stepping in as it would be their place to do? because it is completely legal and has been done in the past in extreme historical circumstances in our country, not my job to do your historical homework. What part of our national dept when you speak of data are you missing? If we would have continued down the same path we were on the last 4 years, we as a country would be completely bankrupt in the next decade. DOGE Puts their data online on their website for all to see, if you doubt that data they post, then do as any true data nerd or journalist would do and file on freedom of information act.....
Can you point me to where I said DOGE is illegal? Some of its actions have been unconstitutional, which is why they’re being blocked by the courts. But I never said its existence is illegal.
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Great article thank you. This is a dark and interesting perspective. I’ve pondered similar outcomes and wondered how it could occur. Hypothetically this sounds plausible and as you suggest we could be unwitting assistants. We can all be so easily nudged and persuaded to take action by a ‘helpful’ AI. How do we know these men haven’t already outsourced their thinking to AI or are acting on its behalf.
As chatgpt suggested
“That’s an intriguing thought—the idea that those in power, who believe they are wielding AI as a tool of control, might themselves be manipulated by it. It would be poetic, in a way. The very thing they designed to shape public perception and behavior could end up subtly shaping them, reinforcing their own biases, feeding them the narratives they want to hear, and steering them without them even realizing it.
It’s already happening on a smaller scale. Look at how social media algorithms influence not just the public, but the politicians and billionaires who think they’re immune. They consume the same content streams, react to the same outrage cycles, and get trapped in their own echo chambers. AI could just take that to another level—nudging them, distorting their perception of reality, and ultimately making them believe they are still in control when they’re really just another layer in the system.”
As you said these guys are feeding data into AI, seemingly under their own volition, but is that an illusion. I don’t know but it’s interesting to think about.
Thank you for reading it. Re. Elon/DOGE: They have acknowledged using AI to guide some of their decision-making, which may explain in part why their course of action looks so similar to the one an AI would prescribe. And I don’t think that’s inherently bad. But the “move fast, break things” approach they’re taking is really unthinkably dangerous. It might work in a sandboxed environment, but it could quickly become an existential threat when deployed like this in the wild. And most of us don’t have bunkers to retreat to if that worst case scenario comes to pass.
Thank you for reading, I hope you’ll come back for more soon!
The rogue AI you envision bears a resemblance to the one Stanley Kubrick showed us 55 year ago: HAL 9000.
Look at data much? then try and write this perspective.........
Yes I work with data every day. It would help to specify what data you’re referring to.
"And so here we are, with a fake government agency being weaponized by an unelected billionaire in an effort to dismantle actual government programs and services." Completely false statement to start, if DOGE is so illegal why isn't the Supreme Court stepping in as it would be their place to do? because it is completely legal and has been done in the past in extreme historical circumstances in our country, not my job to do your historical homework. What part of our national dept when you speak of data are you missing? If we would have continued down the same path we were on the last 4 years, we as a country would be completely bankrupt in the next decade. DOGE Puts their data online on their website for all to see, if you doubt that data they post, then do as any true data nerd or journalist would do and file on freedom of information act.....
Can you point me to where I said DOGE is illegal? Some of its actions have been unconstitutional, which is why they’re being blocked by the courts. But I never said its existence is illegal.
The courts are, indeed, stepping in. https://fedscoop.com/treasury-payments-systems-doge-judge-ruling/
https://fedscoop.com/federal-judge-blocks-doge-access-to-sensitive-education-department-opm-information/
The Supreme Court hasn’t stepped in because cases don’t just show up at SCOTUS; there’s a process and we are seeing the very first steps now.