Rusk Reads - Unilateral Algorithms, the Looming AI Bubble, & the Fight For Greenland's Future
Welcome to Rusk Reads. Every Sunday I will highlight three long-form article recommendations. These pieces will be meaningful, relevant, and thought-provoking.
This week is buffet style. Three pieces across time and genres.
An Algorithm Deemed This Nearly Blind 70-Year-Old Prisoner a “Moderate Risk.” Now He’s No Longer Eligible for Parole.
By Richard A. Webster | ProPublica & Verite News
Calvin Alexander spent 20 years behind bars. He completed a plethora of rehabilitative programs with an understanding that he was going to be granted parole. That did not transpire. He would later find out an algorithm decided his fate and was the sole reason he was denied parole. The algorithm was designed to predict who was like to recommit a crime and return to prison. More acutely, the algorithim now was sole deciding factor for parole in Louisiana. As Webster details in his piece factors included previous employment status among other seemingly irrelevant variables. This algorithm has already impacted tens of thousands of inmates.
Bubble Trouble An AI bubble threatens Silicon Valley, and all of us.
By Bryan McMahon | The American Prospect
The back of the napkin math is staggering. McMahon observes that OpenAI loses 2 dollars for every 1 dollar it receives in revenue. The company projects they will need to reach $100 billion in revenue to break even. This year they may make $4 billion. For reference it took Google 23 years to hit $100 in revenue. At some point something has to change. Either Generative AI services have to charge basic users close to $200 a month or these systems need to make leaps in efficiency and productivity that are not currently plausible. As the article highlights, a lot of studies show workers may be less productive with Gen AI tools because they decrease long term critical thinking and checking for possible mistakes may take more time than doing the task without AI. The later concern may be solved with upgrades but definitely not the former. These skills will in fact get worse the more effective the Gen AI is. We watch the bubble with bated breath.
The Battle for Greenland: ‘I’m Going to Keep Fighting for This Until I Die’
By Jason Motlagh | The Rolling Stone
Strange times call for stranger bedfellows. The Rolling Stone tracks the deeply personal and political headwinds that are fomenting in Greenland. All members on this political Arctic carrousel agree something has to change but no one can pin how and when the ride will stop.