Digital Anthropology Helps Unveil the Human Heart of AI
In case you haven’t heard, society is on the brink of collapse thanks to artificial intelligence. We’ve all seen the doomsday headlines: “AI will steal our jobs,” “AI is ruining our relationships,” “AI will destroy the world” and, my personal favorite, “AI is the end of brands as we know them.” Technology, it seems, has it out for us.
From electricity to the printing press to the internet, disruptive technologies and the inevitable hysterics that follow them are nothing new. For those old enough to remember Y2K (the computer bug, not the return of bucket hats in fashion), technology threatened the apocalypse then, too: Businesses in the United States spent an estimated $100 billion alone in response to the perceived threat. Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy even used it as a marketing ploy, advertising goods as “Y2K compliant.”
But, contrary to the conspiracy theories circulating at the time, the stroke of midnight didn’t see prison gates suddenly swing open, pacemakers abruptly still hearts, and city streets rapidly descend into riots. In fact, the most terrifying thing most people woke up to on Jan. 1, 2000, was your bog standard hangover.
So it begs the question: If we’ve been through this with technology time and time again, why do we still panic? And how, if at all, should brands respond?
Using tech to build more human brands
The answer lies in understanding the core of technophobia, which is less a fear about the advancement of technology than it is an anxiety around the loss of humanity.
Through this lens, it’s no surprise we’re predicting a digital armageddon. With over one-third of our lives spent at work, our jobs are deeply tied to our sense of self. We actively seek out social relationships to satisfy our need for acceptance and belonging. And our ability to discern reality and understand our place within it sits at the very heart of the human experience.
