January 17, 2023

Idiocracy: A Prophetic View of an AI-Driven Future

Idiocracy: A Prophetic View of an AI-Driven Future

I was reading an article in the Guardian UK about a dystopian view of the future that is highlighted by the 2016 movie Idiocracy. It paints the picture of a future world in 2505 in which humans have relinquished control of society to corporate run AI-enabled systems run society.

The fundamental challenge is that as the AI systems have become so advanced and whereas humans have become less intelligent. In fact, human’s have become highly unintelligent.

Idiocracy is Silly But Prophetic

Even though Idiocracy is a silly movie, it is worth watching. In this dystopian view of the world, even people who should be smart, doctors, police, government leaders, have become so dependent on AI-systems that they have lost their knowledge, experience and, even, interest in learning.

Social Media Driving Dumbing Down

We are already seeing some degree of dumbing down of people’s thinking with social media. Some people are willing to believe almost anything if it appears on social media, especially if it is a posting/thread with a significant number of “likes.”

AI-Enabled Technologies Driving Dumbing Down

We have written research in the past about organizations and people relinquishing their own thinking and analysis to AI-enabled systems.

One of the most obvious was the police who arrested a young man based solely on the identification of an AI-enabled system. The young man was arrested in the middle of the night. However, when the police went to compare the surveillance footage image of the actual perpetrator with his image, they looked nothing alike.

The police didn’t use their own eyes and minds to determine the suspect, they completely relinquished control to the AI-enabled systems.

Bottom Line

Business transformation and change requires thought and planning. Supporting your business will continue to require that leaders understand, analyze, and strategize their business and their business future-state.

Increasingly, AI-enabled systems will be able to provide insights and advice to help humans make decisions and investments. However, we can not and must not relinquish our own thought and learning to AI systems like Idiocracy.

So, I would advise that you watch the movie Idiocracy. Think about how we, as a society, and our businesses are leveraging AI-enabled systems. Are you relinquishing control or using AI-systems to augment and enhance human behaviors.