What It Means to Choose or Decide In The Age of AI

Longstanding Concerns Over AI

From an open letter endorsed by tech leaders like Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak which proposed a six-month pause on AI development to Henry Kissinger co-writing a book on the pitfalls of unchecked, self-learning machines, it may come as no surprise that AI’s mainstream rise comes with its own share of caution and warnings. But these worries didn’t pop up with the sudden popularity of AI apps like ChatGPT; rather, concerns over AI’s influence have existed decades long before, expressed even by one of its early researchers, Joseph Weizenbaum.

ELIZA

In his book Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation (1976), Weizenbaum recounted how he gradually transitioned from exalting the advancement of computer technology to a cautionary, philosophical outlook on machines imitating human behavior. As encapsulated in a 1996 review of his book by Amy Stout, Weizenbaum created a natural-language processing system he called ELIZA which is capable of conversing in a human-like fashion. When ELIZA began to be considered by psychiatrists for human therapy and his own secretary interacted with it too personally for Weizenbaum’s comfort, it led him to start pondering philosophically on what would be lost when aspects of humanity are compromised for production and efficiency.

Copyright chenspec (Pixabay)

The Importance of Human Intelligence

Weizenbaum posits that human intelligence can’t be simply measured nor can it be restricted by rationality. Human intelligence isn’t just scientific as it is also artistic and creative. He remarked with the following on what a monopoly of scientific approach would stand for, “We can count, but we are rapidly forgetting how to say what is worth counting and why.” 

Weizenbaum’s ambivalence towards computer technology is further supported by the distinction he made between deciding and choosing; a computer can make decisions based on its calculation and programming but it can not ultimately choose since that requires judgment which is capable of factoring in emotions, values, and experience. Choice fundamentally is a human quality. Thus, we shouldn’t leave the most important decisions to be made for us by machines but rather, resolve matters from a perspective of choice and human understanding.

AI and Human Intelligence in Market Research

In the field of market research, AI is being utilized to analyze a multitude of data to produce accurate and actionable results or insights.  One such example is deep learning models which, as Health IT Analytics explains, filter data through a cascade of multiple layers.  Each successive layer improves its result by using or “learning” from the output of the previous one.  This means the more data deep learning models process, the more accurate the results they provide thanks to the continuing refinement of their ability to correlate and connect information.

While you can depend on the accuracy of AI-generated results, Cascade Strategies takes it one step further by applying a high level of human thinking.  This allows Cascade Strategies to interpret and unravel insights a machine would’ve otherwise missed because it can only decide, not choose.

Take a look at the market research project we performed for HP to help create a new marketing campaign.  As part of our efforts, we chose to employ very perceptive researchers to spend time with worldwide HP engineers as well as engineers from other companies.

This resulted in our researchers discovering that HP engineers showed greater qualities of “mentorship” than other engineers.  Yes, conducting their own technical work was important but just as significant for them was the opportunity to impart to others, especially younger people, what they were doing and why what they were doing was important.  This deeper level of understanding led the way for a different approach to expressing the meaning of the HP brand for people and ultimately resulted in the award-winning and profitable “Mentor” campaign.

If you’re tired of the hype about AI-generated market research results and would like more thoughtful and original solutions for your brand, choose the high level of intuitive, interpretive, and synthesis-building thinking Cascade Strategies brings to the table.  Please visit https://cascadestrategies.com/ to learn more about Cascade Strategies and more examples of our better thinking for clients.