Heidegger thinks about tools like so: a tool is something (a thing that has being in the Heideggerian sense, not necessarily an object) that represents an extension of human capabilities in some way. A tool is thus any kind of thing that *lets you do something you wouldn't otherwise have been able to*. The important (for us) conceptual leap here is that when a tool works well, or isn't broken, it develops what Heidegger describes as a "ready-to-hand" quality: the tool fades into the background as a kind of human-tool gestalt of a human with the additional capability afforded by a tool forms. As a simple example of this, consider eating with a fork. When the fork is well-designed and not broken, *you don't explicitly have "I am using a fork" in your conscious mind while eating dinner*.
I don’t understand why you bring guns into this argument
Because it is a tool with a use that is used for bad things, like people are arguing with AI
For most people, LLMs do make it specifically easier to skip learning than to enhance learning. We can see this in practice where teachers are noticing higher grades for homework but lower grades for the final exams.
This is going to be especially true for children. Virtually unrestricted AI should not be accessible to kids. If they have access to AI, it should be one that acts as a teacher or private tutor that will help them learn but not give them the answer. Until we can control AI like that, they shouldn’t have access to it.
But we do not have an easy measurement for adults. We have anecdotal experience and vibes. It’s also entirely up to the person how effective the use of the tool is.
you could say buying a lottery ticket can be both a bad and a good financial decision
This would only be a good comparison if your actions had any impact on your chances of winning. It isn’t random chance how AI is used.
I think a better comparison would be drug usage. Prescription drug usage used properly can turn someone’s life around, objectively improving their life. Obviously abuse of drugs has ruined many lives, and ended many others. We are not saying we should get rid of drugs though.
Drugs are heavily controlled by professionals because of their ability to be abused. It used to be that coke was in soda’s and you could buy opioids over the counter. We learned about their addictive properties and dangers, and they were regulaged.
Perhaps we will some day have a method to control AIs abuse/addiction. It would no doubt look entirely different from controlled substances. Maybe there is a way to have personal accounts only help people learn, and rather that giving them answers it might guide them to learning for themselves. Who knows what this technology might look like in the future
Because it is a tool with a use that is used for bad things, like people are arguing with AI
This is going to be especially true for children. Virtually unrestricted AI should not be accessible to kids. If they have access to AI, it should be one that acts as a teacher or private tutor that will help them learn but not give them the answer. Until we can control AI like that, they shouldn’t have access to it.
But we do not have an easy measurement for adults. We have anecdotal experience and vibes. It’s also entirely up to the person how effective the use of the tool is.
This would only be a good comparison if your actions had any impact on your chances of winning. It isn’t random chance how AI is used.
I think a better comparison would be drug usage. Prescription drug usage used properly can turn someone’s life around, objectively improving their life. Obviously abuse of drugs has ruined many lives, and ended many others. We are not saying we should get rid of drugs though.
Drugs are heavily controlled by professionals because of their ability to be abused. It used to be that coke was in soda’s and you could buy opioids over the counter. We learned about their addictive properties and dangers, and they were regulaged.
Perhaps we will some day have a method to control AIs abuse/addiction. It would no doubt look entirely different from controlled substances. Maybe there is a way to have personal accounts only help people learn, and rather that giving them answers it might guide them to learning for themselves. Who knows what this technology might look like in the future