There were many other speakers who definitely had their heads in the right place! But it was off-putting, to say the least, to have this AI peddler pop up so early, followed by a member of the EU parliament who identified rigorous copyright protections as one of the things "holding back" the EU from "competing" in the global AI market.
Oh! And you didn’t even mention the EU member of parliament in the piece—that might have been too much. I’m sure there were speakers who were devoted to literature, writing, publishing, etc. (like the first speaker you mention), but I can’t help but wonder if they are prepared or fully understand what’s coming their way with AI. Nate West had a good recent piece on this about a publisher embracing AI translation. She mentions how she can publish way more books in translation, bring new voices to the English market (all admirable goals, in theory) thanks to AI, but doesn’t realize that if AI translation is good enough, there’s less of a reason for a publisher of translated fiction to exist—people can just do it on their own, for free.
Thank you for this lovely defense of caring about reading and books. To the question posed by the presenter about why do her tech-adjacent friends are interested in literature - we need it, too! Some of us make a career in STEM or similarly “secure” jobs (or at least we thought they were secure when we were young) not because we love technology so much, but because we were told from an early age, by parents who were doing their very best to provide, that these careers would lead to a future with less struggle. For me, art/literature/music have always been really important, but I never saw a path for myself in those areas as a career.
The other thing that should be noted is the different speeds of tech adoption in different places. Some countries jumped over entire eras. And so they see certain technologies differently and say things like, well, what was said about social media, for example. It's not that I agree with them. I'm just saying it's something I see all the time when speaking or reading people from other places.
Man that conference sounds depressing.
There were many other speakers who definitely had their heads in the right place! But it was off-putting, to say the least, to have this AI peddler pop up so early, followed by a member of the EU parliament who identified rigorous copyright protections as one of the things "holding back" the EU from "competing" in the global AI market.
Oh! And you didn’t even mention the EU member of parliament in the piece—that might have been too much. I’m sure there were speakers who were devoted to literature, writing, publishing, etc. (like the first speaker you mention), but I can’t help but wonder if they are prepared or fully understand what’s coming their way with AI. Nate West had a good recent piece on this about a publisher embracing AI translation. She mentions how she can publish way more books in translation, bring new voices to the English market (all admirable goals, in theory) thanks to AI, but doesn’t realize that if AI translation is good enough, there’s less of a reason for a publisher of translated fiction to exist—people can just do it on their own, for free.
Thank you for this lovely defense of caring about reading and books. To the question posed by the presenter about why do her tech-adjacent friends are interested in literature - we need it, too! Some of us make a career in STEM or similarly “secure” jobs (or at least we thought they were secure when we were young) not because we love technology so much, but because we were told from an early age, by parents who were doing their very best to provide, that these careers would lead to a future with less struggle. For me, art/literature/music have always been really important, but I never saw a path for myself in those areas as a career.
The other thing that should be noted is the different speeds of tech adoption in different places. Some countries jumped over entire eras. And so they see certain technologies differently and say things like, well, what was said about social media, for example. It's not that I agree with them. I'm just saying it's something I see all the time when speaking or reading people from other places.