Study #1: The Endgame of Automation

Lead researchers at Verum will share daily automation or AI news stories of interest, particularly those that have meaningful impacts on the people using or interacting with those technologies, in order to help the public keep a pulse on the ever-changing technologies that have such profound impacts on their lives. (Facebook and Twitter) 

Each month, Verum will hold community conversations on social media in order to have a more sustained examination of key AI and automation technologies and the ways they intersect with and impact human lives. While those conversations will be moderated by Verum researchers who represent diverse opinions on each topic as well as occasional guest writers with deep knowledge on an issue, we recognize the intelligent and engaged public audience in those spaces and welcome respectful and thoughtful commentary from our audience in order to deepen the understanding of all involved in the conversation.

The United States and China, both leaders in artificial intelligence and fierce rivals in that space, share one commonality: both exclude average citizens from having any meaningful say in the process and direction of AI development, albeit for different reasons. We believe that American and Chinese citizens have valuable experience and ideas that will help create more human-centric AI that better meets the needs of its users and that they should, accordingly, be invited into the process. (Sept. 2023) 

Proponents of technological innovation argue that artificial intelligence is capable, in time, of solving the majority of humanity’s problems. Opponents suggest that it will, instead, replace the humanity it is meant to serve. The more likely outcome is that it will offer us a better life in some ways but perhaps a less meaningful life in others. To assess the value of artificial intelligence in our daily lives and determine the extent to which we want to integrate AI into each avenue of our lives, we need a stronger understanding of what constitutes a meaningful life for us personally and what role we want AI to play in it. (Oct. 2023)