Technology and me: no friendship for life – but maybe a truce is possible.
My cell phone doesn't take me seriously anymore. It has grown over my head and now looks down at me pityingly and reproachfully. It feels under-challenged by me, just like the television, the computer and the all-too-versatile kitchen appliance.
The accusatory arrogance of the things that surround me makes me nervous, I have the feeling that I am increasingly helpless at the mercy of them. I meet the bottle opener, the vacuum cleaner and, if necessary, the charcoal grill at eye level. Although recently a very modern can opener put me in my place. But where artificial intelligence, algorithms and robots are involved, I become increasingly anxious. Of course, I'm not the only one again.
"There is a lot of ignorance, confusion and fear surrounding the topic. We hear AI and think of the terminator," says engineer Kenza Ait Si Abbou, whose book "Don't panic, it's just technology" has now been published. She says "AI" instead of "artificial intelligence" – and that sounds like a familiar nickname that only close friends are allowed to use. Definitely not my circle of friends.
"People are afraid of everything that is new", she says. "The only way to counter this is education. You have to deal with it and want to understand it. It is okay to approach slowly, but you should ask yourself exactly: What do I want from my cell phone and my computer? How can I use the technology without myself to be taken advantage of by her? "
That sounds complicated and it makes me in a very bad mood. Technical devices are supposed to simplify my life and be devoted subjects to me – but with every dubious app that one of my sons tries to download, I get a new problem and the feeling of having been ambushed.
"Digital education in schools must be strengthened"asks Kenza Ait Si Abbou. "The manufacturers won't protect our children from their games. Parents and teachers have to do that. It's about knowing the basics, recognizing relationships and taking responsibility. There will no longer be a phase in our lives when we are allowed to stop learning. We will not be able to lean back – because many things that we now take for granted will soon no longer exist in analog form. And the same applies in the digital world: There is nothing free. If you don't pay for a product, you are the product. Fears of contact lead to ignorance. And nobody can afford that. Digital detox may be beneficial like a fast for a few days – but not as a basic way of life. "
AI and IT will never be my closest friends, and big data is a size too big for me – but in the future I won't let my cell phone dance around on my nose.
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