Much is said these days about AI. It tends to be at either extreme. Either it is very, very bad and something to be avoided at all costs. Or its proponents blindly promote it without thought to any guard-rails or rules. Like a gold rush, first is best, and damn the consequences.
Neither view is particularly useful. Those in the first camp appear to have never used AI in any meaningful way, and point with glee that AI can't even reliably count the number of r's in strawberry. Likewise, the cheerleaders for AI gloss over the very real impacts — on the environment, on critical thinking in schools, and any number of other legitimate concerns.
AI is the most consequential technological development of this century. It is changing the world on a daily basis. As such it needs much stronger governance, regulation, and legal frameworks to better manage its impact. Policy makers seem ill-equipped to deal with it. Our government here in Aotearoa simply sees the adoption of AI in the public sector as a means of cutting costs — which is a very narrow way to think about something this significant.
AI is here to stay. The task now is finding ways to manage it wisely — and that requires a good deal more seriousness than either camp is currently showing.