Jon Stewart isn’t buying the lofty promises of the tech CEOs that artificial intelligence will be used to tackle major problems, such as ending climate change and curing diseases ― not based on what he’s seen so far, anyway.
Stewart rolled footage of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg using the technology make toast for breakfast.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Stewart asked on “The Daily Show” on Monday night. “See, here’s the thing. Toast, I can make. I can make toast. It might be the only technology we have that works pretty much every time. I’ll tell you what: Why don’t you get to work on curing the diseases and the climate change, and we’ll hold down the fort on toast.”
But it’s not toast he’s worried about.
It’s jobs.
Stewart said new technologies are often used to replace workers ― and played clips of tech titans letting “the real truth slip out” as they admit as much.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in one clip that AI would help “get the same work done with fewer people.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Stewart said. “Same work done with fewer people. Not a math guy, but I think fewer means less.”
Stewart called the promise of AI a “bait and switch” and warned of where it’s leading on Monday night’s “Daily Show”:
