Every technology entails a Faustian bargain!

Ever since I learned about Neil Postman years ago, I’ve found myself continually coming back to his writings and insights. The founder of media ecology, Postman remains one of my main influences when it comes to thinking about technology. For me, one of his most perceptive observations is that every technological change entails a “Faustian bargain”:

“all technological change is a trade-off. I like to call it a Faustian bargain. Technology giveth and technology taketh away. This means that for every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage. The disadvantage may exceed in importance the advantage, or the advantage may well be worth the cost.”

Moreover, there’s no guarantee that these advantages and disadvantages will be distributed evenly. Every new technology carries a risk: benefiting people in some way while hurting them in other ways, even if unintended. Generative AI (GenAI) will be no exception.

Advantages of GenAI: Boosting productivity

Granted, GenAI will probably lead to many innovative applications that boost workplace productivity. Well-designed chatbots and AI assistants can expand access to more information, especially in ways that make it easier to consume. For example, Microsoft Copilot can not only retrieve data from websites and apps but also summarize all that info in plain language.

Disadvantages of GenAI: Less social interaction

Of course, a drawback of having more access to more and more data is feeling overwhelmed by it—a.k.a. information overload. When swamped in data, the signal can get lost in the noise, which means spending more time with AI to analyze all the info. And spending more time with AI carries an opportunity cost: spending less time with people.

Unintended consequences of GenAI: loneliness

Unfortunately, spending more time with technology and less time with people can have a negative effect on mental health: namely, social isolation. For this reason, an unintended consequence of GenAI may be an “asocial system”: a place where people feel more lonely and less connected to each other.

Mitigating the Faustian bargain of GenAI

There’s little doubt that GenAI will redefine a lot of work, and increased productivity could be one clear benefit. But GenAI also could cause information overload, erode social connections, and make people feel more isolated. That’s the Faustian bargain of GenAI.

To mitigate this Faustian bargain, we need the kind of humanistic thinking pioneered by the likes of Postman. In other words, we’ll need to think carefully about what we should—and shouldn’t—automate with GenAI. (And after determining what things to automate, we’ll also need to think about how to automate such things ethically.)

For instance, it may make plenty of sense to automate routine, non-creative tasks, especially if they don’t involve much social interaction. One example could be the tedious formatting of business documents. At the same time, perhaps we shouldn’t automate non-routine, creative tasks that call for a human touch. Artistic and instructional activities, like creative writing and teaching, may very well remain those types of work best left in human hands.