A new kind of contrast
Freud famously listed three blows to human vanity: Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud himself. Each was a demotion, but each also created contrast. Earth was no longer the center of the universe, humans were no longer separate from the animals, and the conscious mind was no longer master in its own house. By contrasting Earth with other planets, humans with other animals, and the conscious with the unconscious, we gained a deeper understanding of what they really are. The demotion did not make them less special. It showed us in what way they are special.
With advanced AI, a fourth blow is coming: intelligence no longer has to be human. Luciano Floridi called this the fourth revolution and traced it back to Alan Turing. Now it is getting hard to ignore. Math, physics, accounting, coding, writing: more and more of what we thought was ours will be done by machines.
That creates a new kind of contrast. How is artificial intelligence different from ours, and what does that tell us about who we are? Work has always been a big part of our identity. If knowledge work no longer defines us, we will look for new ways to express what we truly are, and along the way we’ll get a clearer picture of what is human. Some will grieve a hard-won skill turned into a commodity. Others will break out and explore new ways to define identity alongside AI.
I think part of the answer is already in Knight Rider. KITT was faster than Michael, knew more, and never got tired. KITT extended what Michael could do. But Michael was the unpolished and slightly chaotic element that brought the freedom, the initiative and the style. KITT could drive. Michael decided where to go.
That is the contrast I expect to see. Not in what we can do, because machines will do more and more of it, but in the freedom, the initiative and the style we bring. Used as a companion, and not as a way to outsource our understanding, AI extends our ability to express who we are, and that expression is what will carve out what makes us human.