Douglas Rushkoff is very much a welcome guest at GDI events. A radical advocate of the human use of new technologies and media, he has presented his findings on social media and currencies at several Trend Days. On 12 March 2025, the Trend Day will explore AI’s impact on society and the world of work, while Rushkoff’s presentation will focus on human creativity.
‘11 Commands for the AI future’ is what 63-year-old Rushkoff sets out in the recently published new edition of his bestseller ‘Programme or be programmed’. He reveals a key piece of advice in this short video for Trend Day: AI should serve people, not the other way round: “Use AI to do the parts of your work that you don’t like. So that you can focus entirely on the weird, wonderfully ambigious aspects of your work, that don’t resolve easily and that machines can’t even understand.”
The Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at the City University of New York warns against being seduced by the slick, human-like interface of AI applications, such as ChatGPT: “Don’t try to make them human or to take creative responsibility for your work.”
Diese Trennung zwischen Mensch und Technik werde sich, so Rushkoff, auch durch weitere Fortschritte der KI nicht ändern, da es sich um fundamental unterschiedliche Lebensbedingungen in den jeweiligen Welten handle: «In der digitalen Welt läuft alles nach dem Schema Ein oder Aus, Null oder Eins. Menschen hingegen leben nicht in diesem starren Rhythmus, sondern in den Zwischenräumen, die ausserhalb dieser festen Abläufe liegen.»
How can this be achieved in a reality where there’s an economic world as well as digital and human ones? Knowing Douglas Rushkoff, he will tell us at his next appearance at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute.
Be part of the next Trend Day on 12 March! "Highway to Heaven? How AI Transforms Society and Work".