Why the Push for AI Efficiency Might Be a Recipe for Disaster

The world of artificial intelligence (AI) has reached an interesting juncture. The top tech companies, including Google, Meta, Oracle, and Amazon, have been laying off hundreds of thousands of workers over the past few months. And the reason they've been citing is 'AI-Efficiency'. But what does this really mean?

The history of governments and businesses can be summed up as a relentless pursuit of efficiency. A good government is one that does the most with the least amount of public resources and delivers the most value to citizens. For companies, shareholders want the highest returns, and even today, with the development of management theories and the transition to the stakeholder paradigm, companies try to achieve an intricate mix of efficiency between their obligation to shareholders and other stakeholders.

Tope Fasua, a Nigerian writer and innovator, recently wrote an article titled 'The AI brutality: Could the world do with a little inefficiency?'. In it, he poses a question that many have been too afraid to ask: whether the world could and should retain some inefficiencies, rather than the relentless pursuit of efficiency that may tip the scale and lead us all into confusion.

Fasua notes that the pursuit of comfort is endless, and smart innovators target systems that deliver more comfort to humanity. A machine is anything that allows human beings to use less effort to achieve the same results. But what happens when machines become too efficient? Do we lose jobs? Do we lose our sense of purpose?

Fasua has been learning about AI and has obtained certifications in Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT under the Coursiv platform. He believes that the largest room in the world is the room for improvement, but he also warns that the world should not forget about the importance of human effort and purpose.

As we move forward in this era of AI-Efficiency, it's worth considering the long-term consequences of our actions. Will we lose our sense of humanity in the process of gaining efficiency? Only time will tell.