Microsoft has raised prices by 5% for its AI-powered tool, Microsoft 365 Copilot, marking a significant increase in costs for enterprises that rely on it. The move comes as the company touts the tool’s ability to boost productivity and efficiency.
However, experts warn that corporate AI is creating a dystopian experience where humans are increasingly replaced by machines. The tool’s features, such as auto-summarization and document generation, can lead to a feedback loop of automation, where tasks are fed back into the machine for further processing.
This can result in an exponential increase in reports, meetings, presentations, and emails, as AI-generated content is often indistinguishable from human-created material. The consequence is a loss of human cognition and creativity, replaced by under-stimulated boredom and mediocrity.
Microsoft 365 Copilot’s design also raises concerns about the use of generative art, which can produce images with no deeper meaning beyond the prompt. This can lead to a lack of nuance and insight in corporate communication, as machine-generated content is increasingly used in place of human-designed visuals.
The company’s decision to hike prices for the tool has sparked debate about the value of corporate AI and whether it is worth the cost. Some argue that it is necessary to stay competitive, while others warn that it can have devastating consequences for humanity.
Ultimately, it is up to individuals and organizations to decide how far they want to go with corporate AI. Refusing to adopt the technology or encouraging others to do so could be a powerful way to resist its negative effects and preserve human creativity and cognition.
Source: https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/18/opinion_piece_ai_tools