Roblog

As Frederik Pohl said, “a good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile but the traffic jam.”

Lots of optimism about AI in its early days focused on how it might make the job of people in bureaucratic roles much easier, as it massively increased their information-processing bandwidth. But here is the flipside:

“A new service called Objector is offering ‘policy-backed objections in minutes’ to people who are upset about planning applications near their homes.

“It uses generative AI to scan planning applications and check for grounds for objection, ranking these as ‘high’, ‘medium’ or ‘low’ impact. It then automatically creates objection letters, AI-written speeches to deliver to the planning committees, and even AI-generated videos to ‘influence councillors’.”

This is the tricky future we must navigate. One particularly unsavoury detail:

“Kent residents Hannah and Paul George designed the system after estimating they spent hundreds of hours attempting to navigate the planning process when they opposed plans to convert a building near their home into a mosque.”