One of the many memorable scenes in The Wizard of Oz shows Dorothy and her friends overawed by the enormous wizard. When the little dog sniffs out the man behind the mechanics, the “wizard” says, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” I’m concerned that we humans may be similarly be distracted by the shiny affordances of Artificial Intelligence: passing the Turing test, winning Jeopardy, turning off our lights and locking our doors, ordering our pizza, and driving our cars. I suggest that we must pay attention to those “behind the curtain” who create AI, especially when considering…
Author: Jeremy David Johnson
Marcia Bost
Jeremy David Johnson completed his PhD in Communication Arts & Sciences at Penn State University in January 2018. His writing on algorithms and networked culture has appeared in the edited volumes Theorizing Digital Rhetoric and Ancient Rhetorics and Digital Networks, as well as the journal Argumentation & Advocacy. See more at http://jeremydavidjohnson.com or @jeremydigitalus on Twitter.