15th letter to the FT

Addiction Economy Thought for Today - A new letter to the FT letters page on AI and the Addiction Economy - let's see if I can make it 16!

"To the Letters Page Editor.

We agree with John Thornhill that regulators should ’dig much deeper in the powerful corporate structures that deploy frontier AI models’ (Scarlett Johansson is right: AI companies should be more transparent, May 24th).

Our research into ‘The Addiction Economy’ explores how the world’s most harmful industries are allowed to flourish at the expense of the rest of us. We put 6 sectors under the microscope - cigarettes, alcohol, opioids, gambling, unhealthy and ultra-processed foods and vapes - to uncover lessons for the adoption of new technologies like AI.

We conclude that lack of political challenge to corporate power is at the heart of their success, resulting in huge damage to physical and mental health and the premature death of millions.

The 4 Drivers of The Addiction Economy we identified are plain to see in the business models of many sectors using AI and all are inspired by The Daddy of addictive industries: cigarettes.

The first two drivers, Additive Product Design and Predatory Marketing, exploit human vulnerabilities to design and promote their products beyond the point at which they cause harm - i.e. to addict individuals and society for profit.

The third and most insidious driver is Disinformation. The term ‘AI’ itself is a form of disinformation. This meaningless term was designed by academics and companies mainly for fundraising purposes and is now used to hype the software and as a distraction from harm prevention and regulation.

The 4th driver is the Undermining of Political Action. Lobbying, lack of transparency, threats of litigation and the dominance of large companies in the political process all work to put corporate interests ahead of the public interest.

Bundling digital companies with cigarette companies may seem unfair, but if they are using the same tactics to profit at the expense of individuals and society, we struggle to see the difference.