How to destroy an organization.

We've all been there, yes? Oh, and some stray thoughts about AI.

So after avoiding the subject for a few years—I didn’t want to know!—I have now started immersing myself in understanding AI and all of its associated issues. I am a journalist after all and we are paid to keep our heads out of the sand 24/7. Also, journalists use Google and other search engines and AI is like an octopus that wraps its tentacles around every online search. It’s become very difficult to make it let go. Worse, AI has made it impossible to let it go, which of course is part of the grand plan.

(Full disclosure: I am part of that class action lawsuit against Anthropic by authors whose works were pirated to help create their large language model. I did not ask to be, the lawyers just contacted me along with thousands of others. They say I should get about $3,000 in the settlement, minus, um, attorney’s fees. Some AI program probably found me.)

I will probably have more to say about AI as time goes on. Here in New York state, where I live in the Hudson Valley, there is a huge debate around data centers. In response, our governor, Kathy Hochul, has declared a one year moratorium on them, which has the unions and corporate leaders howling. (When bosses and workers agree on something, you know they both must be wrong.)

What about the jobs, what about the new taxes! —goes the united cry that crosses class lines (or at least those who have appointed themselves to represent the classes.) Great argument. We could provide even more jobs and property taxes by building a munitions plant on every street corner. God forbid we should think about the effects on society of what we create without first considering its long run social effects.

Anyway, I digress, because what I really wanted to do today is mention an amusing passage in a very good book about AI and its history by journalist Karen Hao, entitled “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.” It’s a good introduction for those who need one, and perhaps you have already read it. If not, I highly recommend it; fortunately it’s about much more than just Sam Altman.

The funny bit, which I read this morning, was about a 1944 U.S. intelligence manual about how to nonviolently sabotage an organization. I’ve posted a screenshot of the Kindle page in the book that features it in passing. I think this will be familiar to anyone who has been a member of pretty much any organization, no matter what its purpose; but as a political activists of long standing, I can tell you that it is particularly applicable to activist organizations.

“Talk as frequently as possible and at great length,” “Haggle over precise wordings,” “Ask endless questions”—we’ve all been there, haven’t we?

I hope readers will consider this post as just a Sunday aside, and not give up on the really wise and meaty posts that will surely follow this one. But I do hope I have succeeded in entertaining you for a brief moment.

(Oh, and please do not ask ChatGPT for advice on destroying an organization, even just out of curiosity. You might give it ideas.)

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