150 cultural figures, including Annie Ernaux and Enki Bilal, denounce the dangers of AI and call for its boycott

Artists, writers, filmmakers, lawyers and elected officials launched, in a column published Thursday by The Worlda call to “boycott” general public generative AI, responsible according to them for a “marginalization of human beings” par “the machines”.

“Without waiting for the legislator to build dikes, we call on all those who are not forced to use it to boycott generative AI”write the 150 signatories of the appeal, including the writers Hervé Le Tellier, Annie Ernaux, Pierre Michon, Abel Quentin, the former Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen, the comic book authors Jul and Enki Bilal and the biologist Marc-André Selosse.

The perils of mainstream generative AI “are not the concern of an obscurantist or paranoid minority”they say in this text published while AI stirred up debates at the G7 and at the VivaTech show this week.

“When so many politicians are hypnotized by promises” conversational robots, “The French population expresses deep concern. The adoption of this technology is certainly massive but it largely takes the form of repulsive adoption”they estimate. According to a barometer from the digital regulator (Arcom) published Tuesday, the use of services like ChatGPT is accelerating among the French, particularly among young people aged 15 to 24.

“We condemn a social project based on the marginalization of human beings and the destruction of our living environment”write the signatories. Because “used intensively by young people, robots will weaken their cognitive abilities and create formidable emotional dependencies”according to them.

Moreover, “the frenzy around generative AI represents a clear renunciation in the great battle of our century: that for ecology”car “the billions of euros invested in the construction of data centers are a call for general demobilization”they are alarmed.