What Is the Future for Me & You?

This is my first post on Ghost. I have migrated all Substack subscribers over to this platform (which is why you receive this mail, if you are wondering). It feels like a small era is over for me, personally, after four years writing on Substack, so now must be a good time to give a quick note of appreciation and tell more about what to expect from Futuristic Lawyer in the months to come. 

First of all, I want to dedicate a huge thanks to those of you who support my work with paid subscriptions, and have done so over the years. Without your support, I would not have continued this project. The fact that people out there are willing to pay for my writing gives me motivation to keep on going, and I take the commitment seriously, even though it’s not a huge sum of money. I recall a good quote I was told recently about what the meaning of life is: “Do what you love and put an invoice on it”. That’s exactly what I feel like I’m doing with this work. I hope I can continue to write for the next twenty years and longer.   

Secondly, thanks to those of you who have liked, restacked, or commented on my posts on Substack. As I understand it, liking and restacking is not possible on Ghost, but don’t hesitate to comment or share posts. It helps turning Futuristic Lawyer from a monologue into a conversation. 

In today’s post, I will try to answer what’s next for you and me in the future. After all, that’s the futuristic aspect of Futuristic Lawyer; speculating about what the future may look like. Below is an overview of stuff I will cover in the coming weeks and months. 

• My next post is “Tech Legal Brief 16: Trump Has a Point About the EU Commission’s Big Tech Fines”. Tech Legal Briefs are a combination of links and comments to a handful of interesting stories and sources in tech anchored by one main opinion piece that I publish monthly or bi-monthly. 
• I work as a freelancer with a non-profit organization called Pax Technologica that works on building  sovereign technology capacities in developing countries with a specific focus on Africa. I will use my platform here to share more information about the work we do and research we publish. You can see our latest publications here.   

Instead of posting a list of future posts, here is a bullet list of things I believe. All of these build on previous research and analysis you can find in the archive of 200+ posts. If it sounds interesting to you, consider taking on a paid subscription of $5/month or $50/month (no action required for existing subscribers). I will gift a copy of my e-book Death To Algorithms as a perk to yearly paid subscribers.

In the coming months, I will defend, explore, and refine these viewpoints. There is a very low likelihood that you agree with all of them.

• The business models of OpenAI and Anthropic are not sustainable. 
• Open models will become the norm in the future. Unless the major American AI labs pivot, China will win the perceived “AI race”, although I dislike the framing of calling it a race. A race to what?
• American AI is quietly being repurposed to become a military technology. This is where the closed models by OpenAI and Anthropic will provide the most value to the people in power.
• Age restrictions on opening an account on advertisement-based and algorithmically-driven social media platforms are fundamentally a good idea. 
• There is a lot of focus on the mental health crisis among young men, but young women are part of the same crisis. The crisis is caused in large part by smartphone addiction and the exploitative business model of social media companies, streaming platforms, and dating apps. The digital world distracts us from what it means to be a human and fills our brain with empty stimuli. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. 
• The most important step to make a better digital world for all is to break up Big Tech’s monopoly. New social media platforms and new ideas will struggle a lot to gain a foothold, as long as the digital ecosystem we depend on is closed and controlled by a few gatekeepers. 
• The EU is in a uniquely strong position to regulate Big Tech and make room for new competitors in the market. However, the EU needs to do more than issuing fines to change status quo. It will need to take radical steps, which means strict enforcement of its laws and restricting access to the EU market if necessary. The political pressure and opposition against such measures will be immense and unpopular among many businesses and voters alike.    
• American AI is only possible because Big Tech has unfairly captured the value created by users throughout decades. This issue cannot be solved by copyright law alone. It prompts us to rethink how the internet works. We cannot accept that a few powerful actors take ownership of all the value people create to develop the digital superbrains we call AI. 
• What would a better digital experience be like? Here is my wish list: Users have options of more control over what they see and engage with. The algorithms can be turned off and customized.  Biohacking/social engineering features such as infinite scrolling loops, notifications, etc. can be turned off and/or customized. There is no powerful intermediary between every action and interaction on the platforms. The platforms are not financed by personalized ads. Privacy is built-in by default. Users can share personal data selectively and earn revenue from value they create on the platform.  Platforms have to be interoperable by law, so users can seamlessly move from one platform to another, as seamlessly as moving newsletter subscribers from Substack to Ghost.