Bittersweet

I only caught the tail end of a news story quoting Jeff Bezos on AI, but I was immediately struck by his description of artificial intelligence in Amazon warehouses: a beautiful symphony of people and machines. Much less threatening than the more prominent narrative on AI that describes machines taking over, a world of no jobs, and unknown quantities of other unintended consequences. The beautiful symphony concept reminded me of an incredible fashion moment from 1998, which I discovered through the documentary McQueen. Alexander McQueen had the foresighted brilliance to put model and robots on stage together, with the robots painting the model’s dress. The vision was a beautiful symphony, in the form of a bittersweet interplay between nature and machine. As you watch, you feel the fear about what might transpire, but you also want the interaction to continue. Because just possibly the outcomes – though unexpected – could be wonderful.