Importance of Third Places free from AI.

It's been a while since our last blog post and this topic has been on the top of mind for some time now.

Third places are social environments separate from home (first places) and work (second places) as originally described by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his book The Great Good Place. Third Places are important in that they provide people with a sense of belonging, freedom, and foster expression and creativity. They help to combat loneliness and isolation, especially among older adults, teens, and low-income groups. Examples of third places include coffee shops, public libraries, barbershops, sports and hobby clubs, and places of worship. All of which have been in steady decline in recent years due to many factors including increased costs to physically host, digital substitution (replacing activities with those hosted online), and post pandemic behavioural shifts away from communal activities.

At the same time as this decline, we find ourselves faced with the pervasive threat to our intellectual agency and mental health from the proliferation of unregulated AI. There is an interview with author Katherine Rundell which very eloquently cuts to the heart of the troubling issues with the current state of AI. We are just now starting to understand the long term effects on mental health that come from extensive use and exposure to AI generated material. (Psychosis, loneliness, disconnection, lack of deeper understanding, etc) Instead of improving individual understanding by turning to the minds of others, reliance on AI has severely diminished the need for human connection, at the risk of several social impacts on community and the development of young minds. In addition, at a deeply fundamental level, the unregulated development of current AI models has been conducted in an unethical and immoral manner. (mass theft of intellectual property and mimicry of skill and mastery that is negatively impacting the livelihood of the very creators of the material the models were illegally trained on). AI is currently being used as a means to increase economic disparity by stealing the hard earned intellectual wealth of amazingly talented individuals to increase the physical wealth of the very few who already own almost everything.

While we believe there is great possibility and amazing innovation that can come from the responsible use and development of AI, there is now a strong case for limiting mass exposure to AI generated material and not supporting it's current irresponsible and unethical trajectory of development.

Karate has an immovable heart of propriety, and it is our responsibility to follow our courage of conviction. It is because of this perfect storm of the decline of third places and the potential harms of excessive exposure to AI, we have decided to maintain our dojo as a third place free from AI. Where ever possible, we will ensure that our teachings, materials, and environment are free from AI generated materials. We will only leverage instructional methods and tools that foster cognitive growth and human connection. Given the current state of unregulated AI, we believe that this is the responsible path forward to help foster the intellectual growth and psychological safety of our students.