Céleste Spahić, Tech Philosopher: «AI Asks Questions, Humans Think» | Text Akademie Podcast #51

Anyone setting up a campaign in Meta Ads Manager can filter audiences by Mustang fans or governments in Asia. Anyone who follows wedding planners is considered engaged. With «Advantage+ Audience,» the algorithm doesn’t even need input anymore. This is how it’s described in the book «Unlock your [ai]dentity» by Céleste and Marinko Spahić. The logic behind it: More time on the platform means more ads, and more ads mean more money.

Céleste Spahić founded the startup «Mindzeit,» a mental health app; she was named Female Founder of the Year in 2023 and calls herself a tech philosopher: she reflects on technology and builds it herself. In the new episode of the podcast «AI and Society,» she explains why she doesn’t demonize AI despite all this. «Technology is, after all, a tool, and a tool can amplify effects in both directions.» To Kant’s «Sapere aude» we can now add «Conscius esse aude»: have the courage to be conscious. In other words, to be aware of what technology does to you.

Discussing with AI as if with philosophers

She sees the most common mistake in working with AI as using the language model as an answer machine. She demonstrates it: «Write this email for me.» «Okay, done.» «I’ll send it out.» If you stop checking the output, you’re giving up the thinking. She sees working with AI as a loop: «It’s a dialogue. It’s a constant back-and-forth between the large language model and the human.» In the book, this is called a Socratic dialogue partner: the AI asks questions, and the human thinks.

Many copywriters and creative professionals see AI as a threat. Spahić distinguishes between two separate debates. The creative community faces real problems, such as those related to copyright. Separate from that is the question of whether to outsource or enhance one’s creativity. «Creativity is the ability to combine things in ways that haven’t been combined before.» The first step remains with humans. Only then does the language model come into play.

«Generation AI—that's all of us»

The prompts in the book encourage readers to share personal information with the AI. This data ends up with U.S. corporations. Spahić’s advice: «You should always keep in mind that there might be someone reading or listening in.» Real names, addresses, and bank account information don’t belong in the chat. That’s why she’s calling for data-sovereign solutions from Europe, including Switzerland.

Instead of bans, Spahić advocates for regulation and education. At phil.cologne, she led a panel discussion in which more than 400 students were surveyed about their use of AI. The result: Nearly 90 percent said they use ChatGPT for their homework. This makes it all the more important to specifically prepare young people for working with AI. The seven «Future Skills» outlined in her book should therefore be firmly integrated into the school curriculum. “We are all the AI generation,” says Spahić.

The podcast episode on Spotify

The episode featuring Céleste Spahić is part of the video series «AI and Society—Paths to a New World,» produced by the Swiss Text Academy Foundation, the Swiss Prompt Engineering Academy, Science City Davos, and Lab42 Davos. It is available at YouTube, Spotify and available on all major podcast platforms. Hosted by Christoph Soltmannowski, produced by castalavista.com