Where is AI headed? Two media theorists from the 1960s can help us figure it out

The 1960s were a time of great change in technology, culture and politics.

Television was radically altering the media environment, and nobody was quite sure how to think about it.

As the world struggles with the impact of another new high-tech medium – generative artificial intelligence (AI) – two thinkers from that era have acquired new relevance for understanding what is happening and where we’re heading.

Investors are sinking billions of dollars into AI companies and data centres in the belief that AI will change the world.

But how should we think about AI? Is it a powerful tool we should embrace to avoid becoming Luddites ? A type of intelligence we should be collaborating with? A different view is to consider the likes of ChatGPT and Claude as new mediums that are reshaping our communicative environment.

This is where our 1960s thinkers can help: Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan and French theorist Guy Debord both offered key lessons in how media work and how they affect society.

AI as medium In the early days of the printing press, it was used to produce copies of the Bible.

TV relied on theatre and radio for much of its early content.

The internet was first mostly used for sending electronic “mail” and exchanging “files”.

McLuhan noticed the pattern here .

New media are initially used to recreate content from old media.

But then we see novel kinds of content appear that are native to the new media.

Television, for example, led to the advent of reality TV, 24-hour news coverage, and other forms that uniquely suited the medium.

We’re still in the early days with generative AI.