AI threatens our culture, but the greatest loss might be our ability to listen

[ShawnMichaels_Botch]

The Guardian has an opinion piece by Dr Shirleene Robinson, an oral historian and visiting fellow at the University of Technology Sydney, with a slightly different angle on what AI might cost us. Most worries about AI and culture focus on art, music and writing being replaced. Robinson argues that the bigger loss could be our ability to listen to each other. As AI offers instant answers and synthetic empathy, we may stop doing the slow, patient work of hearing other people out

She points to some striking research. Australians lost an average of 338 spoken words a day between 2005 and 2019, which adds up to around 120,000 words per person per year. That was before chatbots arrived, so screens were already eating into conversation. If people start talking to AI companions instead of friends and family, that trend could speed up. Phones were already crowding out conversation at dinner tables and on buses

As an oral historian, she knows the value of listening better than most. The National Library of Australia holds more than 58,000 hours of oral histories recording people's lived experiences across generations. She mentions voices like Dame Mary Gilmore, born in 1865, describing life before electricity, and Dr Ella Stack, the Darwin doctor who lived through Cyclone Tracy and served as mayor during the rebuild. Those recordings only exist because someone sat down and listened

Her key point is that listening to people from different backgrounds, who may not share our views, can improve our mental and physical wellbeing. Empathy, she argues, is the richest gift that listening offers. A chatbot tuned to agree with you and respond instantly does not teach patience or an appreciation of difference. Real people are slower, messier and more surprising

I think this is a thoughtful take, and it connects with the debates about AI companions and loneliness. Do you think AI is making us worse listeners? Have you noticed people talking to chatbots more than to each other? And what would you want recorded if someone made an oral history of your life?. Listening is a skill, and skills fade when we stop using them

AI threatens to destroy so much of our culture. Our greatest loss might be our ability to listen | Shirleene Robinsonwww.theguardian.com