Richard Stallman Critiques AI, Connected Cars, Smartphones, and DRM - Slashdot

Richard Stallman spoke Friday at Atlanta's Georgia Institute of Technology, continuing his activism for free software while also addressing today's new technologies.

Speaking about AI, Stallman warned that "nowadays, people often use the term artificial intelligence for things that aren't intelligent at all..." He makes a point of calling large language models "generators" because "They generate text and they don't understand really what that text means." (And they also make mistakes "without batting a virtual eyelash. So you can't trust anything that they generate.") Stallman says "Every time you call them AI, you are endorsing the claim that they are intelligent and they're not. So let's let's refuse to do that."

"So I've come up with the term Pretend Intelligence. We could call it PI. And if we start saying this more often, we might help overcome this marketing hype campaign that wants people to trust those systems, and trust their lives and all their activities to the control of those systems and the big companies that develop and control them."

"By the way, as far as I can tell, none of them is free software."

When it comes to today's cars, Stallman says they contain "malicious functionalities... Cars should not be connected. They should not upload anything." (He adds that "I am hoping to find a skilled mechanic to work with me in a project to make disconnected cars.")

And later Stallman calls the smartphone "an Orwellian tracking and surveillance device," saying he refuses to own one. (An advantage of free software is that it allows the removal of malicious functionalities.)

Stallman spoke for about 53 minutes — but then answered questions for nearly 90 minutes longer. Here's some of the highlights...

Stallman's talk Friday covered everything from dark patterns, censorship, back doors, subscriptions, and remote updates (and remote bricking). "Insecurity that users can't fix is one of the consequences of non-free software."

He called age-verification laws "unjust surveillance... imposed by laws. There's been no campaign to require a compromise so that you can prove you're an adult without their knowing who you are."

To a question about gaming hardware, Stallman said "I don't pay much attention to games. They're almost all proprietary software, so let them end up in the trash." (Though he added later that "There are some free games implemented in free software, which is nice if you've got time to play a game.")

He uses a ThinkPad that's "old enough that in this model, you can shut off [Intel's] Management Engine permanently and never let it run again."

Richard Stallman's preferred free distro is Trisquel. But when it comes to mobile device operating systems, "Basically, they're all bad... I don't want the tracking that mobile devices do, so I don't want to have one."

What does he think of the push to rewrite GNU's coreutils in Rust "I think it shows that some people hate copyright."
And what does he think of Rust in general? "I'm in favor of all languages as long as they're implemented in free software." (His one issue is "the trademark conditions on Rust don't make it concretely clear what changes you have to make to be allowed to distribute a modified version... I sure wish they would clarify this.")

Has he had run-ins with U.S. intelligence agencies trying to foist back doors or surveillance into GNU? "Uh, no... I would suspect that if they wanted to do that, they wouldn't approach me."

Stallman also had suggestions for educators. "Universities should teach students to do reverse engineering. It should help them focus on the projects that will remove obstacles to winning freedom." And later he recommended universities try educational programs where students contribute to free software programs.

He also pointed out that today's web sites have what he calls "a sucker clause" typically saying "we may change these terms and conditions. If you continue to use the site, you will be held to have accepted the new conditions, even if you have not seen them." Stallman believes this should be illegal. (He says one medical site added updated terms saying users agreed not to sue over mishandling of personal data, but instead to resolve it in arbitration.)

And someone actually asked Stallman: Should I use Emacs over Vi? Stallman answered... "As long as it's a free version of Vi, then there's no moral reason one way or the other.

"But Emac loves every user and will be sad if you don't love it back."

At the end of the event, Stallman auctioned off an autographed hardcover copy of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman, an Emacs manual -- and a gnu-shaped stuffed animal (which went for $260). But towards the end, 72-year-old Stallman was asked "What do you hope to accomplish in the next 10 or 20 years with this movement..." HIs answer?

"Well, sad to say, I probably won't see what happens in the next 10 years. I'm getting old. I may still be alive in 10 years. But I wouldn't count on that. It's not going to be up to me for that long."

He also said, more generally, that "we don't have enough control over the situation to be able to plan for specific goals.

"We can plan for what direction to push in."