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I spend my weekends now driving to New England estate sales in search of VHS tapes. I’m specifically looking for blank tapes with old TV recordings, ideally with commercials intact, that I then digitize and preserve. There are many names for those of us who participate in this niche hobby, including media archeologists and tapeheads.
Last month, at a sale in a crumbling mansion in Barrington, Rhode Island, I found a tape labeled “Frank Sinatra Special.” It was a two-hour broadcast celebrating Sinatra’s 75th birthday that aired on CBS in December 1990. Nearly all of the commercials were Christmas-themed, including a McDonald’s ad in which a cheery song invites holiday shoppers to take a break from the race and enjoy a Quarter Pounder with Cheese.
This ad captures so many facets of a bygone era. It was a time when most Christmas shopping was done in person and fast-food restaurants were dedicated third spaces where patrons were encouraged to linger and socialize. It was also a time when advertising firms would book studio time and hire musicians to write catchy jingles.
Contrast that with the new McDonald’s Christmas ad. It is thematically similar to the 1990 spot, with images of holiday stress and a song promising respite beneath the Golden Arches, but it was made entirely with AI. The ad’s creators claim they “hardly slept” for weeks as they fed prompts into AI software to refine the shots. The final product is sleek but lacks the warmth that, for now, is still only possible with a human touch.
Moral panic often accompanies new technologies. President Martin Van Buren allegedly reacted to the advent of the locomotive by saying that God did not intend for man to travel at “such break-neck speeds” of 15 miles per hour. There are benefits to AI. I use ChatGPT almost every day. But maximizing those benefits for society depends on government regulation.
McDonald’s producing an AI ad is a trendy move, but it also reinforces a notion of AI inevitability that McDonald’s benefits from. This is an example of what Noam Chomsky calls manufacturing consent: the subliminal shaping of public opinion to serve elite interests. The public accepts AI ads as the new norm, and McDonald’s saves millions by not hiring writers, directors, musicians, or actors for its campaigns.
The role of government is not to ban AI, but to level the playing field. It can be mandated that every penny a company saves from embracing AI is passed on to workers in the form of higher wages and better benefits. If workers are replaced with AI, we should tax corporations to ensure a robust safety net, complete with a universal basic income and Medicare for All.
There’s a lot of fear-mongering around AI. People often paint dystopian futures where workers go hungry and robots do our jobs. But this is a choice. AI could create a world of three-day work weeks, where we have the freedom to create the art that AI will never be able to replicate. But it’s up to lawmakers to articulate and enforce that vision.
Technologies come and go. AI will one day be eclipsed by something stronger, faster, and more efficient. But we have control over its impact before it inevitably goes the way of the VHS tape. |
