The internet is destroying our civilization. And AI, with its ability to create fake content and exploit human weakness at scale, will only accelerate the the problem. However, there is an opportunity to turn this around if we use the motivation to get online to our advantage. In fact, harnessing this motivation has the capacity to do more for humanity than most schools. But first we need to treat the internet with the respect it deserves which means creating a something akin to a drivers license.

Creating a driver’s license for the internet is not a new idea, but most of the proposals involve age and identity verification schemes.1 While these concepts are indeed important for protecting children and consumers, they don’t solve other types of problems and they create new ones.

Misinformation and tribalism remain rampant on the internet and the preferred solution so far is intrusive, abusive and untransparent censorship. We saw this during covid. If you asked the wrong questions, you suddenly would disappear off the internet.2 3

There is also the problem of addiction. We are addicted to the internet and our phones.4 5 We’d rather stay in and watch netfix than have to interact with other humans. And not only are we addicted, but we are getting dumber and more tribal too.6 7 8

So to solve these problems and many more, we need to tier the internet into separate categories. To use a transportation analogy, getting a driver’s license to drive a car does not mean you’re ready to drive a tractor trailer or a plane. Those are fundamentally different vehicles. The internet is the same. Let’s consider some possible tiers.

Tier 1: Consumer necessities, Government websites, Factual knowledge Tier 2: Consumer wants, media, socials Tier 3: Dangerous consumer products and media companies

Tier 1 would be like walking or taking the subway. You don’t need a license for this. People should be able to get on the internet and interact with their goverments without any barriers. Tier 2 requires education to enable people to communicate logically and civilly. Tier 3 requires an even higher level of education. At this level you are flying. You need to show that you really know what you are doing to keep yourself and others safe.

Again, the goal here is not to suppress free speech or impinge on privacy. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The goal is to educate people to develop critical thinking skills and communicate civilly with one another. With respect to privacy one could argue that it already doesn’t exist and whatever is left will go out the window with the advancements in AI anyway.9

Assuming our leaders are wise, which is a big assumption, I know, tier 3 could be gated. We know you went into that community, but we don’t track where you go after that. Would that really happen? Probably not, but again, I think that’s the best we could hope for from enlightened leadership. And even if we couldn’t get that at least the situation is transparent. Today, we have censorship and surveillance that hides in the unaccountable shadows.

But where all of this could really take off is if we decide to use AI for good. Again, this is a big assumption. But AI has the capability of teaching people all the skills they need to defend themselves online and behave civilly. Not only could it teach people logical reasoning, rhetoric and safety, but it could do so in a way that is personalized and fun. It could do so at scale and repeat the education as much as necessary to help people access the tiers they want to access.

And unlike regular school, people are very motivated to use the internet. They will jump through the hoops necessary to get their licenses. If we do this the right way, you could see a citizenry that understands how to think critically, avoid scams, manage their emotions and recognize cognitive biases. These skills are all foundational for living a good life and participating in healthy democracies.

In sum, combining the idea of a driver’s license for the internet with AI could be just the thing that could save our civilization and democracies from collapse, but we need to put education and freedom front and center rather than censorship, control and surveillance. And we need to remember that the internet is not a right but a privilege just like driving.

  1. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/03/briefing/age-verification.html ↩︎

  2. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/zuckerberg-says-the-white-house-pressured-facebook-to-censor-some-covid-19-content-during-the-pandemic ↩︎

  3. https://fee.org/articles/the-government-s-sprawling-effort-to-censor-true-information-during-the-pandemic/ ↩︎

  4. https://hbr.org/2024/02/do-you-have-a-phone-addiction ↩︎

  5. https://thethirdtalk.org/chris-rock-talks-about-his-porn-addiction-in-standup-act/ ↩︎

  6. Humanity is getting dumber https://archive.is/nycxV ↩︎

  7. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/technology-tribalism-and-truth/ ↩︎

  8. https://www.mamamia.com.au/true-crime-stories-rainpada-whatsapp-murders/ ↩︎

  9. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/10-years-after-snowden-some-things-are-better-some-were-still-fighting ↩︎