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Are artificial intelligence dangerous?
Recent years have seen rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. AI can be found across various industries, and companies are exploring using AI technology in their business operations to increase effectiveness, increase the reach of their business, or increase their offerings of services and products. Furthermore, AI has never held more prominence in the spotlight: Microsoft’s investment of $10 billion in OpenAI, the company which launched ChatGPT, the chatbot ChatGPT in the year 2022’s closing days, and how an AI system has been able to take the world by storm are the latest proof of the dominance of AI.
However, as AI grows and expands in scope and becomes more effective, it poses numerous risks, from the smallest to possibly, existential. None are necessarily the same; however, they are all reasons to be wary of the newest technology. Below, we will look at a few risks associated with AI.
Falsehoods and Deepfakes
A fake is a convincing computer-generated picture or video. The term “deepfake” could be derived from the AI-related word “deep learning,” the method by that certain AI systems analyze large amounts of data to improve themself to “learn.” Fake use has grown in popularity over the past few years.
A lot of deepfakes include images or videos of famous people. However, they can also be used for creating various kinds of malicious or misleading content ranging from false news reportage to retribution porn and more.
The risks of deepfakes are serious and are among the most well-known instances of a larger class of AI threat: misinformation. AI can create and distribute inaccurate information; however, it is believable. There are numerous social and legal implications for deepfakes and other misinformation generated by AI, and one of the major concerns is that there are currently no regulations regarding these types of materials.
Privacy
AI utilizes huge amounts of data to learn. The data usually is derived from real data of real individuals. This alone could be a serious violation of privacy. Several examples of AI systems, such as the computer-generated vision system and facial recognition software, and others could pose even greater privacy risks. AI systems can recognize human faces, which allows them to be able to monitor society and exert control over the behavior of humans. When used by criminals such as criminals, AI programs can play a major part in societal repression on a large scale or even worse.
Job Resignation
One of the biggest worries concerning AI concerns that AI could cause the automation of abilities and processes that are so efficient that it could lead to the demise of human jobs or whole industries. However, experts are divided on the potential consequences of AI on the job market. A recent study suggests that 85 million job opportunities could disappear because of AI technology between 2020 to 2025. Another study suggests that AI could lead to 97 million new jobs in 2025.
Conversely, AI is working toward automating various tasks in certain workplace settings. Take a look at how the trend toward autonomous vehicles could threaten the delivery driver’s job, for example.
However, generative AI, which is AI used to create new content, not to automate existing tasks – is likely to face many additional obstacles to overcome before it could threaten human jobs. These jobs often require unique human traits such as empathy and imagination.
Certain experts think that AI could cause an employment crisis as the jobs it eliminates and the jobs AI creates won’t overlap in terms of skills. People who lose their jobs that are cut, like the delivery driver instance above, might be less likely to be able to compete for the jobs AI creates, which may be tied to specific abilities and experience.
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The Bias Effect, Discrimination, and the Problem of “Techno-Solutionism”
Society is liable to view AI through the lens of “techno-solutionism,” a belief that technology is a cure-all for various problems when it is only a tool. It is important to remember that AI systems aren’t flawless, and they can be a reflection of and amplify a variety of preexisting human biases and contradictions.
The more AI systems are used to address matters with the potential for discrimination and bias, the more likely this problem will be. Many companies use AI to assist in sorting and reviewing employment applications. Although AI offers the advantage of analyzing more applications the same way human reviewers could, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is completely free of biases. AI systems must be designed carefully and monitored to ensure they don’t treat certain applicants unfairly.
An actual illustration of this occurred in 2018 when Amazon ended its use of a custom-built tool for recruitment following the discovery that an AI system was based on information biased toward female candidates.
The discrimination and biases of people are major factors that could be contributing factors to recommendations algorithms found on search engines as well as social media. These AI programs are likely to increase bias with no careful plan.
Financial Volatility
AI could revolutionize the financial sector. Many investment firms rely on AI to evaluate and choose the right securities to purchase or sell. Many of them also utilize AI systems to manage buying and selling assets. AI trading algorithms gain transparency, while emotions can affect human analysts. However, they must know the wider society’s impact and context. Markets depend on a certain level of trust and are easily controlled by the investor’s fear. It is not difficult to imagine a scenario where AI investment tools that aim to maximize profits engage in an influx of sales and buys within an extremely short time, creating anxiety among human investors on the market and creating flash crashes and other forms of volatility.
The Singularity
The greatest threat AI poses, even though the least well-known, is “Singularity,” or a moment when artificial intelligence is superior to human intelligence. This shift in the direction of technology could signal the point at which humans will no longer be capable of controlling AI, and it will be able to control how society is constructed (or destroyed). Discussion on Singularity is largely speculative since no one can say exactly what might happen as AI grows and becomes more effective. However, the implications could be a major concern, and some experts suggest that the Singularity could even result in the demise of humans.
If AI surpasses human intelligence, it can develop concepts no humans have thought of before. This superhuman AI will be motivated to grow like AI is today striving to achieve, and the gap between constantly improving AI and humans will expand even faster.
This AI could immensely benefit society by identifying ways humans cannot eliminate poverty, disease, and climate change. However, it could discover that humans aren’t contributing to its pursuits and think of ways to ruin society or even kill people on a huge scale. The actual situation needs to be clarified. However, it is totally out of our hands. Researchers in technological futurism, like Ray Kurzweil, believe the Singularity will occur within the next few decades, and others believe it to be just two years away. How humans develop AI currently could have implications for a future Singularity at any time. This is why the world must confront the issue of the ethical implications and risks of AI earlier rather than later.
Notes
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the defining emerging technology with the potential to automate the process, increase efficiency, and change how industries are run.
As more advanced AI gets more powerful, it creates a greater variety of threats.
The most serious risks of AI include a lack of information (including making convincing fake images and videos called deep fakes), privacy concerns as well as the loss of employment in the workplace, discrimination and bias, financial and market volatility, as well as a “singularity” where AI outdoes humans in intelligence.
AI is predicted to render around 85 million jobs redundant between 2020-2025; however, it is also predicted to generate 97 million new jobs in 2025.
Some experts believe that the Singularity could happen in the next ten years, but the implications of this occurrence are still largely unknown and are speculative.
