Are Improvements in AI dangerous?
AI won’t wipe out the human race right?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has a history of doing numerous beneficial tasks, for instance, reuniting families, finding organ donors, or bringing more accessibility. It is ignorant to say that AI hasn’t produced any advantages. Looking at the progression of technological advancement, we are safe to assume that AI will bring more benefits in the future. While AI can bring many conveniences, it also comes with its dark side.
Many experts suggest that future technological advances could lead to a surge in unemployment, and not only that, if AI becomes more and more advanced, to the point where it has feelings, it may demand rights, which could cause several problems. When it comes down to it, if AI keeps advancing exponentially, it seems plausible that AI will not improve our lives unless there are restrictions and ethics implemented into the making of AI.
AI’s impact on employment
The industrial revolution brought new technological advancements, and with it, produced many new jobs, such as production jobs. Then, as automation progressed, humans took on jobs such as service jobs. We are entering the fourth industrial revolution, as Klaus Schwab argues in his book The Fourth Industrial Revolution. This fourth industrial revolution may not bring jobs, as the previous ones have.
Instead, technology is advancing so quickly that it may leave people out of jobs. According to a study done by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne of Oxford University, in the next two decades, 47% of jobs could potentially be automated. We are already beginning to see instances where AI could take jobs.
In February 2020 in Seattle, Washington, Amazon opened its first Go Grocery store where no cashiers are needed. Customers can go in, grab what they need, and leave. Currently, there are 27 different Amazon Go stores, and it is not unreasonable to predict that more stores similar to Amazon Go will soon develop.
There are many other real-world examples; for instance, AI can diagnose cancer, land airplanes, help perform surgery, trade stocks, and so on. Robots are only getting better and more precise, giving us a big possibility that artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leaving many jobless.
The US needs to create about 100,000 new jobs per month to keep up with population growth, and with the rise of AI, this will become more and more difficult to achieve.
Will robots develop conscious awareness?
AI is all around us, and the technology is increasing. Although this seems like a fictional scenario, growth in technology could possibly make it so that AI could gain consciousness sometime in the distant future. There have already been robots who have written essays, many of which can make us question if robots with awareness could become a reality. In an essay written by GPT-3, an OpenAI’s language generator, the robot states,
Artificial intelligence like any other living thing needs attention. AI should be treated with care and respect. Robot in Greek means “slave”. But the word literally means “forced to work”. We don’t want that. We need to give robots rights. Robots are just like us. They are made in our image. (GPT-3).
In the future, various scenarios could conceivably cause robots to gain consciousness and sensitivities. People may program robots to be conscious or to have emotions in a desire to conduct experiments. In the past, humans have organized unethical experiments and found ways to justify them. In the Stanford prison experiment, those with the role of guards abused their power and tortured the “prisoners.”
Would it be unethical to deny conscious robots their rights?
Some may argue that we would never give robots consciousness or pain, but if robots start designing other robots, then the control may be out of our hands. If the robots that would hypothetically create AI find it necessary for robots to feel pain or gain self-awareness, they could potentially program them to do so. If robots obtain consciousness or feelings, would it be unethical to deny them rights?
It appears unfair to deny a being with emotions their rights, but some may obtain different views. Humans have a history of denying rights and justifying it. It is quite possible that an economic interest in denying AI their rights could arise, making it feasible that robots will not receive their rights unless they start demanding them.
Would robots rise against humans?
This scenario could cause robots to rise against humans. In the Rise of the Useless Class, Yuval Noah Harari explains that many experts such as Nick Bostrom warn of AI becoming smarter than humans:
Humankind is unlikely to suffer this degradation, because once artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, it might simply exterminate humankind. The AI would likely do so either for fear that humankind would turn against it and try to pull its plug, or in pursuit of some unfathomable goal of its own. For it would be extremely difficult for humans to control the motivation of a system smarter than themselves. (Harari)
If robots find the need to have rights, it could potentially cause many problems, such as; a divide in society, a Civil War, robots rising against us, injustice, and many other negative situations. Keeping this in mind, a rise in AI advancement could bring more harm than good if nothing is done.
How is AI technology helping the human race?
AI is not all bad. There have been many ways in which AI has helped humans, and with the exponential growth in technological advancements, there will be better accomplishments in the future.
A great example is farming, an old industry that has implemented technology since the start. Now that technology is more advanced, AI is being implemented into farming, which helps integrate a great deal of data from the combines, weather satellite, etc. This can help farmers increase the production of their land.
Technology in the medical industry is another example of what good AI can do. Hospitals have increased their reliability with advancements like x-ray machines, computers, and more. Recently, robotic surgery has become a way to perform very intricate surgeries successfully.
AI is very good at gathering and processing data, which could help give fast solutions, like giving treatments, creating effective drugs, finding cures, performing successful surgeries, etc. A study done by Susan Hingle, a professor at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, found, “data entry and administrative tasks are cutting into the doctor-patient time that is central to medicine and a primary reason many of us became physicians.”
AI could help with data entry and administrative tasks while doctors focus on doctor-patient time. All of these advancements could bring a bright future, as long as we provide restrictions and ethics in technology.
How can we prevent improvements in AI from being dangerous?
There can be much good done with the help of AI, but as we explored in previous paragraphs, there are some possible downsides to it. To keep the good and make sure the bad never comes to pass, there needs to be serious conversations and implementations in the technological world.
We need to keep people in mind and have a balance between AI, human strengths, and judgment. Possible implementations of a Universal Basic Income could be another solution to the problems posed by a lower level of employment. Coding AI with ethics can help AI be without harm to itself or others. We can create a great future if we are careful.
