WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE UNITE OR DIVIDE?

 

WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE UNITE OR DIVIDE?

 

Will we control AI or will AI control us?

 

I have no stake in artificial intelligence and although I use intelligence/information, for referencing and research, I do rely on my creative mind to interpret the world as presented to me and in this article, although with limited personal expertise, I will still venture to put in my two cents (I was brought up in a time where pennies still mattered) as the road AI will follow is as unpredictable to me as it is to anyone else, even to the so-called insiders.  When it comes to AI the prognostications are all over the place and one of the original creators is now regretting his involvement with the same concerns expressed by the scientists involved in developing the atomic bomb.  No, AI itself doesn’t explode as a device of mass destruction but it could have a similar impact if unleased on humanity without controls and oversight and it appears that is already the case.  As with everything humans design and concoct the negatives are initially ignored as the euphoria of a new invention overshadows the concerns.

Who profits from its labor?

In this article I’m going to hopscotch through some of the commentaries and concerns espoused by the so-called experts.  I have my misgivings because nothing pertaining to AI has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt by anyone and therefore I can be forgiven for my trespasses.  (I love the odd biblical references as our western hemisphere is riddled with them)  We may well hope that if there is a God, he or she will be on our side to deal with the fallout of AI.

People want to feel useful, they need to feel useful.

One prognosticator predicts that humans will go the way of the horse because of AI, a reference to horses being replaced by motorized horsepower and we only keep a few of the beasts around for sport, show purposes, recreational entertainment and as a curiosity.  What this implies is that there will be no real purpose for many of us to remain on the scene.  At least we could eat the horses when they were no longer useful and needed.  Horses didn’t disappear overnight and neither will we, but the question it raises is the following: If AI makes a lot of us redundant, what will happen to us in the interim?  I do hope that cannibalism or being turned into dogfood is not on the menu.

AI is mechanical learning, a distinct technological advantage over our computers which are basically limited to data storage, so is AI, but in a far more sophisticated way.  AI can sort, sift and crunch data and present solutions and possibilities in record time.  It can replace humans in many applications, especially when it is used in conjunction with robots and automation.  You can view AI as an extension of the human world or as a threat that will reduce many humans to a state of redundancy; not a pretty prospect.

AI should enrich our lives, not cheapen it by taking away jobs and income.

The development of AI and its implementations has been a financial bonanza for some of the biggest tech companies in the world and their shareholders.  Those with the most to lose and the most to gain have of course been hyping AI as manna from heaven.  (I like to stick with the biblical)  The lure is appetizing: work faster, better, and above all, with fewer people.  In this article I am not going to bother with all the crooks and nefarious characters that are already abusing AI through cyber scams and hacking, blackmail and crypto currency fraud.

My biggest concern is the persnickety fact that once more we have constructed something that has the potential to harm an awful lot of people by making them redundant or turning them into second class citizens, dependent on government handouts.  If that is the case, AI could turn out to be its own worst enemy and the impact could be devastating.

AI is not a consumer.

AI is machine learning and it doesn’t invest or purchase anything and it only makes a lot of money for those people owning and using it.  Other than regular maintenance and servicing it is basically an anomaly where it concerns the benefit, welfare and prosperity of the average citizen.  It doesn’t require any of the services and needs people rely upon.  Work and contributing has been the way of the world for a very long time; besides meaningfully occupying one’s time and feeling needed as a productive member of society.  In other words, giving life a purpose, rather than merely existing and loafing around. 

People like Musk have been prophesizing that work and poverty, because of AI and other futuristic wonders, will become a thing of the past.  There are a number of things all these tealeaf readers are ignoring.  We are living on a finite planet with limited resources and without any escape hatch in sight.  We are robbing the planet blind of its natural resources and we’re blundering through those that are renewable, but we don’t give them a chance to renew.  8 billion plus people can’t be ignored or conveniently turned into dogfood.  Unless you find a way to get rid of us, our presence cannot be ignored, nor can our needs and demands.  Neither can we ignore the expense of providing for people, especially in the face of the stupendous levels of debt most governments have racked up to keep us in our boots and standing straight up.

We are great at turning on and we suck at turning off.

I have alluded to this in previous articles and I will take a stab at it again.  Humanity has been great at devising new technologies that looked promising from the onset and that in the long term have been anything but.  Anticipating the consequences has never been our strongest suit.  From forging metal into weapons rather than ploughshares, turning gunpowder intended for fireworks into cannons used to kill and from rockets flying to the moon and bringing back a few hundred kilos of useless rocks, the list of unexpected side effects keeps piling up into negative territory.

All these technological advances have not turned us into a better species, one that should behave according to that much vaunted so-called superior human intelligence and not by pretending that we can replace nature with artifice and get away with it.

Whose brain will YOU be using?

If we start using AI to circumvent learning and if we stop massaging our brain by actually using it to explore, to question, to examine and to consider our actions and activities, it will turn all of us into a self-defeating entity and AI won’t come to our aid when it becomes essential to turn that brain of ours on.  We have always used learning and the imaginative abilities of our mind to solve problems.  If we use AI without critical thinking and original thought it will turn all of us into dependent, shallow and ineffective individuals.  But when we use AI to infuse our thought processes with additional information and evidence, it can only strengthen those ideas and solutions.  But AI should never do the thinking for us.  AI should never do the deciding for us.

What are we going to do with all these people?

There are no convenient escape hatches.

Governments are up to their eyeballs in debt and I don’t think a guaranteed wage or income plan is in the cards.  Neither will the billionaires voluntarily hand over their wealth to keep the masses alive.  The human journey is hallmarked by stupidity and greed and the urge to dominate, to exploit and control is stronger than any appeal for moderation, cooperation and sharing wealth and knowledge with all.  Throughout human history a few have always lived well at the expense of the masses and I don’t think AI will change that.  These past two centuries we have added several nails to the human coffin and the doomsday clock has just been moved up closer to midnight.  AI could well end up as the final nail.  I am sure that you could come up with better pros and cons and with more intriguing examples, but I hope that with my articles I can keep the conversation alive.  None of my novels or articles are AI generated or sourced.  I have always taken great pride in using my own brain rather than borrowing and stealing from others.  Literary theft is only acceptable as a kudo to the author who thought of it first.  As one of my language professors reminded me, “Everything has been written about, said or done before.  It’s your take on it that will hopefully be new and exciting and justifies chopping down a tree.  (At the time of his lecture paper was much in vogue and home computers only existed on someone’s drawing board).

Whose wealth is it?

We are once more living in a world where the bulk of all global wealth is held by a few million people and their families and 10 percent of that group controls the lion share.  This is a recipe for global financial and economic ruin.  Throughout human history we have been there before.  Greed, ignorance and plain stupidity bundling in such intensity that the release will be catastrophic.  It is staring us in the eye once again.  A meeting with destiny. 

As per usual, feel free to comment or share.

Questions to ask and consider: AI is not a consumer and it doesn’t purchase anything, nor does it save or invest.  Neither does it raise a family.  Do you work for AI or does AI work for you?  Do you benefit from AI or the entity that owns and controls it?    

Knowledge when shared by all is the greatest source of wealth.   

Purchase my novel Energy & Origin on KDP Amazon.ca and use my full pen name, W.M.A. Bes