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Gavin Simone, P.Eng., PMP, LEED AP
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The question of the month is, what do you fear and/or love most about artificial intelligence?
For some one who graduated from University with a BSc. in Artificial Intelligence(AI) & robotics, I think AI has come a long way, and it the present and the future due to the immeasurable amount of contributions it is making in all spheres of technology and lives now.
AI has allowed us to be able to perform technological advances that were not easily achievable several years back in the automobile industry with self-drive cars, in the health industry with medical devices and a whole lot of other technologies they are applied to daily. with data gathering being an integral part of decision making theses days, AI is facilitating the translation and application of using data to effect “real-time” change and that is very valuable.
There are those in the general public who feel some of these technologies might be intrusive, but society has always had apprehensions for what they could not understand properly. I think all those fears can be alleviated by following standards and regulations.
There is great good from AI and I think we should all embrace it to make the world and technology more efficient.
I have fear about the idea that AI (artificial intelligence) will become conscious and would like to destroy human.
AI is being used increasingly over time in every sector of the economy. The advantages of deploying AI include increased productivity, efficient use of resources, curtailing corruption, enabling adaptation to climate change, faster and efficient supply chains, ncreased physical and online security, and so on. Any technological change is accompanied by both job losses and job gains and the adoption of AI is not immune to such behavior.
My fear about AI is not a terrifying fear; it’s more like a fear of failure. I fear that AI will develop a thinking process that is incomprehensible to humans. It may come up with wonderful (or horrible) solutions, and we humans will not understand at all how it derived them. How are we supposed to control or rein in something we don’t understand?
Just like any tool, I don’t fear the tool, but the motivations of the people behind it. Tools are not inherently good or bad, but what is done with them which becomes a feeling of love or fear. What I fear is that these tools which are becoming easier and easier to use, fall into the hands of those who want to manipulate others to get gain for themselves. I don’t worry or fear AI that could become a general AI that appears conscious, I worry about what those who control that AI will want to do with it as it could be used for great benefit to the entire world, or could destroy aspects of it for the benefit of the few.
More and more people are begining to question the advantages and disadvantages of AI. From my point of view, one of the benifits of AI is that it will significently increase the efficiency and productivity in workplaces. At the same time, I have some serious concerns about using AI in our daily lives, like the idea that once AI robots lost control, they maybe become hostile to us, or even to seek to destroy human beings.
AI technology will lead to minimize manpower from industries, i.e., destroy human workforce due to less jobs availability in the future.
I don’t fear the technology, I fear what people do with it. Just like any tool, it can be used for doing good or doing harm.
I don’t think that the increasing capability of artificial intelligence is all bad and I do think that it will free up a significant amount of human labour to work on more creative and fulfilling projects by creating more wealth society. However, if I want to be critical, a concern that I have with the potential of a superintelligent AI system is that it could take away our collective ability to create meaning in our life. Not only might it eliminate jobs for a large portion of the population, which provides meaning for many, but the increased presence of AI in our lives allows the owners of those systems to influence our decision making capabilities to a greater extent. As we become more reliant on these systems, and as they become increasingly intelligent, their influence over us will also increase and so too will our freedom shrink. Also, if these systems eventually become significantly more competent than humans, then we will be pressured to follow and trust their conclusions, regardless of how much those conclusions might go against human common sense.