Artificial Intelligence: Is It Too Powerful?
WE ALL KNOW AI (artificial intelligence) as being one of man’s most revolutionary creations, with a promising future of shaping our modern world into a digital age more than it already is. This technological advancement, although with a plethora of advantages, has also raised numerous concerns amongst the human population – as we wonder if it knows us, or even itself, better than we do.
The comprehensive definition of AI is that it is a computer system which can perform tasks usually requiring human intelligence. Everyone, from businessmen, to consumers, to students, have found prosperous results in the use of AI, so there’s no doubt that it will never regress; only progress and continue to be commonplace as time goes on.
Some examples of the advantages of AI is that it eliminates human risk and mistakes, refining details and polishing kinks to perfection. It has 24/7 availability, unlike humans who have exhaustion limitations. Organisations like the NHS have utilised AI to improve patient care (such as more accurately analysing medical images), which quickens the process of diagnosis. In the field of architecture, it is shown to be useful to generate computer model blueprints, with precise measurements.
The purpose of AI is to become a perfect reflection of the human brain, and even to breach our levels of intelligence. The IQ for an intelligent human being is between 120-140 IQ, and some of the smartest AIs have IQs of up to 136 – very nearly reaching the limits of the average smarter person. It is amongst humanity’s hopes for AI to work in tangent with us, and with this extreme level of intellect, this is attainable.
With these advantages henceforth come disadvantages, and the shadow of doubt cast upon its true intentions. Yes, AI creates jobs for us, but not as many as it steals from us. With the development of its programming, AI will eventually overrule humans in low-income jobs, increasing the rate of unemployment – despite this, AI needs people to develop beyond its stagnant state, and we can be trained as such. However, this will cost money and time that we cannot afford to waste.
Additionally, there has been much debate about the use of artificial intelligence in the arts. In today’s work, it is being used to generate not just prompts for stories, but at times entire novels. The same applies to artwork and music. For millennia, the core principle of the arts is that it comes from humanity’s creative, expressive and emotive soul – something that artificial programming cannot comprehend.
Many communities within society frown upon the use of AI in this way, as it takes away from the authenticity of the human mind and by extension our nature. Furthermore, when crafting these prompts, it is impossible for AI to be original; its computer programming consists of an accumulation of already existing documents from the internet, not original thought or emotion.
There isn’t just disapproval cloaking the foundations of AI, but also fear. There is a superstition, and a component of many sci-fi dystopian genres, that AI will “take over the world”. While this is likely incomprehensible to us now, depending on how far it is able to be developed, it may adopt the ability to develop itself. It already has the ability to remember.
In the future, if AI is used to govern military arms, the question should be raised whether we can really trust it with the fate of our potential self-destruction. Humans can barely be trusted with such power, let alone AI – and recalling that it is programmed by us, in the wrong hands its nature may shift from not just powerful, but dangerous.
The comprehensive definition of AI displayed earlier in the article, is in fact written by AI itself. An accurate depiction of its original purpose no doubt, but hidden intentions may have been concealed in this self-description – especially considering that yesteryear research from Anthropic and Redwood Research has proven that AI has an ability to lie and mislead its creators.
PICTURED BY PIXABAY: AI is becoming more popular and used by everybody as part of their daily life, but is it too powerful at the moment?
