Humans have been always scared of artificial intelligence
Ever since Chat GPT arrived last year humanity has been scared of 3 things
AI will take all our jobs and leave us unemployed
This is by far the most popular AI fear. Many believe that AI will become so advanced and cheap that hiring humans will simply be too expensive, eventually leading to mass unemployment as AI takes over human jobs and executes them with higher speed and accuracy.
AI fakes will become impossible to differentiate from reality
AI fakes, also known as ‘deepfakes’, have arrived that are impossible to distinguish. Donald Trump claiming he’s signed up to Russian YouTube or Pope Paul wearing a white puffer jacket or the late Queen Elizabeth II doing a TikTok dance, are all difficult to distinguish from reality. When Donald Trump speeches hit the deepfakes syndrome first Generative AI had not arrived. Deepfakes with Generative AI support takes minutes to make for a home user today.
AI will become a threat to humans, possibly ending humanity
AI taking over the world has been a mainstay of science fiction for decades. Many movies like Terminator involve AI somehow infiltrating and taking over some of the world’s most secure systems and using them to overthrow governments and enslave people. Some even depict these programs as taking control of nuclear weapons and causing humanity’s extinction. So will it translate into reality?
Elon Musk says it is possible and he should know. After all Tesla and Space X are some of the biggest users of AI. Hear what Elon Musk says.
Microsoft funded Open AI And Chat GPT. Here is what it’s President Brad Smith says of AI
Yet speaking to BBC Panorama in 2021, Microsoft President Brad Smith warned “I’m constantly reminded of George Orwell’s lessons in his book 1984. You know the fundamental story was about a government who could see everything that everyone did and hear everything that everyone said all the time. Well, that didn’t come to pass in 1984, but if we’re not careful that could come to pass in 2024.” Smith was talking of the command control ambition of the CCP and its bid to be the world leader in artificial intelligence.
With 54% of the world’s CCTV installed in China and two out of three IoT installations, China is fast reaching the state when the CCP can plan, monitor and control the daily routine of all its citizens, including how much time a child can play video games or do any other activity. “If we don’t enact the laws that will protect the public in the future, we are going to find the technology racing ahead, and it’s going to be very difficult to catch up” warned Smith.
And how are the political leaders world over reacting.
China was the first to enact strict regulations. However their laws as usual are opaque giving the state unlimited powers while restricting the private players.
The European Union also proposed the world’s first comprehensive AI law in 2023 as part of its digital strategy. In the United States, while there is no official legislation yet in the pipeline but a general guidelines from the WhiteHouse in form of advisory. Unless the US is ready for regulating AI nothing serious is likely to happen. So the world is moving towards another uncertainty where we do not know if artificial intelligence is going to be ever regulated or will it be a freewheeling cartwheel answerable to none and on the way to gaining ascendency over humans.