Artificial intelligence (AI) is a buzzword that started in the 1950s. It traces back to the Dartmouth Conference of 1956, where John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon proposed the first formal definition of AI. Before this, Alan Turing, a British mathematician and computer scientist, made significant contributions with his work on the Turing test and the concept of a universal binary machine. This idea is undermined by networked cyber crime and must be reinforced by the full power of Lambda Calculus and the Church-Turing Thesis. Recent advances in machine learning from 'Big Data' have enabled AI decisions previously only possible for humans. However, the rapid adoption of AI on a flawed computer platform leads to concern about the rapid growth of cybercrime and devastating cyber war, corrupting and terminating democratic society. In this blog post and my latest book, I explore the fate of AI society and the challenges that come with it.
The Pros of AI Society
AI will revolutionize everything, starting with industries like healthcare and finance. It will improve efficiency, reduce costs, and speed up good decisions, helping doctors diagnose diseases faster and more accurately, leading to better patient outcomes, or in other walks of life, detecting fraudulent activities, managing risks, and effectively monitoring finance.
AI is also expected to help address challenges like climate change and poverty, optimize energy consumption, reduce waste, and increase productivity. Additionally, AI will create new job opportunities that improve the quality of life.
The Cons of AI Society
Despite these benefits, significant concerns about the misuse and negative impacts on society. One concern is the displacement of jobs. As machines become intelligent, they will perform tasks previously done by humans leading to job losses and inequality.
Another worry concerns bias. The algorithms and the training data will remain imperfect, in which case results will also be biased, leading to discrimination that perpetuates inequalities.
Transparency is also a concern. As AI systems become ever more complex, it is harder to understand how they make decisions leading to mistrust and a lack of accountability.
The Challenges of AI Society
The challenges will take time to solve internationally, as demanded by cyberspace. Ensuring that AI is ethical is harder than agreeing international treaties on nuclear weapons. Ensuring that AI aligns with every nation's values is impossible to guarantee.
Transparency and accountability are other lost causes. The tools and frameworks that explain how AI systems make decisions and hold systems accountable for their actions may never exist.
Training AI will remain incremental, perpetuating bias on ignored issues and discriminating against missing groups or obscure subjects.
Finally, the need for education and awareness will accelerate as AI becomes rapidly prevalent, and people misunderstand how it works and its impact on society.
Conclusion
While the fate of AI society is in our hands, the risks are high. Alternative global interests will easily dismiss the concerns, as benefits are optimized nationally. Each nation and business group will develop AI for tasks that are in their own interests and probably not ethical, transparent, or inclusive. This will unleash a force that accelerates the destruction of enemy nations. The only level field of place for civilization to survive depends on the perfection of computers enforcing the universally fair and globally democratic laws of nature.
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