Today the euphoria around artificial intelligence is so palpable and intoxicating that it has almost become impossible not to get swept by this love-affair. But when any love becomes biased and one-sided, the counterargument becomes all the more necessary.
More often than not, a counterpoint tries to dwell on the dark and ugly side that invariably gets brushed inside the carpet. But our resistance to acknowledge the dark side could have serious negative consequences for our society, and we can ill afford to be blindly ignorant about it. Therefore, my latest article ‘why I hate artificial intelligence’ is borne out of our moral calling to remind the society that there are downsides of AI that need serious consideration and introspection.
Top reasons Why I Hate Artificial Intelligence
Enlisted below are some of the reasons why I strongly believe that the recent hype around AI needs a reality check.
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Loss of human connection and lack of empathy:
One of the blunt and disturbing truths about artificial intelligence is that it is completely emotionless. AI does not have the capability to understand human emotion, let alone forge a human connection. As today more and more companies are using AI to automate tasks that were once done by humans, AI’s aversion for human emotion urgently requires a serious public discourse.
AI may become super-smart in the future but it will always be a poor substitute for human emotions. As a result, we might be heading towards a society where loneliness and isolation will become epidemic. All those who want to downplay this as a mere exaggeration or misplaced fear should never forget that AI is nothing but lines of codes performing pre-programmed answers. Therefore, it can never generate the warmth and deep level of empathy that only humans are capable of.
The likely slow and steady erosion of human connection due to increased proliferation of AI in the future is something that should worry us all.
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Job loss and economic uncertainty
Our blog post ‘why I hate artificial intelligence’ would have been obviously incomplete without discussing about the contentious issue of job loss. Whenever there is any discussion about the negative consequences of AI, the issue of job loss has to pop-up and the fear is not misplaced by any means.
There are enough surveys and studies to suggest that mass layoff due to AI is a reality that is waiting to strike and destabilize the lives of millions. For instance, a recent study by Goldman Sachs estimate that AI could replace 300 million jobs globally by 2030, representing about 9.1% of the global job market. Another study by McKinsey predicts that by next five years, AI could force nearly 375 million global workers to change their career.
These scary data should make us pause and think whether AI should be a cause of celebration about human potential or warning signs of economic degradation and stagnation that is going befall and engulf us.
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Perpetuating bias and inequality:
Artificial Intelligence is only as efficient as the dataset they are trained on. This means that If the AI system is trained on a dataset that contains historically biased information then this will only perpetuate biasness and inequality further in the society. What could be equally worse about AI induced discrimination is its pervasive nature, plaguing possibly every important area of the society; healthcare, law enforcement agencies, work location and more.
Based on in-depth study and discrimination, several incidents and examples of AI driven discrimination have come to the forefront. Mentioned below are some of the incidents and examples.
- AI driven software and tools used in hospitals and other healthcare institutions have been found to be making inaccurate diagnoses for patients belonging to minority groups including the black community. This is primarily because AI software and tools used in the US and European hospitals have been largely trained on data sourced from white patients.
- Many AI-powered recruitment software have been found to be operating with gender bias, unfairly favoring males candidates over female candidates for certain designations.
- In a major cause of concern, many AI systems have been accused of reinforcing racial biasness. For instance, the facial recognition tools have been found to be especially notorious in misidentifying black and Asian faces at much higher rate than the white faces. This obviously leads to wrong arrests and conviction and thereby perpetuating a feeling of injustice among the racial minority groups.
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AI becoming maliciously uncontrollable:
There have been enough Hollywood films depicting a scary future where robots and machines go rogue and creating unimaginable chaos in the human society. Albeit, we never took these sci-fi movies all that seriously, passing it off as a cheap entertainment thrill. But with AI’s recent meteoric rise and the debate about AGI (artificial general intelligence) picking up pace, this existential threat now looks more real than ever before.
While Hollywood movies always have a happy ending, we humans are quite unsure how our future will unravel when AI actually starts superseding human potential. Sensing the potent danger from AI, today several countries are busy framing policies and creating regulations to regulate the artificial intelligence industry. Whether this will prove enough to tame the evil side of AI remains to be seen. That said, this gives me enough reason to build a compelling argument as to why I hate artificial intelligence.
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Mass invasion of privacy:
With internet becoming ubiquitous and an integral part of our lives, the intrusion into our data privacy is something that we are all getting accustomed to. But with AI becoming a dominant force, this problem is likely to acquire a monstrous proportion. By all probability, what we are confronting is not just intrusion but a mass invasion of data privacy. It almost seems like an all-out war where we seem completely defenseless and weak.
If this sounds bit over-dramatic and over-the-top then we are choosing to play ignorant to an important fact. That all AI systems fueled by large language models need incredible and insane amount of data that unfortunately will be sourced from our own lives. AI will turn into a surveillance system that is likely to snoop into almost every activity of ours. From our eating habits, social life, vacation itineraries to even our political affiliation. It is not just AI taking control of our data but also our entire life.
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Erodes moral and Ethical values of our society:
The ethical and moral predicament around AI makes for a quite long list. Deepfake technology, biased algorithm, misinformation, and potential misuse of AI are among the many AI induced unethical activities that prominently features in this list. if not controlled, these malicious activities could destroy the moral fabric of our society. As a result, in future our society could become a breeding ground for all kind of anti-social activities including violent crimes, riots, passive aggressive behavior and narcissistic behavior.
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Devoid of originality and creativity:
The relentless push of AI into every important facet of human life, like music, content writing and art, promises to offer great amount of convenience. But there is a huge trade off. All that comfort and convenience comes at a cost of sparkling creativity and ingenuity that often comes with human endurance. At the heart of it, all AI creations are soulless. Its algorithm can only replicate set patterns designed on pre-programmed codes. What it fundamentally lacks is the depth of human emotion that fuels any artistic and creative expression – joy, pain, suffering, ecstasy, impulsivity and every other form of human emotions.
We will become creatively dead society where originality will be suppressed and mediocrity will be celebrated. Where being average will be considered as great, while endless striving for creative ideas will be undermined and castigated. Worse, we will end up uprooting the creative roots that fuels the vitality and dynamic growth of the society. It won’t be entirely to wrong to say that AI seemingly has inherent aversion for creativity.
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Loss of autonomy and control
In one of the above points, i made a passing remark about AI taking control of our life. Here we will be dwelling more deeply on this issue.
As AI is expected to integrate more deeply into our lives in the future, we run the apparent risk of ceding the autonomous control of our life to a system that is prone to malfunction and destructive behavior. The entire idea of giving complete control of our life to AI is bit unsettling and unnerving. More so because AI, unlike humans, won’t take accountability for its actions leading to negative consequences. The lack of accountability and transparency could make AI into an autocratic ruler, enslaving the entire human race.
It is important that power without responsibility is always dangerous.
Conclusion:
Artificial intelligence certainly promises convenience, efficiency and solutions to some of the most painstaking and pressing problems. There is simply no doubting AI’s potential.
But amid the fervor and zealous celebration, we can ill- afford to lose the sight of the downsides of AI. A dissenting voice is necessary to properly evaluate the strength and weakness of AI. Our blog post ‘why I hate artificial intelligence’ is a bold and sincere on this front.
Ultimately, it is up on us whether we make AI a boon or a frankenstein monster. To avoid the latter, we need to exercise vigilance, caution and a discerning attitude while tapping into endless potential of AI as truly transformative and growth agent.
