Nathan Lesan
Dr. Johnson
Eng. 101-1014
09 February 2019
A.I. Takeover
The future can be a scary thing to talk about. We have no idea which way we are headed. There have been talks about events of world end and or an apocalypse. I still remember in 2012 when the world was going to end because the Mayan calendar ended. These turned out to be myths, but world takeover might be closer than we think. As we head into the age of technology we rely on our computers and phones in our everyday life. Technology progressed at a rapid pace giving us the birth of Artificial Intelligence or better known as A.I. A.I. is being used all around the world for various reasons. For example, farmers have started using A.I. to help them grow their crops. They have lowered labor costs, the number of pests, and even possible diseases. A.I. has been doing great things and will continue to do great things but it all comes with a risk that could wipe out humanity.
There is one major issue that not very many people are aware that a few people like Stephen Hawking, Steve Wozniak, and Elon Musk have warned us about. How far are we willing to go with A.I.? We have already used A.I. in factories, farming, and other things. It has taken jobs from a lot of people which could have a negative effect. The real issue is the problem of these machines getting smart enough and more advanced to be able to make decisions on their own without the input of a human. Some would think that A.I., being able to make decisions on its own would be a good thing, but there are major risks and it could take a turn for the worse. These are things we need to think about before we make a decision that could affect the whole world.
Stephen Hawking was one of the greatest and smartest people in the world. He is a credible scientist that has made a lot of discoveries. Stephen had voiced his concerns on how this new technology could possibly turn for the worse. He voiced his concerns to CNCBC stating “”Success in creating effective AI, could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization. Or the worst. We just don’t know. So, we cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI, or ignored by it and side-lined, or conceivably destroyed by it.” We could do a lot of good things with A.I. like Stephen has said but it could potentially be the end of humans. We need to take proper precautions when dealing with something so big and not brush it off like it is no big deal. “Unless we learn how to prepare for, and avoid, the potential risks, AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption to our economy.” Stephen said. We could prevent a world crisis just by taking some precautions as suggested by Dr. Hawking.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also voiced his concerns about the possible issues of A.I. Musk is a credible Engineer, Entrepreneur, and investor giving him credibility on the subject. He owns various companies including Tesla, Space X, and Open A.I. which is a non-profit. His cars made at Tesla can drive on the road by itself. Elon is a big name in the A.I. industry. His Company Open A.I. is a non-profit company that develops A.I. in a safe matter. Elon Stated “If you’re not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea.”. Musk has voiced his concerns about the safety of A.I. and even made a company to ensure the safe development. In his interview with Joe Rogan, which I will link for anyone that is interested in watching, he talks about his fears with A.I. and possible solutions to help avoid this disaster we are facing. The interview must be one of my favorite ones about A.I. because Elon is super intelligent and deals with this stuff daily. One of his big concerns is people using A.I. as a weapon and using it against other humans. Elon also brings to light in the interview that everyone is collectively contributing data to the development of A.I. through social media services such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. In the interview, he also brings up that there should be regulation and rules on the development of A.I. The only issue with this which Elon also discusses is normally the government will not implement a regulation until the problem has occurred. Elon uses the example of the battle between the car industry and the regulation on seatbelts. The car industry fought for decades and after thousands of deaths they finally put the regulation into effect. We all know the saying history repeats itself, so if that is the case if we do not stop the A.I. before the problem occurs and we have no control.
Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk aren’t the only people who have this fear in mind. Apple’s Co-Founder Steve Wosniak also supported Hawking and Musk in their accusations. Steve was not convinced that technology would take over but quickly realized that he was wrong. In an interview with Mail Steve says “Will we be the gods? Will we be the family pets? Or will we be ants that get stepped on? I don’t know.” All three of these credible people who deal with A.I. all have the same accusations. What surprised me the most was the fact that Steve had dismissed the accusations of technology/A.I. taking over but later changed his views. In the same interview Steve states “Computers are going to take over from humans, no question. If we build these devices to take care of everything for us, eventually they’ll think faster than us and they’ll get rid of the slow humans to run companies more efficiently.” He even referenced Hawking and Musk in his interview. A group of engineers and scientists have signed an open letter promising the safe development of A.I. Even with this letter only a few scientists have signed so we can still head into a dark direction.
This problem hasn’t been put into the spotlight for everyday people. This issue is not like the world ending in 2012 or any of the other false accusations. This problem is very real and is supported by a few credible people. The one thing that is unknown is when this will happen or take place. It could happen in months or it could happen in years, but we are currently unsure on that. Elon Musk suggested putting forth regulations on the development of A.I. so it does not spiral out of control, but regulation normally does not happen until the problem is occurring. He created a company that is all about the safe progression of A.I. but this does not stop other companies from pushing us closer to disaster. Another thing to think about is how we contribute to the problem. Most people are unaware that we as humanity have committed to the issue entirely. Earlier in the blog I had mentioned that we contribute to the development of A.I. through the data on our social media accounts. Surprisingly this is not the only way we push the issue. The people of society, including myself, always want products that are better than the previous. Use the iPhone for example, they have produced over ten models in the legacy of the iPhone and are developing better ones daily. We are never satisfied and always want better even if what we have is doing the job just fine. We are going to push ourselves into disaster without even knowing we are doing it. This is true for just about anything that we use in our everyday life. Look at the development of cars or TVs, over the years they have become more advanced because it just was not good enough. We may not be able to completely control this issue, but we can still help delaying the development of disaster. Simply by not pushing for better out of this new technology. It seems like a silly solution, but it can help more than you would think. As people in society I feel it is our job to recognize dangers like this and to help with them rather than contribute to the problems. It gives me chills just thinking about the potential dangers A.I. can bring to us. Hopefully something is done before its too late. The fate of humanity depends on it.
A.I. Takeover 