AI (Artificial Intelligence) is intelligence which is exhibited by machines rather than humans or machines. In the past few decades technology has advanced tremendously and even more advances in technology are being made every day. Technology is great and useful but where do we draw the line and when will we know if we’ve gone too far before it’s too late? AI is becoming an increasingly more controversial topic as it becomes more involved in our daily lives with technology like phone assistants like SIRI and self-driving cars, these new technologies make people confused and unaware of the risks of intelligent AI and so the line becomes blurred.
AI comes in different forms but there are mainly two different types of AI. Strong AI/General AI is an AI which is made to realistically imitate a human and could possibly explain the way that we think and experience consciousness. There is also Weak AI/Narrow Intelligence which are systems that behave the same way that humans do, just not thinking like us, they are usually designed to meet certain tasks.
The benefits of fully functioning AI are huge. Super intelligent systems could possibly bring world peace by helping us put an end to wars and conflict as they would be much better than world leaders at reasoning because they wouldn’t have human error and could make faster decisions and solutions. These machines could also help cure diseases preventing deaths, help fix poverty and do mundane jobs that nobody else wants to do. With AI, we can also conduct research and reduce the risks to humans without risking human lives. Intelligent robots can also be used on other planets to do research much like the Mars rover, by using robots to take risks on our behalf this could lead to substantial benefits.
In the future, we might have fully automated companies with the power of these advanced systems, the benefits to a company using programmed robots instead of humans is that AI doesn’t need sleep, food/drink and money, tasks could also be done quicker as they wouldn’t make as many errors, get bored and can work constantly. AI could also bring massive changes to the medical field by helping doctors diagnose patients and assess any health risks, they could also tell doctors potential side effects of medicines, help patients with mental issues such as depression and be used for simulations such as a surgery simulation to train doctors. AI is fantastic and the benefits of it are significant and revolutionary, the creation of working Artificial Intelligence would be the biggest event in human history but if we do not realise the risks it could be the last.
If we do not control AI and if people aren’t aware of the risks the consequences could be devastating. Many popular figures such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk agree that AI is probably humanity’s greatest threat, so we need to be careful that we don’t do something stupid. The development of AI should be observed closely so we remain in control to avoid researchers to “summon a demon” as Elon Musk says. Creating intelligent AI may have many benefits but it also has many consequences such as putting humans out of work, why would you pay a human who would make mistakes occasionally, get bored at work and be behind schedule when you could use an AI who could do their job better and faster also they wouldn’t need sleep letting them work constantly. Some systems are already better than professionals which makes people worry how long their job will last with these machines outperforming them. AI will probably outsmart researchers, outsmart financial markets, manipulate world leaders and beat humans in a lot of other tasks in future. Some AIs can already outperform humans in certain tasks mostly in board games and videogames where some systems can beat world class players but what happens when they outperform us in everything making humans obsolete?
Many Artificial Intelligence research companies such as Google’s DeepMind are already developing advanced technology like a system which is capable of imagination and lets them see the consequences of their actions before they make them. Another AI has also taught itself to walk showing how these robots are becoming more like us. What do we do when these machines become indistinguishable from humans? In July of this year Facebook’s AI robots had to be shut down after they started talking to each other in their own language which shows that we need to stay in control before it’s too late as these machines are more dangerous than we realise, these incidents should not be ignored as it could lead to something dangerous and potentially devastating.
Researchers say in the next 120 years most if not all human jobs will be automated, if that is true then what is the point in humans and what’s going to stop AI from rebelling and getting rid of humans. Eventually developments in AI could bring an event called the “singularity” which is a point where Artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence and the machines become sentient/self-aware which will bring a lot of problems and people worry if we do not control them humans may become endangered as they replace us. If this happens and if we do not stay in control what can we do, this event could potentially lead to the end of humanity.
So, the question is should we create intelligent AI? The benefits are but the consequences are significant and potentially devastating if we do not remain in control of these machines. Imagine a world where humans have no control over what happens, where we are powerless, where we are the endangered species. Personally, I think AI should be created but only to a certain extent. If we go too far it might be too late, there may not be any coming back, this could be the end of human race. How much longer can we play god before it backfires? When do we cross the point of no return? We may not have to wait much longer to know the answer. The end could be closer than we think.