Tim Roberts | Digital Vision | Getty Images
The widespread advent of generative artificial intelligence is causing alarm from many quarters. A recent study funded by the US government warned of “uncontrollable” consequences from AI. There are devastating concerns about AI-based cyber attacks and the potential for job losses due to AI replacing jobs.
But doom is just one interpretation of AI.
The rise of AI is likely to provide a roadmap to solving humanity's worst impulses and create a better, more just world, according to experts paid to predict the future. This is the rosy scenario outlined in a recent survey by Tata Consultancy Services that measured the views of 21 futurists around the world on his AI.
Frank Diana, Managing Partner and Chief Futurist, Tata “There is,” he said. “We are in a place we haven't been since the second industrial revolution,” he said, predicting that the widespread arrival of AI will bring about innovations in transportation, energy, health care and communications.
This view is a world apart from some prominent technology leaders who have issued dire warnings that AI will overtake human intelligence within a few years. Even in Silicon Valley itself, there is a huge divide between techno-optimists and doomsayers.
Diana says doomsday scenarios are distracting and undermine the potential of technology.
“Honestly, I think conversations about conscious robots and artificial superintelligence are distracting,” Diana said. “If AI is managed correctly, we will instead be talking about all the great things it can do for humanity.”
He said the roots of today's negative view of AI in the popular imagination lie in the 1970s, when Hollywood moved toward more macabre themes to match the country's mood. But before that, technology was seen as something that would someday bring about utopia, he said.
Bernard Marr, an author and futurist who was not involved in the Tata study, echoed a more optimistic view.
“I have seen all the amazing benefits that AI can bring and I feel it every day. I believe that AI is the most powerful technology humanity has ever harnessed,” Ma said. , said he believes that power can be used to bulldoze inequalities and challenges in health. , education, climate change.
“AI has a very long way to go, if ever, to become sentient. But AI is very good at doing things that only humans could do before,” Mark said. he said. “Mundane things are a waste of human power. AI will allow us to focus on the amazing powers that make us human,” he added.
He sees the role of AI evolving to become a co-pilot at all times, rather than staying up at night worrying that robots will take over the planet.
“AI will make the doctor-patient relationship much better,” Ma said, adding that AI will take over the insurance and regulatory paperwork that currently burdens doctors, allowing practitioners to spend more time with patients. I explained that it would be. “I don't think AI is scary. All the systems that are being developed are not against humans, they are for the betterment of humans.”
Given the power of AI, regulations, laws, and safeguards are needed to prevent misuse.
“But we're already starting to see that happen,” Ma said, referring to recent legislation by the European Union.
So why was the fear so widespread? When we talk about sentient AI, people usually immediately talk about creepy AI. However, while sentient beings can be benevolent and value-neutral, that's not the AI that people usually think of.
Kelsey Latimer, a Florida-based clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety disorders, says the reason people fear AI lies in our very humanity. She said humans are hardwired to prepare for the worst.
“From an evolutionary perspective, we are hardwired to see negative and fearful things so that we can react when we see a predator coming at us,” Latimer said. There is no harm in considering something unfavorable if it turns out to be positive. If you think something is positive and it turns out to be negative, you often need to be prepared for the consequences.
Futurists like Diana and Ma predict that the impact of AI will be positive.
“With the use of AI, the passion and creativity that we humans are capable of will begin to shine,” Diana said.