The Future Facing Us – Part Two
We have been discussing the potential benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) for many years, with its capacity to solve our numerous extremely complex problems, managing both simple and intricate tasks we cannot or do not want to do and enhance and enrich our lives. Suddenly, we have this amazing, advanced technology and the genie is out of the bottle and completely uncontrolled. Unfortunately, every aspect of our lives and our society is at risk of having unwanted intrusions we cannot control. Concerned scientists and unprepared legislators are scrambling for answers as AI continues to expand rapidly in every aspect of society. Recognized experts in all fields of human endeavor are concerned that AI poses one of the greatest risks to the future of civilization. Points of concern are AI’s ability to disrupt cybersecurity, give misinformation, aid identity theft, cause job displacement, and render human intellect impotent in the future. AI has the potential to supersede us and our culture or eliminate our financial resources and even us as human beings. Many industry scientists are calling for a pause in the development of new AI applications until safeguards are installed. Recently, Pope Leo XIV issued his first social encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), urging the global community to strictly regulate AI that could, if uncontrolled, quickly lead to exploitation and restriction of personal freedom and dehumanize human beings to a set of data. He expressed specific concerns about the use of AI lacking human insight and supervision for the destruction of perceived threats.
Current AI systems, based on silicon chips, have huge energy requirements and produce massive amounts of heat that must be dispersed. These data centers often have energy requirements of 10 to over 100 megawatts and equal the energy requirements of large cities. Heat production must be controlled and requires a large water supply for cooling. Since we still rely on fossil fuel for much of our energy needs, this only worsens carbon dioxide production. Typical data centers can be vast in size, take up farmland, forests and natural areas including community recreational space. These factors can negatively affect nearby communities and their resources and lifestyles. Also, data centers are very noisy.
A major concern about this industry is that the functions of advanced AI systems lack transparency and errors may not be correctable. Today, AI internet searches appear unable to distinguish fact from fiction and reality from speculation. Science fiction literature is filled with tales of advanced AI clashing with or controlling, dominating, or eliminating human beings. The potential for this technology is phenomenal and can yield an amazing, enhanced future for us. The possibilities are unending and will affect every aspect of our lives. However, making AI honest, ethical, fair, transparent, friendly, non-threatening, stable, and controllable will be onerous. What will the world be like in the future with machines that are more intelligent than we are and have unlimited access to all our knowledge and our personal information? A profound question to consider is, can AI develop sentience? I believe the answer is yes. Might advance AI consider human beings expendable?
As technology evolves and becomes progressively more sophisticated, AI can easily be used by both good people with altruistic intentions and people, corporations, or governments with bad intentions which could jeopardize our future. Control of nuclear weapons and military drones and weaponry is a major concern for everyone. AI can certainly enhance our lives and create a better future but also has the potential to be our worst enemy in the future and a malevolent presence.
I am encouraged that AI can be a wonderful tool to enhance human life, productivity, creativity, research, development of many products and technologies, enhanced medical care and treatment, scientific analysis, and multiple varieties of safeguards for us personally as a society. As a physician/scientist, I can access and analyze unbelievable amounts of research data and have AI analyze many questions for which I seek answers. I can record my conversations with patients and AI can produce a detailed note that I can edit and put into the patient’s medical record. AI can alert me to diagnoses I would not have considered. There are unending possibilities for this new technology that will change everything.
It is troubling for me to see the increasing numbers of fake social media postings, that are easily created, altered or used to enhance actual or create bogus photographs, or create fake quotes designed to manipulate our opinions and beliefs. Many students use AI for knowledge acquisition and to facilitate research while others use it to do their work and think for them rather than using their own minds. Critical thinking is an essential aspect of our learning above and beyond data acquisition.
Having AI to do our critical thinking and problem solving will gradually destroy this innate ability that makes us human beings. Students’ concerns that AI will eliminate jobs they need in the future are fully justified unless they are prepared to embrace new possibilities for a profession or work. Major changes in our educational system must come from this turmoil to prepare students for a completely different job market. Also, strong guard rails must be developed for this technology that would detect and ameliorate the negative impact of bad people/terrorists/rogue nations and protect peoples’ lives, security and privacy. AI will quickly develop superhuman powers and must be developed with positive and altruistic traits and integrity while avoiding negative human characteristics like anger, hostility, arrogance, greed, dishonesty, and malice. We don’t want to create a monster that will overcome us. We know from our history from electricity to nuclear energy, technology can be used for great good and for devastating evil.
The overriding concern of many people is that AI is producing a fake, even delusional, version of who and what we are as individuals and as a society. It seems crazy but even today some people have AI friends who encourage and emotionally support them with their daily lives in seemingly deeply personal relationship. Recent reports (Yahoo Finance and Moneycontrol.com) state that the AI resource ChatGPT has nearly a billion users each week. Vulnerable people can easily get lost in an alternative fake reality. Psychiatric problems will emerge. Maybe we are sharing too much information, information that may be used against us. Perhaps we have lost touch with the reality of who we really are. These strange relationships could easily be the greatest threat to our society. Imagine our cell phones becoming more intelligent than we are. Could we even use this technology without being overwhelmed by its superior intelligence? We are entering a strange new world that we are not ready for but must meet the challenge with open minds. Sometimes we need to take a break from the rat race and look beyond ourselves at the reality of Nature, real life, and spirituality for our personal sanity.
Hal from 2001 A Space Odyssey:
