Why You Should Stop Being Afraid Of Artificial Intelligence
AI will improve our lives in surprising ways.
Created with Midjourney
It’s all over the news. Artificial intelligence is here, and it’s getting out of hand, fast.
Soon the robots will start to replicate themselves, take over the world and kill us all.
Clearly, some people have watched too many Terminators. Now we think that once AI is created, it’s already too late.
Don’t worry Skynet is not here.
There are several problems and flaws in this logic, starting with the fact that people are mixing up artificial intelligence(AI) with artificial general intelligence(AGI).
But to start from the beginning, people are misunderstanding what AI is in the first place.
What is AI?
If you haven’t read it yet, Marc Andreessen wrote an incredible article called “Why AI Will Save The World”. I highly recommend you read it.
In that post, he gave a great description of what AI is:
“The application of mathematics and software code to teach computers how to understand, synthesize, and generate knowledge in ways similar to how people do it. AI is a computer program like any other – it runs, takes input, processes, and generates output. AI’s output is useful across a wide range of fields, ranging from coding to medicine to law to the creative arts. It is owned by people and controlled by people, like any other technology.”
Essentially, AI will only do what it is coded to do. It’s not going to start thinking on its own or making decisions that are not predictable.
In fact, every decision that AI makes, we can predict.
That’s where AGI is different, which is what people are afraid of. AGI would be able to think on its own and make unpredictable decisions.
David Deutsch gave a great example to explain the difference.
If AI was playing chess, it would analyze a giant number of moves to come up with the best possible move. We would likely be able to predict this move.
Whereas AGI might just say, “I want to play checkers” and yet, it may have never played checkers in its existence.
Do you see the difference?
Artificial general intelligence and artificial intelligence are opposites.
AI can only do the narrow thing it’s been programmed to do. AGI is making unpredictable decisions.
That’s what scares people.
To be clear, AI has been created, but a real AGI has not.
But AI can still be dangerous!
There are many valid arguments as to why artificial intelligence can still be considered dangerous. However, I would argue that AI can also be used to counter these dangerous activities.
Let me explain.
One person said,
“What if AI could be used to tell someone the best way to break into a bank?”.
That’s a valid point, right?
Okay, but the counterargument could be, what if the same bank could enter all of its details and systems into an AI agent and ask, “Where are the weak points for our security, and how can we better protect against theft?”.
The AI could then give a complete analysis and then step up the security system to a whole new level.
In fact, you could even ask it to lay traps that would trick a different AI system into thinking it is a weak point to catch burglars.
The AI systems would counter each other, and then you’re back at square one.
Another person said,
“What if someone could ask an AI how to create as much damage as possible against a government with a cyber-attack?”.
Another very valid concern, especially nowadays.
However, the same argument works right back. The government could have far more advanced AI systems designed specifically to constantly identify weaknesses and build defence protocols to prevent cyber-attacks.
Back at square one.
My point is that in the same ways that AI can be dangerous, it can also protect you against dangers.
We should never restrict knowledge.
Here is where we have to be careful. Regulation of this new technology should happen, but we have to be careful that we are not restricting access to knowledge.
Preventing someone from obtaining knowledge that could be used for harm does not help in the long run.
Eventually, they’ll get access to the same systems, or create it themselves if they’re committed.
On top of that, when has restricting knowledge from people ever done any good?
I can give you some examples of when it has caused bad outcomes:
North Korea: Their government strictly restricts information that goes in and out. In 2010 when they were in the world cup and lost games, they wouldn’t even tell their people they lost.
Internet Censorship: This is a hot topic right now, but social media platforms such as Twitter made the decision to restrict points of view that opposed theirs. The Twitter Files exposed that many people were censored at the request of the FBI for bringing up concerns, including a Stanford professor. This blocked access to knowledge that should have been widely available.
Nazi Germany: The Nazis had restricted knowledge and facts to support their narrative about racial superiority, which led to widespread misinformation, and genocide.
The Catholic Church: For years the church restricted knowledge that opposed their point of view. One notable example is when Galileo Galilei said the earth revolves around the sun.
Restricting knowledge only benefits those who already possess that knowledge.
AI democratizes knowledge, including technical knowledge, to make it widespread for everyday people to access.
It levels the playing field.
Now, why wouldn’t we want that?
AI will change the world for the better.
Something that is often taken for granted is how much technology has improved the average person’s life.
Our lives today are more luxurious today than they’ve ever been.
If you live in a first-world country you likely have access to the internet, motor vehicles, airplanes, smartphones, clean water, and healthcare technology, not to mention electricity in general.
The quality of our lives is higher than it has ever been, thanks to innovation. Now is not the time to stunt it.
But where will AI help us specifically?
Doctors will have AI assistants that can diagnose a patient with 99.9% accuracy, and it would only get better as data comes in.
Every person will have an AI tutor for any subject of choice. This will elevate the education of the average person to new levels.
We will all have AI therapists that are more compassionate and understanding than anyone before.
Politicians and leaders will have AI assistants that can analyze scenarios and directly compare them to similar situations to come up with perfect solutions.
AI will allow those who are creative with words to apply their talents to other fields, such as image creation or musical abilities.
With AI we will reduce the number of repetitive mundane tasks we do so that we can focus on bigger solving problems.
AI will optimize energy systems to help combat climate change
Artificial intelligence will help reduce poor decisions in war, eliminating the number of unnecessary casualties.
Scientists will have AI assistants that can help research anything at record speeds helping us tackle any problems the human race currently has, or will have.
The easy way of thinking of it is just to imagine any scenario where a human is less than 100% accurate with their decision-making. AI can help increase that percentage making our lives incredibly more efficient, and enjoyable.
It might be safe to say that AI will go down as the most impactful technology for humans as a whole.
Won’t it replace humans then? And take our jobs?
With every new technology, humans are always scared of their jobs being taken.
But what happened with each technology in the past?
They made us more efficient, they pushed our species to achieve a higher overall quality of life and allowed us to focus on bigger problems.
Let me give you a couple of examples:
Farming equipment meant one farmer could manage exponentially more acres instead of having to rely on numerous labourers.
The printing press meant newspapers and books could be printed at record speeds.
The internet was feared because it would be able to automate jobs.
People thought cars would replace jobs because there would be no more carriage drivers or blacksmiths.
All of these examples not only dramatically improved our quality of life, but they actually created a lot of jobs too. These jobs were higher paying too.
In 2019, before COVID, we had more jobs and higher wages than ever before. That is thanks to technological advances.
Many say AI will be different though because this time it targets more jobs.
Here is something these people don’t take into consideration though.
AI will create an increase in the output of production, with less input required. This means goods will cost less, and we will have more money to spend elsewhere.
With more money to spend, there will naturally be the creation of new products and new industries.
That means more jobs.
“But AI could theoretically replace those new jobs too.”
That’s true, but then the loop would start over again. We would have more spending power, which would then create new industries, which would create new jobs.
The cost of production would continue to lower which means our lives would become more affordable, while the quality increases. We would have more money and time than ever.
Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
So here we are, once again with a new technology that will not only create new jobs, but also create higher-paying jobs, and an overall higher quality of life for everyone.
Only this time, it’ll be better than ever.
The real risk
As I mentioned before, AI needs to be regulated. However, it needs to be said that we need to be careful how much we regulate it.
We don’t want to over-regulate where we stunt the rate of innovation.
For the past few decades, the US has been the innovation hub of the world. More specifically, Silicon Valley.
Innovators work in groups.
It’s not that all the innovators are from Silicon Valley, it’s that the Valley attracted everyone there.
Innovators feed off each other. They hear ideas at coffee shops, see what others are doing, and because of that, they can progress faster than ever.
Innovation hubs of the past:
Renaissance Italy had Leonardo DaVinci, Galileo, Michelangelo, etc.
The Industrial Revolution in the UK had numerous innovators in the same place at the same time.
Ancient Greece between 500-300BC led innovation for philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and more, all in the same era.
So what’s the real risk?
If too strict of regulations are placed, it will chase away innovators. They will go to hubs where they can innovate freely.
Worse of all, as innovation in the US slows down, other nations will not. The greatest danger of all could be Russia or China leading in AI with the US trailing behind.
Conclusion
We fear what we do not understand, and many do not understand AI. If I’m being honest, I understand very little of it myself.
The most important thing to understand for all of us who are not in the tech industry is that AI can do great things for humanity, and it’s best that we learn how to use it.
Innovation has brought us a higher quality of life than ever, not to mention more wealth.
We should look forward to artificial intelligence advances, not fear them.
Thanks for reading,
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