Hubby and I sat down to watch a documentary in the Storyville series on the BBC I Player. Titled I - Human, its about the development, purpose and future actuality of AI. We could barely watch more than half of its hour and a half running time. The world it was foretelling was so appalling and lacking in understanding of basic human needs for companionship, meaning and something creatively productive to do.
We are already handing over control of projects to AI, something that has no ability to assess or question the morality of what it might want to do. Currently we seem powerless to rein AI in.
A handful of tech companies ( you know who they are ) are pushing AI because of the financial gains it is already bringing them in, admittedly, revolutionary ideas. There certainly are benefits to be had, particularly in AI's superior operation in relation to human ingenuity, in their greater efficiency and profitability. But should they really have a health warning printed down the side - AI kills?
We have learnt to our cost, in recent times, that social media, and the firms that run them, possess no moral compass. Through algorithms they've created something that encourages extremism, because clickbait is a quick way to gain viewers. Its clever, but unwittingly or maybe knowingly, its feeding right wing authoritarian ideas into social media, that is extremely unwise. Doing this for such a shallow reason as keeping your 'attention' is positively immoral.
The consequences of AI are, likewise, not neutral either, not an unbiased contributor. Its clever, but it is not wise. AI looks very likely to enable our human lives to be longer, whilst simultaneously impoverishing the quality and meaning of them. At the very least alienate us still further from the world that surrounds and supports us.
Not much thought appears to be being given to how we could manage the huge social upheavals that could result. As bit by bit AI takes over yet more of the human workplaces. It throws up huge questions - If people don't earn their living anymore, what do they live off? How do we prepare for when machines make humans redundant? How would humanity find new purpose in a largely workless environment? If we don't have anything purposeful to do, how do you think we will respond? There could be huge riots, mass luddite destruction, we may face catastrophic social breakdown. If we think increases in depression and suicides are worryingly high now, wait til AI takes jobs and careers away from people.
AI is obviously an extremely clever innovation, but is it wise ? Wisdom is holistic human quality, one that reflects on issues using the broadest perspective possible. It incorporates the intellect, but also experience, feelings, knowledge, reason, instinct and ethics. If you utilise and prioritise only one of those in your decision making - say just the intellect - you will inevitable end up creating a form of tyranny. AI, because it is so single focused, has that potential too.
Yes, along the way, it might be beneficial - find the cure for old age, sickness and death. But at what broader cost to the stability of human society and quality of life? For if its not primarily for the benefit, purpose and furtherance of the quality of human life, then what would AI be for? To increase corporate profits?
One tech guy in the programme is shown bragging about how AI can study facial shapes and structures and seemed confident these can tell you if someone is gay, a criminal or a pedophile from shape and bone structure. The idea is frightening, whilst also being totally ludicrous. It reminded me of the 19th century obsession with phrenology, and how bumps on your cranium were supposed to reveal what type of person you were, ditto graphology and hand writing analysis. Would it be good, even if we could do this? Is this at all wise?
The Internet seemed fine and increased freedom of expression, until the tech companies began to monetise it. Once the algorithms were set to glue our attention to screens for as long as possible, they could sell that degree of attention to advertisers. And the great fuck up of democratic society began.
Since then multimillionaire tech giants have emerged as poor moral arbiters of an inherently immoral system. Elon Musk thinks he should not interfere, citing freedom of speech. But to interfere or not to interfere are both moral choices when a computer algorithm is inherently biased in what it highlights. It's programmed to make choices, though it cannot feel, understand or consider the moral or political consequences of them on actual human beings. Human beings have to do that.
AI is already proving itself quite blind to when it has entered the 'fucking up humanity' arena. One hope is that the prospect of widespread AI will force us to really address what sort of society it is we want and for whose benefit, rather than we end up being given this as a fait accompli. Humanity cannot go passively into this, or it really will be doomed. And considering what else is going wrong at the moment, time is already running down on our chances of future survival.
If we were to tell AI to find a solution to climate change, it will quickly discover that eradicating humanity is the quickest, simplest and cheapest way to solve most problems.
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