AI - Will We be Crushed Under the Foot of Our Own Innovations?

Once upon a time, life wasn’t such a piece of cake. Technological innovations, inventions and advancements were just a dream to the human mind. However, one day, it all happened. Mankind and machinery began to navigate their way together in the future, transforming the world into what we know today. Because of this, we have broken the barriers and advanced in countless fields, from medicine to entertainment. However, can these two friends end up being foes in the end? Is there a flip side to our friendship with AI?

Overview

The term “artificial intelligence” (AI) may conjure up images of robots taking over the world, but the reality is that AI is already playing a role in our daily lives and is only going to become more prevalent in the future. In recent years, Artificial Intelligence has been increasingly used in various workplaces. From retail to healthcare, AI is slowly but surely becoming a staple in many industries. However, is it always beneficial?

More Hacking

Think about it. Did you know that there’s a hacker attack every 39 seconds? And that cybercrime is more profitable than unlawful drug trade? Or that your Snapchat account may be among the 4 million accounts being hacked?

As the invention goes on, many people are placing fear AI hacking other people’s devices. For instance, AI can be used to crack passwords of any type of device to loot the very important information of businesses and private people too. Hackers are also using AI to hack enterprise networks and also to get access to other people’s information and data.

Hackers then use this to blackmail and threaten the victims, which paves the way for more criminal activity. This is a highly worrisome downside of AI and a huge danger for those unaware of hacking. Therefore, AI does have a dangerous side.

Loss of Certain Jobs

Recent artificial intelligence research and job loss figures indicate that billions of jobs will be created globally over the next few decades. According to these studies, AI will replace around 375 million jobs and replace 1 billion jobs globally during the next decade. Newer, higher-paying occupations will not replace those lost. Without extensive reskilling and retraining, ordinary people will have a tough time obtaining new occupations.

Though only some jobs are at risk, and most of these jobs are quite important to be done by humans rather than computers, like doctors, soldiers, taxi and bus drivers, etc. As AI is a computer program, there might be problems in the services they give if they work in not the most suitable conditions that they haven’t been designed for. Overheating and faulty sensors will result in their malfunctioning. Moreover, AI is not sentient - it lacks the capability to imagine, feel and judge changing situations. And services offered by humans are more affordable compared to those done by AI.

Although this seems like something that cannot happen overnight, estimates show that 42% of jobs have been lost during the covid-19 pandemic alone. The jobs at the highest risk are those that need data collection and processing, like bookkeeping and accounting. Thus, AI can result in the unemployment of billions worldwide.

AI Falling Into the Wrong Hands

Imagine this: we are living in a world torn by war, drunk in greed and swayed by power. We see tensions growing between countries over numerous problems, which leads to conflict and even war.

About two to six million people lost their lives in The Crusades. That was four centuries before firearms were first used as a primary offensive weapon. Centuries later, about 70 million were killed in WWII, which was fought with tanks, guns and explosives.

Now, imagine a war fought with AI.

As we know, AI has the potential to be harmful when used improperly, just like any emerging technology. Adversarial AI is expected to be the next hurdle in this area as we have already started to see AI utilized for evil, primarily in the form of AI-facilitated cyberattacks. What is more, when AI becomes widely used to strengthen armies, countries may use it to threaten, destroy and harm other nations. Hence, In the wrong hands, AI will be dangerous.

In Conclusion

AI has done wonders with its contribution to many areas of our life. However, even if it has the potential to build a better society, it can crumble the universe into ruins. This is mainly due to our improper usage of AI. Hence, if we begin to use our technological resources for good, then we will not get crushed under the foot of our own innovations and inventions.

References

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40 Worrisome Hacking Statistics that Concern Us All in 2022 (webtribunal.net)

Lohn, Andrew. “Hacking AI.” Center for Security and Emerging Technology, December 2020, https://cset.georgetown.edu/publication/hacking-ai/. (Lohn)

Schneier, Bruce. “The Coming AI Hackers.” Belfer Center, April 2021, https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/coming-ai-hackers. (Schneier)

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Haelle, Tara. “AI Systems Can Be Wrong and Not Admit It.” WebMD, 2022, https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20220405/ai-systems-can-be-wrong-and-not-admit-it/(Haelle)

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_firearm

Author Information:

Aishath Hanan Mohamed Asif- Jamaluddin School, Maldives.

Ahmed Zain Abdul Ganee -R.Maakurathu School, Maldives.

Ahmed Raeef Mohamed- Ahmadhiyya International School, Maldives.

Mohamed Mushaash Muaviz- Brightway International School, Maldives.

Mariyam Eshal Yoosuf- Rehendhi School, Maldives.

Cite this article as:
Aishath Hanan Mohamed Asif, Ahmed Zain Abdul Ganee, Ahmed Raeef Mohamed, Mohamed Mushaash Muaviz and Mariyam Eshal Yoosuf, AI- Will We Be Crushed Under The Foot of Our Own Innovations?, theCircle Composition, Volume 3, (2022). thecirclecomposition.org/ai-will-we-be-crushed-under-the-foot-of-our-own-innovations/