Intelligence is considered one of the most significant traits in humans, as it represents our higher level of brain functionality and separates us from other species. Thanks to this ability we have been able to create a world that is truly mesmerizing, if someone from 500 years would have been able to see the world today their mind would simply collapse. Among all of our inventions and creations, artificial intelligence is truly astonishing, we have created a piece of technology that knows and is aware of what we want and do. So it’s natural to wonder if there are any negative aspects to it as well. Because nothing in the universe is wholly positive.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Before we look into its negatives, it’s important to understand what exactly it is. Artificial intelligence is the stimulation of human intelligence (specific segments) processed by machines and computing systems. The industries like smartphones, automation, and security are the ones mostly utilizing it. The main goal of AI is to enable machines to perform tasks that would usually require human intelligence.
Artificial intelligence working in automation.
When it comes to marketing artificial intelligence most companies put emphasis on machine learning, which is one component of it. The way the AI system works is by downloading a huge amount of training data that has been labeled, then analyzing it for correlations and patterns. Finally, these patterns are then utilized to make predictions about the future, this way many AI’s like iPhone’s Siri and chatbot are able to behave in a human-like manner. Artificial intelligence also uses many languages such as Java, Python, and many others. It focuses on three cognitive skills; learning, reasoning, and self-correction.
- Learning: This component focuses on acquiring data and turning that data into useful actionable information by creating certain rules. These rules are known as algorithms, these serve as guides for a computing system to carry out a task.
- Reasoning: Reasoning in simple terms is basically the ability of AI to select the right algorithm to reach the desired outcome.
- Self-correction: This aspect of the AI is solely focused on mitigating any errors and continually fine-tune the algorithms to provide the most accurate results.
Negatives of Artificial Intelligence
While AI is doing a lot of good to many people, especially the ones with disabilities, and according to experts will continue to do so in the future. However, other experts claim that there are downsides to it as well which might prove severely problematic in the future, including one of the famous physicists Stephan Hawking. He stated that we must be equipped and contemplate the dangers of such technology, so if the gloomy time does come we must be able to fix it. But despite the predictions of a Terminator-like future, there are still some negatives of the AI on human life.
- Jobs: As of today, there are numerous jobs performed with the help of machines but these still require hands-on time by humans. In the distant future, as it is already happening in some places, AI-equipped machines will become capable of carrying out the task of humans. This will result in free time for us to explore other territories, however, given the state of our current employment system, the contrary seems to be the truth. People will be unemployed and ultimately lack basic income creating far more problems in the longer run. The only way to avoid such things is to educate people about such a world and help them adjust to it by providing other sources of income.
A representation of AI taking over the jobs.
- Our Mind: The saying goes that, Free mind is the devil’s home, which cannot be more accurate when it comes to a future with AI. If anything, the pandemic of 2020 showed us that people who didn’t have anything to do were facing many mental issues due to a free mind. Similarly, when AI takes over the many menial tasks it is obvious that most of us would have no clue what to do, even if sustenance is provided to people, our nature is such that we must do something in order to retain our sanity. Unless we figure out what to do in a world where everyone is free, it can turn into chaos very quickly.
- AI Bias: While the AI might be free of any discrimination and hatred, the truth is that it is designed and created by humans which do possess such thoughts. During the process of providing data to the AI, the designer may unconsciously or intentionally add certain biases into the AI system. Along with the capability of machine learning, artificial intelligence can produce results that are biased as well. This can result in AI systems refusing to work for a certain ethnicity or leak seniors’ data without their consent. Therefore, it is crucial that companies ensure that people designing these are not pushing AI in a certain direction.
An AI robot identifying different people.
- Hacking: As of today multiple security and privacy measure are set into play to ensure that the data of each individual is kept secure, but this doesn’t stop hackers to find loopholes and new methods to infiltrate both public and government websites to retrieve important data. Now the concern is that what if AI learns or is specifically designed to do just that? Sure, sooner or later it can be stopped but the damage it will cause in the meantime will be detrimental.
- AI Terrorism: Today the defenses of many developed countries are heavily investing resources into unmanned and AI-enabled drones and weapon systems to minimize casualties in the time of war, but what they don’t realize is that these systems can be hacked by terrorists and used against the native nation. We have seen in the past that terrorists do not simply go explode themselves, they prepare a plan of action for many years and then attack, so where’s the surety that they are not doing this right now? If this happens it will be nothing but hell on this planet.
A swarm of drones.
The bottom line is that, as much as artificial intelligence is vital in today’s society, we must ensure that proper measures are set into place in order to minimize or even completely eradicate the negative aspects of this technology. Because utopia can only happen if AI and humans both work in harmony.
