From Hollywood's death-dealing Terminator to warnings from genius Stephen
Hawking or Silicon Valley stars, fears have been fuelled that artificial
intelligence (AI) could one day destroy humanity.
Tech titans are racing towards creating AI far smarter than people, pushing
US President Joe Biden to impose emergency regulation and the European Union
seeking major legislation to be agreed by the end of this year.
A two-day summit starting today in London will explore regulatory safeguards
against AI risks such as those below.
Job stealer?
The success of ChatGPT from OpenAI has ignited debate about whether
"generative AI" capable of quickly producing text, images and audio from
simple commands in everyday language is a tremendous threat to jobs held by
people.
Automated machinery is already used to do labour in factories, warehouses,
and fields.
Generative AI, however, can take aim at white-collar jobs such as lawyers,
doctors, teachers, journalists, and even computer programmers.
A report from the McKinsey consulting firm estimates that by the end of this
decade, as much as 30% of the hours worked in the US could be automated in a
trend accelerated by generative AI.
Boosters of such technology have invoked the notion of a universal basic
income in which machines generate wealth that is shared with people freed of
the burdens of work.
But it is also possible companies would reap profits of improved
efficiencies, leaving those out of work to fend for themselves.
Copycat?
Artists were quick to protest software such as Dall-E, Midjourney and Stable
Diffusion that are capable of creating images in nearly any style on demand.
Computer coders and writers followed suit, critiquing AI creators for
"training" software on their work, enabling it to replicate their styles or
skills without permission or compensation.
AI models have been taught using massive amounts of information and imagery
found online.
"That's what it trains on, a fraction of the huge output of humanity,"
OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman said at a conference in September.
"I think this will be a tool that amplifies human beings, not replace them."
Disinformation tools?
Fake news and deepfakes have been around for years but being able to easily
crank it out using generative AI raises fears of rampant online deception.
Elections run the risk of being won by those most adept at spreading
disinformation, contends cognitive scientist and AI expert Gary Marcus.
"Democracy depends on access to the information needed to make the right
decisions," Mr Marcus said.
"If no one knows what's true and what's not, it's all over".
Fraud?
Generative AI makes it easier for scammers to create convincing phishing
emails, perhaps even learning enough about targets to personalise
approaches.
Technology lets them copy a face or a voice, and thus trick people into
falling for deceptions such as claims a loved one is in danger, for example.
US President Joe Biden called the ability of AI to imitate people's voices
"mind blowing" while signing his recent executive order aimed at the
technology.
There are even language models trained specifically to produce such
malicious content.
Human role models
As with other technologies with the potential for good or evil, the main
danger is posed by humans who wield it.
Since AI is trained on data put on the web by humans, it can mirror
society's prejudices, biases, and injustices.
AI also has the potential to make it easier to create bioweapons; hack banks
or power grids; run oppressive government surveillance, and more.
AI overlord?
Some industry players fear AI could become so smart that it could seize
control from humans.
"It is not difficult to imagine that at some point in the future, our
intelligent computers will become as smart or smarter than people," OpenAI
co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever said at a recent TED AI
conference.
"The impact of such artificial intelligence is going to be truly vast."
OpenAI and rivals maintain the goal is for AI to benefit humanity, solving
long-intractable problems such as climate change.
At the same time, AI industry leaders are calling for thoughtful regulation
to prevent risks such as human extinction.
RTÉ News.
