Artificial Intelligence, a blessing or a curse ?

Artificial Intelligence, a blessing or a curse ?

By : Mohammed Lahlal

Phenomenal feats have been achieved in the world of information technology in the last decade and artificial intelligence remains the center of more sophisticated research and development that has extended its applications to different domains of human life. This of course has a huge impact on a variety of human activities such as health care, employment, civil services, education, among other vital areas. However, skeptics of this new technology would sound the alarm about the future of humanity, particularly when artificial intelligence begins to address sensitive human issues like faith, moral values, relationships, even the identity of human species. Some, for instance, would find it quite relevant to delegate their important decisions to the powerful artificial intelligence algorithms on the grounds that the AI is scientifically neutral and can thus produce pertinent choices away from biased and irrational influences. To what extent can AI benefit humanity and not sow more chaos and confusion in an already turbulent human environment? Is it feasible to set boundaries for AI designers and impose a moral code to avoid adventurous and perilous decisions?

Artificial intelligence, a blessing for humanity:

It is fair to say that artificial intelligence has brought about multiple advantages to human activities, when a set of algorithms is correctly programmed, the risk of error in making decisions is reduced to null. Take for instance robotic surgery systems, they can deal with complex procedures with fine accuracy, reducing human error and thus ensuring a patient’s safe recovery. In the field of industry, automated production lines have benefited manufacturers who no more worry about human errors and potential accidents in dangerous environments. Human energy is not limitless, man needs time off to resume productivity while artificial intelligence is available round the clock, online customer chatbots provide immediate assistance to customers anytime and anywhere. Daily applications such as google maps makes it easier to reach any destination without human assistance. Another advantage of AI based algorithms is its ability to enhance safety and detect fraud by analyzing transaction operations and identifying potentially fraudulent activities in real time. These are samples of notable benefits that AI provides in many vital areas of human labor.

Drawbacks of AI

Beyond the impressive benefits of artificial intelligence applications, one should be aware of the side effects that may arise from full dependence on AI algorithms. Unlike human intelligence, artificial intelligence has no original thought, it is only programmed and trained to perform tasks by making predictions based on algorithms. No matter how sophisticated the machine learning algorithms grows, they lack the capacity humans have for creativity, inspiration and new ways of thinking. Besides, AI can be taught to recognize emotions but it is incapable of expressing empathy and feeling, and empathy is the result of human connections, but AI is not human. Also, humans risk of gradually losing their own critical skills and critical thinking by delegating their tasks to AI algorithms, which would limit their understanding of their job and thus sap their skills of performing tasks if ever AI fail. Furthermore, it could engender laziness in some users who might believe the work of AI is flawless, thus they would be reluctant to verify the outcomes produced by AI, especially the generative AI. Also, as most of the labor in developed countries turn to automation, this will create serious job loss and displacement, which would subsequently cause grave social unrest. Ethical and privacy concerns are also raised following the widespread use of AI in human lives. Sensitive personal data might be misused by AI systems which are supposed to be unbiased and neutral, but nobody can really check the validity of this assumption. Artificial intelligence with its sophisticated applications set the scene for hackers, schemers and others to develop their nefarious activities such as phishing emails, cyberattacks and fake audio and visual content, this would create more tension and chaos within society and add challenges for governments to figure out ways for more security and protection.

The extreme predictions of AI futurists

Transhumanists assume that with the accelerating advances in artificial intelligence and genetic engineering, it would be possible to transform the future human bodies to robotic, functioning like a machine and to upload the human mind with information that would make its capacity outstrip the current fragile and limited human brain. This fantasy world transhumanists imagine is against the hard facts that human beings are unique and are makers of the machine. Human beings are not only the physical organism, they also carry a soul and are endowed with innate and irreplaceable capacities of feelings, empathy, instincts and emotions. Driven by the passion of crossing the lines God, the Almighty has set in dealing with matters of spiritual values and ethics, AI futurists engage in projecting a dystopian fate for humanity drawing on the disproved theory of evolution. They want us to believe we live in the age of the new faith “dataism” and algorithm hegemony, that human life can be reengineered to produce a different super-human with unprecedented power.

To conclude, we can say that we should approach the applications of artificial intelligence in a balanced manner. The means are not the ends, scientific and technological advances should be oriented for the benefit of humanity, and who can argue about the urgency of meeting the needs of all nations to secure food sufficiency, clean environment, inclusive justice, lasting peace and sustainable stability? So, scientists and technology experts should repurpose their efforts and focus their research on what is vital for humanity to lead an all-inclusive peaceful and stable life on this planet.