AI taking over the world: Paranoia or Possibility?

AI is accomplishing everything, from our daily chores to diagnosing cancer. As convenient and wonderful as the utopian idea of Artificial Intelligence sounds, in the long run, it might lead to the destruction of humankind. But like almost everything, the future of AI also remains unpredictable.

Respondents in a Pew Research Center survey were asked if they feel that advances in AI will enhance and empower human talents by 2030. Despite various scientific and journalistic ideas, 63% of participants thought most people will be better off in 2030, while 37% did not. Late Stephen Hawking forewarned us by stating that AI might develop its own will, one that is at odds with ours and capable of destroying us. Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, share widespread optimism regarding AI.

The typical plot line of any sci-fi movie is that an unknown force or technology or even aliens take over the earth and it all leads to destruction. AI in the present day and age is the alien unknown intelligence already in our midst.

AI has a future ahead of itself but it’s not as bright as it may seem. AI has the potential to make us lose sight of what makes us human in the first place. Incorporating our human moral code into AI is the greatest approach to governing it. A solution was proposed by Stuart Russell, a leading AI scientist at Berkeley, designing AI with equivocal objectives in mind. When AI learns about people and their values, it will fill in the blanks. The AI will adhere to our aspirations and goals by learning its values from people. But there is another problem which arises with it.

If the future of AI is made possible another problem arises — ‘Humans’. Humans are a dangerous kind, and it is difficult to ensure that they will use this advanced technology for the right purposes. If it can be ensured that they do, then AI may have the potential to take over the planet. It would be cold solace to know that it was because of our human ideals that it was able to do so.

By — Arshiya Sharma