The documentary "In the Age of AI" serves as an excellent example of our conversations regarding new technology. The video does not dispute the awe and countless beneficial changes that Artificial Intelligence may bring to society, but it is equally honest about the dehumanizing risks. It is imperative to reflect on this video in order to spark thinking on what are the positive aspects as well as the more complex issues regarding artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The video explains deep-learning, which is a form of artificial intelligence which mimics the neural networks of the human brain. This algorithm can quickly predict behavior, such as the creditworthiness of somewhat wanting a short-term loan or, less seriously, how to beat a video game. This "risk amendment" processes millions of transactions and digs up information a human simply could not compute. This is one of the many aspects of A.I. that concerns the right to privacy.
This video was very eye-opening. The video explains how the race to become an A.I. superpower has led to a growing rivalry between the United States and China. In China, A.I. has been integrated into many elements of everyday life. It has becomes a threat to personal privacy as facial recognition and social credit score is at the forefront of an individual's life. As explained in the video, the more data, the better A.I. works. In China, they have access to the most data, as there are a billion users alone on the app WeChat, the equivalent of Facebook, Messenger, PayPal and much more. The episode details China has more than three to four times more users than the U.S. In China there are fifty times more mobile payments than in the U.S., ten times more food deliveries, and more than three hundred times more shared bicycle rides. All of these interactions collect information that is sent to databases. Because A.I. is essentially fueled by data, A.I. implementation's best place is China. All of the data collected helps the A.I. learn more about user behavior, and in turn, progress and perform better.
A program that shocked me in this video was the program in Shenzen where offenders who jaywalk are shamed in public and can be instantly fined using facial recognition. The video also explains the dangers of a fully integrated social-credit system. In my prior blog post, I explained this system and its dangers. Right now, this powerful system can punish "bad behavior" by the Chinese public with consequences as severe as a travel ban. A surprising part of social credit score that measures how delinquent or dangerous you are is if you keep your cell phone charged. The entire system and overall surveillance is an extremely troublesome idea in terms of civil liberty.
It is imperative to wonder what will happen when A.I. leads to job loss. An expert in the field, Kai-Fu Lee, explains "I believe about 50% of jobs will be somewhat or extremely threatened by A.I. in the next 15 years or so." The video then showcases a family from Beaverton, Michigan. Shawn and Hope Cumbee live with their son Charlie as they explain the hardships of being an independent driver in the trucking industry. This family has given everything to be apart of a career they enjoy, and when the interviewer alerted Shawn that some self-driving companies are already operating driverless trucks on the interstate with real freight, Shawn replied "Really?" The loss of both blue and white collar jobs would be an immense blow to the United States. Kai Fu Lee concludes the documentary by stating "I, I do think that democracy is threatened by the progress of these tools unless we improve our social norms and we increase the collective wisdom at the planet level to, to deal with that increased power. I'm hoping that my concerns are not founded, but the stakes are so high that I don't think we should take these concerns lightly. I don't think we can play with those possibilities and just... race ahead without thinking about the potential outcomes."
Overall, although A.I. is an impressive tool that can enhance and automate many aspects of our lives, it can quickly become a dangerous superpower that we must control.
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