Will the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Lead to Human Extinction?
If tech experts are to be believed, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform the world. But those same experts don’t agree on what kind of effect that transformation will have on the average person. Some believe that humans will be much better off in the hands of advanced AI systems, while others think it will lead to our inevitable downfall.
How could a single technology evoke such vastly different responses from people within the tech community? Artificial intelligence is software built to learn or problem solve processes typically performed in the human brain. Digital assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri , along with Tesla’s Autopilot, are all powered by AI. Some forms of AI can even create visual art or write songs.
There’s little question that AI has the potential to be revolutionary. Automation could transform the way we work by replacing humans with machines and software. Further developments in the area of self-driving cars are poised to make driving a thing of the past. Artificially intelligent shopping assistants could even change the way we shop. Humans have always controlled these aspects of our lives, so it makes sense to be a bit wary of letting an artificial system take over.
Games provide a useful window into the increasing sophistication of AI. Case in point, developers such as Google’s DeepMind and Elon Musk’s Open AI have been using games to teach AI systems how to learn. So far, these systems have bested the world’s greatest players of the ancient strategy game Go, and even more complex games like Super Smash Bros and DOTA 2.
On the surface, these victories may sound incremental and minor AI that can play Go can’t navigate a self-driving car, after all. But on a deeper level, these developments are indicative of the more sophisticated AI systems of the future. Through these games, AI become capable of complex decision-making that could one day translate into real-world tasks. Software that can play infinitely complex games like Starcraft, could, with a lot more research and development, autonomously perform surgeries or process multi-step voice commands. When this happens, AI will become incredibly sophisticated. And this is where the worrying starts.
Several world-renowned sciences and tech experts have been vocal about their fears of AI. Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking famously worries that advanced AI will take over the world and end the human race. If robots become smarter than humans, his logic goes, the machines would be able to create unimaginable weapons and manipulate human leaders with ease.
Not everyone believes the rise of AI will be detrimental to humans; some are convinced that the technology has the potential to make our lives better. Predicting the future is a delicate game. We can only rely on our predictions of what we already have, and yet it’s impossible to rule anything out. We don’t yet know whether AI will usher in a golden age of human existence, or if it will all end in the destruction of everything humans cherish. What is clear, though, is that thanks to AI, the world of the future could bear little resemblance to the one we inhabit today.
Sources:
https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/
https://essayshark.com/blog/artificial-intelligence-essay-threat-of-extinction-of-the-human-race/#:~:text=Despite%20its%20power%2C%20AI%20has,is%20characteristic%20for%20human%20beings.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/03/02/is-artificial-intelligence-ai-a-threat-to-humans/?sh=7091569f205d
