Not too long ago, when someone said "AI" in a sentence, my mind would immediately create an image of a robot apocalyptic takeover. However, AI is such a casual term we use practically everyday now with its features on popular search engines, Snapchat, ChatGPT etc. It very quickly went from an advanced term to part of our everyday slang.
The corresponding documentary for this post, which can be found here, highlights some growing concerns with the integration of artificial intelligence into our world.
As a college student, hoping to graduate and find a job in the near future, AI in the workplace is absolutely a relevant topic for me, and one the video discusses as well. There is already economic instability, caused by "disruptive technology" and AI is increasingly becoming a part of the problem. In search of more efficiency, and with the prioritization of "capital over labor,"companies are relying on AI and machines to reduce the number of workers needed to operate. It's a major moral consideration to prioritize "employing" machines over real people with families to provide for.
Additionally, inequalities already exist and will only be made worse by AI interference. The wealthy will become wealthier, and the poor will become poorer. This isn't caused by AI, but it is certainly perpetuated by it and will lead to a nightmare of a problem if we aren't able to make adjustments soon to its level of impact on existing inequality.
Artificial intelligence is changing our world without us even realizing it. The algorithms are getting smarter and smarter, gradually adapting the world to us- which sounds great in theory, but is so quickly and easily turning into a powerful tool of manipulation for companies. Surveillance tactics can pick up on the fact that you like to wear black dresses, and suddenly every other ad you see is of a black dress. No coincidences there.
A phrase that I noted from the documentary that I found especially impactful was, "We thought we were using social media, but it was using us...we thought we were searching google, but google was searching us." It really flips the narrative and makes you think about the issues of data collection and AI use and just how dangerous the two can become when combined.
AI is an exciting topic to think about, and it most certainly does have potential to provide a new wave of efficiency to our lives, but as someone who feels so uninformed still about the extent to which it is capable of changing the world around me, it is just as frightening, if not more so, than it is exciting.
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