I’m going to start by saying, I hate AI. I guess “hate” may not be quite the correct word, but it can feel that way with how it is taking over social media, our search results, and pretty much every single thing we do online on a daily basis. It’s easy to hate AI when it gets pushed on you every which way and it’s unnerving seeing how it is upending established things in our life like art, work, education, and what seems like everything else.
I, however, have been starting to take a deep dive into AI tools and trying to understand how it works and what it can do. I have been trying to find ways they can be used in my everyday life. I believe that because I have an uneasiness stemming from AI, that is the exact reason I need to understand it.
Here’s one thing we know… AI isn’t going anywhere.
This is why I feel everyone needs to learn about AI. If normal people like us, who have the goal of creating a good society and living a meaningful life don’t learn how to harness the powers of AI, then the only ones that will are those with other motives.
Yesterday, I shared and wrote about a recent podcast episode of Pioneers of AI with Aza Raskin of the Center for Humane Technology as the guest. He states this case very well and his organization is doing tangible things to help. Listen to the podcast and read what I said about it.
In summary, if there aren’t people who are willing to find the ways to use AI for good and fight for proper regulation, proper rules, and consequences for unethical use then those who will use it only for their gain or to take advantage of others will be the ones using it. Aza states this as saying we need to shape the incentives we place around AI use.
I like his quote: “The fundamental question we need to stop asking is, ‘is AI good or bad?’ Instead, we have to say, ‘are the incentives that govern AI good or bad?’”
The technology can be used to do amazing things and you can easily use your imagination to see how AI can increase efficiency to more quickly bring us things like clean energy, better health and medical outcomes, better education, less poverty and hunger, better income equality, and a better understanding of our world. You can already find results of this happening today.
The question is, will we use AI for good? Or, will it only be used to increase profits for the few at the top at the expense of the rest of us? Will it be used to further take advantage of the less privileged?
AI is not going anywhere and it’s not the technology of AI that is the problem, it is what we as a society are doing with AI and what we incentivize around it.
It’s okay if you “hate” AI too. This means you are paying attention. This also is the exact reason you should be learning about AI, using it for good, and fighting to shape the future of it within our society.