Have you seen the series of Terminator movies or The Matrix Trilogy? Both the movie franchises have one thing in common – an Artificial Intelligence (AI) gone wrong. What if that becomes real? That is a hypothetical scenario we all sometimes wonder.
As we all believe – AI is the future, we sometimes forget what history has taught us. We are still recovering the terrors of World Wars that our ancestors fought. Now, if we just minimize the scale, there are still a lot of risks of using AI, that we must consider. So, in this article, we will discuss some of those risks involving AI.
Also Read: How Artificial Intelligence is Improving Our Life?
Risks of Artificial Intelligence
1. Self-governing weapons
Let us start with the Terminator movie series situation in real life. No matter how much we deny, there are possible chances that we may end up creating an autonomous weapon system run by an AI. Ultimately, that can destroy the world. Maybe not all of it, but it can still affect a lot if you don’t deal with them appropriately.
Considering the fact that any weapon system controlled by an AI is tough to terminate, it makes the situation more concerning. So, that leads to a question – should we ban the use of AI while dealing with a weapon system? Unfortunately, the answer to this question, in most cases, will be ‘No’.
2. Social media manipulation
Every company, nowadays, trying to shove their products into our veins through social media marketing. Now, using AI-based applications to do social media marketing is the new trend. And why not? It saves a lot of time and efforts. Moreover, it does the job more precisely than a human. However, there should be one question – does it affect us in any way?
Yes, it does affect drastically! There are numerous incidents where these AI-based applications over-rode not only the privacy of the general public, but also violated Government programs. An AI can think like us and in some way, predict what we can do. There lies the problem, and again, the unfortunate fact is with the growing popularity of these AI-based applications, we won’t stop.
3. Misalignment and Misuse
Suppose you own an AI-powered robot that typically does your household works. Now, if you programmed it to keep your home clean at any cost, it can throw away pieces of stuff that may be invaluable for you. Bottom-line, it is crucial to align your line of thinking with the AI to get the result you hope; otherwise, you may face severe consequences.
Another important aspect we should understand is how and where we are using AI. On the one hand, AI can be useful in medical science, where human is incapable; on the other hand, someone can build an AI to steal money online. Again, the unfortunate fact is we can’t do anything about it.
Conclusion
Like every other scientific invention, there are numerous consequences that humankind has endured. Similarly, AI is just like a coin which has two sides and has its own sets of pros and cons. There is no doubt that AI is indeed, the future. What we can do is to keep our-self grounded and shouldn’t rely on AI too much.
