In many ways, OpenAI’s introduction of ChatGPT and other GPT-based tools became a turning point for the technology. Now, artificial intelligence can not only understand basic commands and respond to it, it can also think and generate diverse sets of information and come up with solutions to problems. This makes AI powerful, perhaps too powerful for humanity’s good. And a lot of people are speaking out around this concern. Recently, the Future of Life Institute began petitioning to halt all AI activities until a better regulatory framework can be created. Some notable signatories include Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, award-winning AI pioneer Turing Yoshua Bengio, and others. So what exactly are the risks people are worried about? Check out 5 AI threats you should also know about.
5 risks of AI
1. Risk of misinformation: Content-generating AI chatbots are capable of generating large amounts of text in a very short time, beating human capabilities dramatically. But in a world that is actively tackling problems like fake news and misinformation, this possibility can be very dangerous. The bad guys can take this and flood the internet with misinformation. The effect will grow exponentially on bot-infected social media platforms. This may have happened and may have kept you from knowing the truth about some important topics.
But that’s not even its full extent. We also have AI platforms that create photos and videos, although they are still in their infancy. With higher rendering capabilities and better language modeling, they will be able to create completely fake photos and videos to supplement misinformation. We saw the early stages of this problem in the form of deep fake.
2. Automating employment and unemployment: Another issue that has been widely debated is the possible mass layoffs with the development of AI. AI can make some jobs redundant. Data entry, customer service, proofreaders, legal assistants, accountants, translators, copywriters, social media managers, etc. artificial intelligence. A report by Goldman Sachs has revealed that AI can create up to 300 million jobs globally.
3. Questions around privacy: This is perhaps the least discussed risk from AI, but it has important implications for human life. Many large corporations store large amounts of user data due to the services they provide. Many such companies have even had to respond to allegations of privacy erosion. There is concern that AI could process this huge amount of data and create terrifyingly accurate user profiles to not only target ads but also mimic user patterns that are likely to convince users highest purchase.
In a world where this happens, consumers will lose the ability to make choices for themselves after being manipulated by AI.
4. Weapons and War: Many military equipment and systems, such as drones and missile systems, today are controlled by AI. But this is of very limited use as the AI is not allowed to ignore the strict commands given to it. But if the role of AI is increased to the point where it can make decisions around life-or-death situations without human intervention, it will create a huge problem that can easily escalate. into great wars.
5. Security Threats: The UK government, in 2020, made a report highlighting the need for AI in cybersecurity defenses to detect and mitigate threats at speeds beyond human capacity. . While the intention is good, this also leads to a situation where the AI takes control of the security of people online and decides what is a threat and not a threat, and then acts to mitigate the threat. . The question is whether removing oversight in favor of efficiency is a step in the right direction.
As researchers work to further develop artificial intelligence, regulators have a role to play in determining where and when to restrict AI’s access.
