Essay Example on AI: Transforming Lives with Smart Machines

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the aptitude of a computer-controlled robot or digital computer to accomplish tasks commonly done or associated with intelligent human beings (Copeland 1). It is an area of information technology (IT) that accentuates the creation of smart machines that behave, work, and react like humans (Bresnick 1). Artificial intelligence is transforming people's lives every day by optimizing logistics, composing art, detecting fraud, conducting research, and providing translations (John 1). With its vast landscape, artificial intelligence has attracted attention and controversial debates across the world about its importance or, rather, its lack. In as much as artificial intelligence possess human intelligence capabilities, it has its disadvantages which have led quite a several companies and state not to embrace it. How does society survive with artificial intelligence-driven reality such that people are no longer required or used in the workplace? What generally transpires in our socio-economic structure where people have little value in the workplace? Artificial intelligence should not be embraced due to the many challenges that it poses.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Unemployment

Many people across the world survive from the earnings they get through their daily jobs. The hierarchy of labor is principally concerned with automation. Thus, as artificial intelligence progresses, more jobs and tasks fall into the category of things and activities that can be automated, leading to the disappearance of the entire job industry (Reddy 2). Some of the that could be affected by artificial intelligence are jobs in agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, food service, hospitality, logistics and retail. In the year 2018, The World Economic Forum approximated that artificial intelligence is likely to displace about 75 million jobs by 2022 ("Technology Org 2). Moreover, job polarization has occurred in the labor market due to artificial intelligence and robotics automation (Maarten et al. 6). It is possible when skilled technical jobs rise in demand and become highly paid while low-skilled service jobs become less in demand and poorly paid. The mid-qualification jobs in offices and factories become under pressure, condensed and moderately. This is proof enough to discredit the full adoption of artificial intelligence in all sectors of the economy

Privacy Concerns

There are many privacy concerns when it comes to artificial intelligence applications across all sectors. There is a general debate about privacy and surveillance in information technology, which concerns access to private data and also data that is personally identifiable. A person has the right to be let alone, privacy as an aspect of personhood, information privacy and right to secrecy (Bossmann 2). Artificial intelligence upsurges both the possibilities of intelligent data collection and data analysis, which applies to blanket surveillance of the entire population and classic targeted surveillance where data is traded between agents at a charge fee. Adopting artificial intelligence, controlling who collects which type of data, and who has access to it becomes harder. These systems will often reveal data and facts about us that we wish to suppress, or even in other cases, the non-conscious but super-intelligent algorithms know more about us than we do. For example, in a healthcare setup, the requirement of large data sets creates incentives for developers to collect this data from many patients and customers. Artificial intelligence can also predict private information about patients, even when the system never received (Price 2).

A good example is that artificial intelligence can identify that actually, a patient has Parkinson's disease the moment the computer mouse trembles even in cases where the patient had not shared that information to anyone. Patients take this as a violation of their privacy, especially if third parties, such as banks and insurance companies, are involved. In the same measure, it is now possible to track and monitor a person's every move as they go about their daily business. Surveillance cameras are nearly everywhere, while facial recognition algorithms now know who you are. Since machines can gather and track and scrutinize so much about an individual, it's very probable for the same machines to use the information derived against you. A potential employer might withhold a job offer based on one's social credit score or an insurance company informing that one is not insurable. Based on the rounds, you were caught on camera talking on one's phone (Bossmann 3). With such inconceivable privacy concerns, artificial intelligence development is invalidated and should not be fully adopted.

Security

Innovation, development and adoption of artificial intelligence are not best suited because of the security threat it poses across the world (Bossmann 2). It is worth noting that the more powerful a technology becomes, the more it can be used for despicable and wicked reasons. If used maliciously, artificial intelligence systems can cause terrible damage to the world at large. Replacement of soldiers with autonomous weapons or robots only means that the battles will no longer be fought in a battleground; instead, cybersecurity will become more vital.

With the extensive use of artificial intelligence in various fields across the world, the truth is that it is likely to become dominant for attacking purposes than the defensive ones. Criminals cover themselves by use of artificial intelligence rather than masks to rob a bank. With the adoption of AI systems, criminals practice drug trafficking, buying and selling, which rely on artificial intelligence planning and autonomous navigation technologies (Data Flair Team 1). Cybercriminals still use the same artificial intelligence systems to conduct cybersecurity, such as phishing and whaling, cracking passwords, creating malware and doing chatbox-related crimes (Data Flair Team 1). The rate of development of artificial intelligence systems poses a threat to crime prevention since the crime rates are likely to go up. If there are no stable prevention strategies set in place, then artificial intelligence is expected to pose a lot of danger.

Humanity

The adoption of artificial intelligence will negatively affect human behaviors and interactions. Artificial intelligence milestones will start an age where we recurrently interact with machines like humans would do, whether in sales or customer service. With the limited attention and kindness that humans expend towards each other during interactions, it will be challenging to develop relationships. In 2015, a bot named Eugene Goostman fooled more than half of the human raters and made them think they had been communicating with human beings (Bossmann 3).

Social Manipulation

Social manipulation is another factor that discredits the effectiveness of artificial intelligence. Through its autonomous-powered algorithms, social media is very efficient and effective at target marketing. They clearly know who we are, things we like and are unbelievably food at surmising what we think. If the ongoing investigation of the case of Cambridge Analytica who used data from 50 million Facebook operators to influence the 2016 U.S presidential election and U. K’s Brexit referendum turns out to be accurate, then this is enough evidence of artificial intelligence power for social manipulation (Marr 3). With this kind of outcome, unless better standards are put in place to limit social manipulation, artificial intelligence will negatively affect humans and should not be entirely adopted.

Singularity

As much as the adoption of artificial intelligence has some benefits, it does not guide how to stay in control of complex, intelligent systems, making humans unpredictable. The idea of singularity is that if the trajectory of artificial intelligence spreads up to the policies that possess a human level of intelligence, they would themselves have the capability to develop and progress artificial systems that exceed the human scale of intelligence (Marr 2). Such a strident turn of events after reaching super intelligent artificial intelligence is the singularity from which the creation of progress of artificial intelligence is out of human control and very hard to forecast

As humans, we stay on top of the food chain because of our ingenuity and intelligence and not sharp teeth and strong muscles (Marr 2). Due to this, we can get better of bigger, stronger, and even faster animals since we create and use tools to control them. This scenario poses a serious question about artificial intelligence systems such that if it will have the same impact over us. And if it does, are we prepared to take control of the situation? Of course not, and that is why its effectiveness is still doubtful. Therefore, it is a risky attempt to completely incorporate artificial intelligence and rely on it in the world’s operations.

Inequality in Wealth Distribution

Inequality in wealth distribution is likely to happen if artificial intelligence is completely adopted in incorporated into our economic systems. The world's economic system is based on compensation for contribution to the economy, which is often assessed using an hourly wage (Bossmann 3). With almost all companies still being reliant on hourly work in their services and products, the full adoption of artificial intelligence will lead companies to cut down on relying on the human workforce radically. In such a scenario, the incomes will go to fewer such that persons who have proprietorship in artificial intelligence-driven companies will eventually make more money. In contrast, the ones whose jobs were replaced by artificial intelligence systems will earn nothing. The economy will end up having a section of wealthy people and another section of impoverished people leading to a vast wealth gap between the two groups. A pointer of what is likely to happen is evident in 2014, when the same revenues were earned by the three most significant companies in Silicon Valley and Detroit, with ten times fewer employees (Bossmann 4).

Danger

Most scholars agree that super-intelligent artificial intelligence systems can be hazardous but unlikely to display human emotions like hate and love. Thus, the systems cannot be intentionally malevolent. No matter how smart they are, they can never replicate a human since they do not possess emotions and moral values. Simply the machines do not know what is legal or ethical, and due to this, they do not maintain their judgment-making skills (Kuklenko 2). The artificial intelligence systems do what they are told, and thus the judgment of right or wrong is nill for them (Mullan 1). In cases, when they come across situations that are unfamiliar they seize to perform, perform incorrectly, or break down, which may cause adverse effects. Two scenarios are likely to make the artificial intelligence systems dangerous; when the orders are programmed to do something devastating and when the AI is programmed to do something beneficial, it develops a destructive method of achieving the goal.

AI systems can be programmed to do something devastating through autonomous weapons, which are artificial intelligence systems that are planned to kill. Therefore, in a scenario where these weapons are in the wrong hands, they could easily cause mass and fatal casualties (Bossmann 2). Humans have different motives, and the devastating effects that might arise from wrongfully using these weapons rule out the adoption of artificial intelligence.

When the AI is automated to do something important but, in the process, develops a destructive method of achieving the goal rules out the complete incorporation of artificial intelligence systems. (Marr 2). It can happen when these AI systems fail to...