‘The AI Dilemma’ explores the tension between the promise and the challenges of artificial intelligence. It highlights the complexities businesses face when integrating AI, including ethical concerns, data privacy, and the need for human oversight. The article stresses that while AI has the potential to drive massive innovation, its implementation must be thoughtful, balancing risks and rewards. It urges decision-makers to adopt AI responsibly to fully leverage its benefits while mitigating risks.
With the rapid development and propagation of artificial intelligence, we need to adopt a ’paradigmatic response’ in order to control the impact of a ‘paradigmatic technology’ like artificial intelligence.
The following question was surveyed across 738 Machine Learning Researchers: ’What probability do you put on human inability to control future advanced AI systems causing human extinction or similar permanent and severe disempowerment of the human species?’
A staggering 50% of AI researchers believed that there is a 10% or greater chance that humans go extinct from our inability to control AI.
Let’s use an analogy to explain the above statistic better. Imagine you are about to board an airplane, and half of the engineers who designed that airplane thinks that there is a 10% chance everyone onboard will die due to a failure in the aircraft. Would you board the plane?
This is an extreme example. However, we need to lead and drive the right discussions and influence the right groups (both commercial and government) to ensure we rollout powerful technologies like this in a controlled manner. Currently, the public rollout processes for AI are entirely dependent on the goodwill and careful foresight of the commercial entities that are developing AI for the purpose of maximizing profit outcomes. Unfortunately, there are significant conflict of interest in this goodwill-based equation.
So, the real question is not on the trajectory of how we pause the development of AI or how to regulate/govern the hell out of it. The real question to explore and the problem to solve is, how do we progress the development of AI in a responsible, ethical and a sustained manner so it’s a win for the entire human race – not a cause for further divide. Should we advocate for Open-Source AI, should nation and culture specific AI be prioritised, how can the regulators and policy makers truly enable the progression of AI rather than play catch-up…. These are some of the questions we must endeavour to explore and find answers to.
Let’s Learn Both Sides…
It is easy to see how AI and associated technologies can improve our lives, and the coolness and usefulness of such technologies – ranging from generating stunning art/videos/content to chatbots with human like conversational and advisory abilities to helping advance medical research and patient care, and everything else in between.
While benefiting from the myriad of AI advancements, we must also explore the potential dark sides and risks of such technologies, and most importantly play our role as leaders to shape and influence the conversations to collectively create a winning outcome for society.
To that effect, the following video by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin (directors of the documentary, the Social Dilemma) explore the great dilemma we are facing with artificial intelligence and provide some thought-provoking insights and ideas for serious consideration. This was a presentation at a private gathering in San Francisco on March 9th, 2023, with leading technologists and decision-makers with the ability to influence the future of large-language model AIs (This presentation was given before the launch of GPT-4).
As the final thought, it’s worthwhile to keep the following quote by the great Sociobiologist, E.O Wilson, on top of our minds when venturing into our technology and data led futures.
‘The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology.’
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Credit: Center for Humane Technology | AI Dilemma presentation
Kushan Kahadugoda is a seasoned business technology leader with a passion for driving transformative change through innovation. His experience spans diverse sectors — government, non-profit, education, telecommunications, financial services, and technology — and also includes Big Four consulting experience. Currently, he serves as Consulting Practice Director for AI, Innovation, and ESG at Oracle Corporation, leading initiatives in the ANZ region to foster innovation and enterprise transformation. Kushan is also a published author of 2 books.
More details: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkahadugoda | https://kushan.blog/about
See Kushan’s profile here.