Artificial Intelligence – Lovers, Haters, and Their Arguments – Part 2 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #969

Artificial Intelligence – Lovers, Haters, and Their Arguments – Part 2 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #969

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 969 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here.

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Help for this two-part blogpost has been taken from ChatGPT4o, HubSpot, Mckinsey, and MIT.

The Haters of AI – What Concerns Them?

Job Displacement and Economic Inequality

Critics worry that generative AI will lead to significant job losses, particularly in sectors where routine tasks are prevalent. While new jobs may be created, there is concern that they will not adequately replace the displaced positions, leading to greater economic inequality. In every organization, probably most jobs are repetitive because these tasks must be done every day to keep the organization functioning. Finance, accounts, HR, Supply Chain, Marketing, every function has a larger part which is routine. AI can effectively take over all these tasks and therefore the threat of large-scale job loss is real. Not everyone can be upskilled or reskilled to take other jobs, and the other jobs may not be available in the same numbers.

Lack of Transparency and Explainability

Many AI systems, especially complex ones are like black boxes. It may be difficult to understand how they arrive at their decisions, raising concerns about bias and fairness. All AI/LLM models are trained on a huge set of data – text and images, and each of them is trained on datasets which are partly similar and partly different. The AI decides based on what it has learnt, like humans do. It also keeps on learning while it works, also like humans. As humans make different decisions for similar situations, so will AI. However, the difference is that humans can be talked to, while AI will decide and act. This may lead to some very complicated situations.

Ethical and Legal Issues

The potential for misuse of generative AI is a major concern. Issues range from deepfake technology and the creation of misleading or harmful content to the unauthorized use of copyrighted material. Critics argue that current legal frameworks are ill-equipped to address these challenges, leading to potential abuse and exploitation. 

As AI becomes more prevalent, it is becoming evident that there had been breaches of copyrights during initial training of AI models. Suits have been filed and new contracts are being drawn for future. But this is a complex, and evolving situation and legal/ethical issues shall keep arising. 

Bias and Lack of Fairness

Generative AI systems can inadvertently perpetuate or even exacerbate biases present in the data they are trained on. This can lead to unfair treatment or discrimination in critical areas like hiring, lending, and law enforcement. Ensuring these systems are fair and unbiased is a significant challenge that requires ongoing attention. As an example, we saw in the Indian elections that AI was not giving right answers and so these were stopped from the topic of election. Google has still not opened it on their AI model Gemini, while Meta opened it few days back on their AI model. The US elections are the next challenge where AI shall be extensively put to use, and more issues shall arise.

Existential Threat

Elon Musk, who himself has developed his AI model Grock, has expressed concerns about the potential for stronger and superior AI models which will surpass human capabilities in all aspects. This will be an existential threat to humanity, and it is not far away. 

The next stage which may be here in 3 to 5 years will be AGI – Artificial General Intelligence. It is predicted to be 10 to 100 times more proficient than humans. It will have the capacity to take independent decisions in all situations, even overriding human decisions. It is causing scare and apparently, the work on AGI, or at least its public discourse has been stopped for now.

President of Soft Bank, the biggest bank of Japan said recently his bank was investing heavily into ASI – Artificial Super Intelligence. ASI, as has been claimed, shall be 1,000 to 10,000 times more intelligent than humans. ASI may be here within 10 years as has been predicted. AGI and ASI have the capability to take over everything and push the humans towards extinction. 

Safety and Control

As AI becomes more sophisticated, there is a fear that human shall lose control over these systems. Imagine scenarios like this: the AI in the hospital decides to change your treatment by changing doctors prescription. The new drug shall automatically be ordered from the pharmacy and the nurse may administer without being able to counter the change; your self-driving car decides where you will go, where will you stop, and continuously challenges your directions, or its decisions may cause accidents; the AI-controlled weapon system decides when it will deploy itself and at whom. These are not fictional scenarios anymore, these can happen.

Privacy Concerns

The vast amounts of data used to train generative AI systems, often including personal information is already out of your hands. More data is going into AI systems as these are being used. Experts are concerned about how this data is collected, stored, and used, and the potential for privacy violations. There are calls for stricter regulations to protect individuals' privacy rights in the face of these technologies.

Dependence and Over-Reliance

There is a fear that society could become overly dependent on generative AI, leading to a decline in critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This dependency could also result in a loss of human creativity and a reliance on AI-generated solutions that might not always be appropriate or accurate. Human innovation shall suffer, and so shall be original variety that emerges out of human mind.

Moving Forward with Artificial Intelligence

The debate over generative AI is emblematic of broader societal tensions around technology and progress. The challenge lies in maximizing the benefits of these technologies while mitigating the risks and addressing the concerns raised by critics.

Regulatory and Ethical Frameworks

To address these challenges, there is a need for comprehensive regulatory frameworks that ensure the ethical use of generative AI. This includes laws and guidelines around data privacy, intellectual property, and the fair use of AI technologies. Some work has already started in this direction, particularly in the European Union. However, much more needs to be done practically rather than voicing concerns only.

Promoting Fairness and Inclusivity

Efforts must be made to ensure that generative AI is developed and used in ways that promote fairness and inclusivity. This involves not only technical solutions to bias but also broader societal discussions about the role of AI in shaping the future. Presently, certain biases have already creeped in, and these will likely increase with larger usage. Concrete steps must be taken now.

Fostering Responsible Innovation

AI is a tool which is being used in developing many other products, and it is happening at a very rapid pace, and at multiple places. Fostering a culture of responsible innovation where the potential benefits of generative AI are realized without compromising ethical standards is crucial. This requires collaboration between technologists, policymakers, and society at large to ensure that AI serves the common good.

Epilogue

There is no doubt that the introduction of AI is an event of apocalyptic proportions. AI holds great promise but also presents significant and serious challenges. By understanding and addressing the concerns of both its proponents and critics, we can harness its potential in ways that would benefit society as a whole. A major deciding factor will be commercial aspect, which is already there. Major companies are pouring in billions of dollars neither for the love of AI nor for the public good; they are doing it to multiply revenues and maximize profits. As a matter of right, it should be accepted. Nevertheless, the commercial aspect must not take humankind towards extinction.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intention to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, however, it happens unintentionally, I offer my sincere regrets.