I think I might know and I don’t think my answer would please many people. I say this because it is not the reason many people think it might be. The common concern is that AI could get out of control and put us all in danger. Unfortunately that has already begun to happen, but it is not as big a concern as it is a wake-up call.
Like the frog in the boiling pot of water. He was unaware of the increasing heat until the water began to boil. By then it was too late. We have been aware of this potential threat for some time, but like climate change, we fail to make a connection at a personal level. “They”, whoever they are, do not assume the responsibility we think they do. I make this analogy for a couple of reasons. Our society and systems of education and sport are over-controlled and narrow in focus. This creates impacts and consequences that may not be felt for a long time, if ever.
Society by and large, wants compliance, no questioning of authority. Thinking, if necessary is limited by external direction. Deviating from the norm is seldom rewarded. If you want to pass assessment, you must provide the only single correct answer that is asked for.
I see this in sport as well where coaches act like Seargent Majors, demanding all children do as asked. Follow the game plan. As a coach myself, this worked fine as long as the other team played with the same plan. At that point, a game plan was worthless.
We have given up our right to think for ourselves, even if we are unaware that it happened. AI is simply replacing teachers, coaches and so on. AI is better than we ever can be at rote work and calculations. To let AI supplant human endeavour would be a serious problem. We have in a very real sense, abdicated our responsibility to control our environment, our future and what we can do. These conditions were not imposed by AI, we are just accepting them, blindly.
We can never be better at what AI can do. That is not submission, just a recognition and acknowledgement of reality. Does that mean we are powerless, NO. It is a warning shot across the bow of our ship. What can be done to mitigate the impacts of AI and alleviate our fears? Easy, become better at who and what we are, human beings. We have innate qualities unique to our species. We can only control our destiny so it is about time we took control back. We may not be as helpless as we think.
This will not happen with the way our society is structured. We need a human revolution to follow, the making of tools, development of agriculture, and the rise of the industrial revolution. Technology was supposed to free us from the hum drum of daily work. Somehow things didn’t quite work out that way? That is a topic for another day.
The question we need to answer is, do we want to be in control, or is it just easier to leave that to others? We don’t have a great deal of time to sit on this decision. Our child (AI) has reached the point of outgrowing its creators.
