Is AI Safe for Humanity?

Notably, since the beginning of digital era commenced in the 1970s with the emergence of programmable computers that can take directives from command control and act upon this directive without any human intervention, people have been anticipating the doom of humanity since this time. Studies have been done to explore the potential threat the machines that can operate on their own with less human intervention has on the course of humanity. So far, the most anticipated and proclaimed doomsday where machines have taken over the world does not occurred. So now, humanity is enjoying the bountiful benefits accrued from machines that have made work more comfortable and made impossible tasks possible to achieve. Currently AI systems are surpassing most activities in human lives from big data management, infrastructure control and management, future forecasting and celestial exploration and all automotive operations (Mateescu and Madeleine 17). There are critics and prophets of doom who have failed to notice the unfathomable benefits and achievements that have been attained due to the use of AI system and only foresee the imminent threat that a superintelligent system poses on humanity. I strongly oppose this view that distorts human advancement in technology and science and advocates that AI is safe and is there to facilitate the growth of humanity.

Disruptive technologies such as AI have transformed and augmented human capacities and have also altered the aeons of human activity from mechanical to automated operations. Nowadays, systems that are driven by written computer codes and algorithms have dominated ambient information and connectivity that humanity relies on to derive information and use a platform of socialization and interaction, thus providing unprecedented opportunities and opening up potential breakthrough that the human mind has not yet conceived. As algorithm-driven Artificial Intelligence progresses in traversing through the scope of human activity, it is evident that it will make the life of people even much better than they were in the previous years.

How AI will enable humanity to grow can be seen through the convention of 979 technology pioneers, developers, researchers, activists, innovators and policy leaders in the canvassing of experts that was conducted in the summer of 2018 (Makridakis 57). In this convention, experts predicted that that networked artificial intelligent would greatly amplify the effectiveness of human capabilities. The experts spoke of the increased possibilities that AI would avail to humanity where computers would match or exceed human intelligence and capacity. Thus, they would be able to handle the complex problem and decision making that requires too much labour and time conduct sophisticated analysis and pattern recognition, do visual acuity, language translation and speech recognition. As a result, there will be automation system in the society, in buildings, in utilities, in business processes and farms. These systems will save on time, money and lives offering better opportunities for people to have access to a more customized experience which human effort cannot realize on its own (Koenitz-Hartmut 369). As a result, people will move away from mass production and consumption to customized production where the products produced are tailored to a particular need and demand which will increase the satisfaction of people and reduce wastage of resources

The greatest minds of our times like Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk and scientist Stephen Hawkins have warned humanity against relying on machines to conduct primary crucial functions in human life such as controlling the operation and management of power grids and conduction distribution of water in urban areas. The warning is directed to humanity since AI system are vulnerable to attacks and establishing these crucial infrastructures in AI system pose a significant risk of attackers infiltrating these systems and interfering with these sensitive structures. Despite this dire warning, the aspect that AIs can support these infrastructures is a vital aspect which relieves humanity from the constant worry of the structures failing to operate properly or be faulty in its function. Human intervention in these systems entails so many variables that pose huge threats such as human errors and insufficient effort eating supplied due to human beings getting tired or exhausted and being impeded by environmental factors interfering with the operation of these facilities. Human intervention and resources that were channeled in these areas were found to be limited. Hence, the emergence of AI system such as SCADA resolved the problems that limited human effort posed in the operation of these infrastructures. Distribution of power across region and supply begun to be comfortable and cheap to maintain. This is because the distribution channels were operated remotely from a central system, and the whole channel was monitored from a monitor of a computer as compared to the previous one the required workers to be on the field to conduct physical assessments of the systems (Gherhes and Ciprian 3066). The supply and distribution of power have become seamless and growth and development of humanity economically and socially have been nourished due to the increased accessibility of resources that has spurred economic and social growth.

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The robust economies of developed countries that boast of increased supply and reach of electricity, advanced industries with efficient production and manufacture, improved education and healthcare, effective security system and also elevated civilization owe these successes to the widespread use of AI system in these areas. The primary area that has incurred significant improvement due to the introduction of AI has been in the medical sector. The healthcare sector has made significant advancement in terms of disease exploration and medicine discovery in biotechnology due to the use of AI (Millen 112). Diseases were hard to detect, like genetic diseases and psychological diseases are currently being discovered and being properly mitigated earlier because of the AI system. The secondary and tertiary care that were once impossible to carry out such as radiotherapy due to the amount of risk that it posed on the patient are now being carried out due to proper implication of AI devices that regulate the utilization of radiation therapy in human bodies. Hence, doctors can suppress the malignant growth of cancerous cells and increase the survival chances of patients that are faced with these chronic diseases. Besides, AI has granted an efficient system such as EH that stores the medical history of the patient making it easy to access patient information and improve healthcare education and treatment provided in a healthcare facility. Therefore, it is evident that the progress in medical sectors such as faster medical delivery and improved healthcare delivery that is patient-focused has been attained due to the intervention of the AI into healthcare sector. Industrialized nations also depend on big data management in most of its sectors for proper communication and flow of information. The banking sector manages big data through the use of AI systems. Banks employ AI devices that connect it to the central bank of various countries where their reserves are monitored keenly to avoid the economy facing inflations and recessions accruing to the economic crisis. Banks also have a seamless connection and transfer of information with its numerous branches through the AI system. Marketing banking products have been made easy, and platform for undertaking banking services has increased due to the advanced platform that AI offers such as mobile and internet banking as well as for cryptocurrencies. The whole banking sector owes its success to the AI system.

AI system can also be associated with the increased connectivity between people and nations as well as improved relations between countries. The internet that has been a significant hub of socialization is a product of AI where devices are connected through Arpanet connectivity. The internet contains various servers that people utilize different to serve particular functions such as interacting, studying, exploiting certain elements to serve specific purposes and many other uses. The internet has made the world to be one global village where a person can connect with another person from a different continent just in second. This is also established a global market where multinational companies have managed to breach the geographical constraints and conduct their business operations in oversea markets. Cloud computing has contributed significantly in ensuring that geographical domain is not a constraint to business operation for organization by facilitation business transactions to be done in any place at any time (Dohler et al. 122). Nations have managed to foster amicable ties due to capabilities that AI has guaranteed to them, such as intellectual property transfer either through security or business operations. Countries of been benchmarking against each other and facilitating each other’s development through sharing their intellectual property. As a result, stronger bonds between nations have been formulated, and more concrete pacts formed.

Conversely, AI is predicted to be the destruction of humanity. This is because humanity has become overly dependent on AI system such that every aspect of human life reflects the widespread use of AI. From healthcare, industrial area, security, social platform and other field exhibits how deeply humanity is entrenched into the AI system. Humanity no longer relies on its intellectual capability of appropriate assessment and navigation, decision-making and logical analysis that can only be derived from human conscience to being dependent on automated computation, quick assessment and probable choices that are products of AI system. As a result, inventors are pursuing a course of developing superintelligent AIs that are fully autonomous with the intellectual capacity that is far that one of a human being. Such a device will be hard to control as most experts has indicated and there is the probable threat of such a system turning against humanity to retaliate due to being overworked and misused as humans are known to do.

As a result, AI that can think beyond human IQ is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Currently, there are imminent threats that AI has brought along such as security systems being open to uncensored infiltration of cyber-attacks which were not an issue before the emergence of AI (Poola 573). Most attacks have been carried out, and companies and government institution have been jeopardized due to these vulnerabilities that an AI system is susceptible to due to the system being open since it is accessible to the internet. Banks been defrauded millions of dollars, institutions have been destroyed, and even some states have been destabilized due to these vulnerabilities (Lawrence, Cesar and John 255). However, there is nothing that is overly good without some setbacks in it. There are threats that AI has posed to the growth of humanity, such as increased vulnerability to critical infrastructure and expanding cyber-crime activities. Still, the benefits that it has provided to humanity in its technological revolution has been remarkable. It has transformed human lives in a more significant proportion. If people advance in the use of AI with the caution that most critics call for, then the unmerited shortcoming of AI can be surpassed, and its full benefits garnered.