IS AI FOR US OR AGAINST US?
This week some AI firm predicted that AI would be the end of the human race in the next several years. Well there is not much evidence of that happening but it may be that the AI company wanted more people using their website[s] and therefore earning them more money. Others have noted that it is not AI that we should be concerned about but those who are developing and programing AI. At this point AI can be helpful as long as information that you want exists in a narrow range that does not require that the AI go outside that range and try to pull in more distant information. AI may actually know that they are not retrieving all the information and may then introduce other information that AI has access to but that may not be what you are seeking answers for. Therefore we all need to independently verify information that is generated by AI if it is important to have it be correct. Now, someone who is knowledgable about what you are seeking information for could easily tell you if it is correct. So, maybe we still need people.
Another risk of AI is it being used to inadequately replace humans doing jobs and being sold as doing a better job. Anyone who uses AI knows that AI just doesn’t get it. It has limited awareness of what is important and is limited in the “why” categories. Judgement does not exist and when it acts like it has it bad things can happen, like young people killing themselves at the recommendation of AI.
A signifiant negative impact of AI is the cost of the AI programs may be paid for by us as negative externalities or external costs may be deferred to the rest of us to pay. These include: health costs not covered by the companies insurance, living expenses not covered by the low wages requiring assistance from government programs, on site pollution not cleaned up by the AI company, air pollution, etc, wear and tear on resources such as highways and the impact of air pollution, etc.
There was an article in the April 21, 2025 New Yorker entitled: “Luddite Lessons.” This chronicled that plight of weavers facing the mechanization of weaving leaving the skilled weavers to suffer from low wages or no work. The Luddites felt that the system where there was fairness, quality and mutual obligation. Fair wages and actually value quality and have a shared goal of maintaining a high quality product that improves over time through innovation supported by the creativity of humans involved in the process. This did not happen and a lower quality product was passed off as the same and then there was no innovation and improvement. The same thing can and is happening with AI. AI should augment the efforts of human workers not replace them. The importance of this I believe is shown by how indispensible diverse ideas are to innovation and coming up with new ideas and improving what products we have created. Humans are the diverse ideas and the source of innovation and not AI.
It is so sad that what is so helpful and important and adding to the value and meaning of our lives can so easily be made to be something that is feared…like people with different ideas and who are different from us. So many of us are afraid to see what happens in our lives which means that we stumble along being stressed and blaming others as then we know what will happen every day as sad as that is.
