Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been gaining traction in recent years in several areas of society. While these advancements are beneficial in many ways, the negative consequences of AI could have a dire effect on our world.
One destructive side effect is unemployment which could be caused by the mass adoption of AI. Due to the convenience of AI, it isn’t difficult to imagine that these systems will soon overtake many manual labor jobs that have the capacity to be done by machines. Machines have been integrated in several fields for decades but are still widely manned by people and depend on human labor. A 2018 report from the World Economic Forum estimated that AI would eliminate 75 million jobs by 2022. The incorporation of AI can make these machines entirely independent and ultimately lead to job losses as computers learn to create, rather than just replicate the behavior.
Another drawback of AI is its lack of humanity. While machines are undoubtedly more efficient, they cannot replicate human emotions and relationships. A result of the incorporation of AI to machines will be a lack of conscience in the work they produce, which can ultimately prove to be harmful in situations that machines are not programmed to deal with. There is also an issue of implicit bias in AI, which can be caused by the manufacturers. A Columbia University study found that “the more homogenous the [engineering] team is, the more likely it is that a given prediction error will appear.” Because of this, AI can be susceptible to developing bias either towards or against certain outcomes.These problems could cause harm to the people working with AI.
Finally, the advancement of AI poses a security concern. With all the possibilities it proposes, AI also allows space for more nefarious acts such as phishing and AI terrorism. AI allows for more space for hacking through viruses that could become increasingly dangerous as AI begins to have more control over different aspects of human life. According to Unite AI, 2021 saw 20,175 security vulnerabilities, which was a large increase from 2020. On a larger scale, implementing AI can create a gateway for AI terrorism. There would need to be serious defense mechanisms to combat the possible threats that this could pose.
In the end, AI has shown to have several benefits in the modern world. However, with its advancement, there are drawbacks that can be detrimental to our society in the long run.