I think that the general public is very under informed about what artificial intelligence really is, and its capabilities for damage to our society. Most people only think of AIs as harmless chat bots or image generators, like DALL-E, or ChatGPT. Understandably, they fail to see the danger that these seemingly simple AIs pose.
To start, all AIs are inherently biased, one way or another, on a deep level. You may think, “But it’s a computer, how could it be biased?” The way an AI processes and determines results is based on the data it is given and how it’s been trained.
“For example, machine learning software could be trained on a dataset that under represents a particular gender or ethnic group,” states the National Institute of Standards and Technology. People who develop AI also curate the responses it gives, adding another layer of deeper bias into the system.
Additionally, if used with combination of real photos, AI image generators are able to create realistic photos, and it can be hard to discern them as being created by a computer (recent example of fake giveaways using AI). These photos can sometimes fool even the most skeptical of viewers. AIs will only improve in their effectiveness over time, and with more data to train on.
If the average person cannot tell whether an image they see online is made by AI or not, then how do they know what is real? This opens the door for far more convincing disinformation
In age of an AI integrated society, it will be difficult to determine if what you see is real, who or what to trust, and if what you believe are actually carefully constructed lies.
On another note, I think that AI generated content, whatever it may be, is disingenuous and dispensable. Even if you cannot tell the difference between what was made by people and what wasn’t, AI features a lack of soul and vision.
Videos, artwork, articles, and other forms should all be crafted with a meaningful purpose, and not simply low effort creations for the masses in pursuit of profit, as we have seen prominently on platforms such as TikTok or YouTube.
When people want answers, they want to hear it from a person, someone they can trust to make human decisions. But we don’t know for sure if we can trust AI yet, or if we ever will be able to.
When the general public realizes the majority of websites and content online was made by AI, they will no longer find real value in it. Eventually, this will make the internet less worth it to the average person, and it will spell death for its future.
It is in my belief that soon, through mass generating online content in the hopes of monetization, the internet will become a of shell of what it once was, filled with disingenuous material.
Don’t get me wrong–AI can certainly be used for good. It can inspire you with ideas, or increase your productivity by summarizing material. We have seen this with programs such as Microsoft’s CoPilot AI, helping make workers more efficient.
As a society, we must be very careful about how much power we give AI. We may not realize many of the longer term effects until it’s too late to pull the plug.
