Opinion by: Merav Ozair, PhD
The launch of ChatGPT in late 2023 sparked an arms race amongst Large Tech firms corresponding to Meta, Google, Apple and Microsoft and startups like OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral and DeepSeek. All are dashing to deploy their fashions and merchandise as quick as potential, saying the subsequent “shiny” toy on the town and making an attempt to assert superiority on the expense of our security, privateness or autonomy.
After OpenAI’s ChatGPT spurred main development in generative AI with the Studio Ghibli development, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, urged his groups to make AI companions extra “humanlike” and entertaining — even when it meant enjoyable safeguards. “I missed out on Snapchat and TikTok, I received’t miss out on this,” Zuckerberg reportedly stated throughout an inside assembly.
Within the newest Meta AI bots venture, launched on all their platforms, Meta loosened its guardrails to make the bots extra participating, permitting them to take part in romantic role-play and “fantasy intercourse,” even with underage customers. Employees warned concerning the dangers this posed, particularly for minors.
They’ll cease at nothing. Not even the protection of our youngsters, and all for the sake of revenue and beating the competitors.
The harm and destruction that AI can inflict upon humanity runs deeper than that.
Dehumanizing and lack of autonomy
The accelerated transformation of AI probably results in full dehumanization, leaving us disempowered, simply manipulable and completely depending on firms that present AI providers.
The newest AI advances have accelerated the method of dehumanization. We’ve got been experiencing it for greater than 25 years because the first main AI-powered advice programs emerged, launched by firms like Amazon, Netflix and YouTube.
Firms current AI-powered options as important personalization instruments, suggesting that customers could be misplaced in a sea of irrelevant content material or merchandise with out them. Permitting firms to dictate what folks purchase, watch and suppose has turn into globally normalized, with little to no regulatory or coverage efforts to curb it. The results, nevertheless, could possibly be vital.
Generative AI and dehumanization
Generative AI has taken this dehumanization to the subsequent degree. It grew to become widespread apply to combine GenAI options into current purposes, aiming to extend human productiveness or improve the human-made end result. Behind this large push is the concept people will not be adequate and that AI help is preferable.
Latest: Meta opens Llama AI model up to US military
A 2024 paper, “Generative AI Can Hurt Studying,” discovered that “entry to GPT-4 considerably improves efficiency (48% enchancment for GPT Base and 127% for GPT Tutor). We additionally discover that when entry is subsequently taken away, college students carry out worse than those that by no means had entry (17% discount for GPT Base). That’s, entry to GPT-4 can hurt academic outcomes.”
That is alarming. GenAI disempowers folks and makes them depending on it. Individuals could not solely lose the power to supply the identical outcomes but additionally fail to speculate effort and time in studying important abilities.
We’re shedding our autonomy to suppose, assess and create, leading to full dehumanization. Elon Musk’s assertion that “AI shall be means smarter than people” is no surprise as dehumanization progresses, as we’ll not be what truly makes us human.
AI-powered autonomous weapons
For many years, army forces have used autonomous weapons, together with mines, torpedoes and heat-guided missiles that function primarily based on easy reactive suggestions with out human management.
Now, it enters the sector of weapon design.
AI-powered weapons involving drones and robots are actively being developed and deployed. On account of how simply such expertise proliferates, they are going to solely turn into extra succesful, refined and broadly used over time.
A serious deterrent that retains nations from beginning wars is troopers dying — a human value to their residents that may create home penalties for leaders. The present growth of AI-powered weapons goals to take away human troopers from hurt’s means. If few troopers die in offensive warfare, nevertheless, it weakens the affiliation between acts of warfare and human value, and it turns into politically simpler to start out wars, which, in flip, could result in extra demise and destruction total.
Main geopolitical issues might rapidly emerge as AI-powered arms races amp up and such expertise continues to proliferate.
Robotic “troopers” are software program that may be compromised. If hacked, your complete military of robots could act in opposition to a nation and result in mass destruction. Stellar cybersecurity could be much more prudent than an autonomous military.
Keep in mind that this cyberattack can happen on any autonomous system. You’ll be able to destroy a nation just by hacking its monetary programs and depleting all its financial assets. No people are harmed, however they could not be capable of survive with out monetary assets.
The Armageddon state of affairs
“AI is extra harmful than, say, mismanaged plane design or manufacturing upkeep or dangerous automobile manufacturing,” Musk stated in a Fox Information interview. “Within the sense that it has the potential — nevertheless small one could regard that likelihood, however it’s non-trivial — it has the potential of civilization destruction,” Musk added.
Musk and Geoffrey Hinton have not too long ago expressed concerns that the potential of AI posing an existential risk is 10%-20%.
As these programs get extra refined, they could begin appearing in opposition to people. A paper revealed by Anthropic researchers in December 2024 discovered that AI can faux alignment. If this might occur with the present AI fashions, think about what it might do when these fashions turn into extra highly effective.
Can humanity be saved?
There may be an excessive amount of concentrate on revenue and energy and virtually none on security.
Leaders must be involved extra about public security and the way forward for humanity than gaining supremacy in AI. “Accountable AI” is not only a buzzword, empty insurance policies and guarantees. It must be on the high of the thoughts of any developer, firm or chief and applied by design in any AI system.
Collaboration between firms and nations is important if we wish to stop any doomsday state of affairs. And if leaders will not be stepping as much as the plate, the general public ought to demand it.
Our future as humanity as we all know it’s at stake. Both we guarantee AI advantages us at scale or let it destroy us.
Opinion by: Merav Ozair, PhD.
This text is for normal data functions and isn’t supposed to be and shouldn’t be taken as authorized or funding recommendation. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed listed below are the creator’s alone and don’t essentially mirror or characterize the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
