Artificial Intelligence vs. Mankind

Artificial Intelligence vs. Mankind

Artificial intelligence at its best can critique the smallest of details and perform the largest of task in little to no time. As thinking machines perfect the ability to imitate the human mind the greater the relinquishing of mundane task. To what end will this leave mankind in the long run? One may argue that artificial intelligence creates a more efficient world that allows for more opportunities to increase profits and maximize time. However, without a system of checks and balances, AI may grow as a threat, impeding on its users and reaching its limitations. The dependency on AI backfires as it is becoming a vehicle by which corruption deconstructs the foundations laid to ensure the rights of all mankind. One can argue that man, is the threat as artificial intelligence becomes his ammunition to fuel dangerous ambitions that will eradicate the world as we know it.

Identity thieves are just one example of a man-made threat. They are using the access that AI can only give, to prey upon countless personal accounts leaving their victims helpless and confounded. People are lured in by AI’s attractiveness, oftentimes leaving themselves vulnerable to her inability to shield them from the dangers of instantaneous gratification. “For the fourth year running, identity theft has topped the list of consumer complaints filed by the FTC. It accounts for 42 percent of all complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission, up 40 percent since 2002” (Francese et al.1). This is just one catastrophic effect of AI as it has emboldened criminals’ creativity.

It is imperative that the relationship between man and technical advancement is augmented in a way that establishes a mutual respect, defining transparent safeguards. People are paying their bills online and tracking their steps with the likes of Fitbit watches while sharing their likes and opinions on Facebook, many times not understanding the truth about how their privacy may be exploited.

Long gone are the days when a person could easily start their lives over and create a new outlook in a new town, without being confronted or linked to their previous transgressions. With the lack of privacy and transparency, corporations’ and governments’ power over the people is becoming more solidified; making it even harder to fight corruption. The expansion of AI makes the plight of the poor more concrete by maximizing the elite’s control, diminishing the equalization of power between the classes. The optimization of technology has consistently created vast breakthroughs in civilizations and while it has the potential to benefit all mankind it may be the undoing of many disadvantaged individuals’ basic rights.

As AI mesmerizes people with its addictive nature, reality is tuned out with the click of a button or the scroll of a page; it distracts everyday people from their real relationships and problems. What will the implications be for employing AI to make folks happy? Although no one can deny the positive effects of artificial intelligence, it is worth recognizing that progress is always acquainted with exploitation. AI aids the efforts to oppress and stagnate wealth equality and makes it easy to prey upon the ignorant and less fortunate. As in decades before, human beings have always thrived among themselves to control the tools that guide the pathway to progress. Artificial Intelligence itself is merely a tool that can be willed to empowerment or to oppression. It has empowered life management and has opened communication between individuals who might not have crossed paths otherwise. The advancement of AI is inevitable, making accountability reform imperative to combat ethical issues. The more nontransparent artificial intelligence is the more it becomes a threat to the unconsciousness of society.

Andrea Francese, et al. “Identity Theft Soars as Technology Races Forward.” The Impact,

theimpactnews.com/special-report-archive/2012/02/23/identity-theft-soars-as-

technology-races-forward/. Accessed 8 Sept. 2017.

Hendler, James A., et al. Social machines: the coming collision of artificial intelligence, social

networking, and humanity. Lieu de publication inconnu, Apress, 2016.