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Professor Opperman
ENGL 103-3839
05 May 2019
Do we Really NEED Artificial Intelligence?
Since its inception in the nineteenth century, technology has both evolved and emerged
itself as a driving force within our society. From artificial intelligent home devices to self-driving
cars and robotic surgery machines, technology never ceases to find ways to integrate itself more
and more into our daily lives. Consequently, at the current rate in which AI and technology
continue to grow, It is reasonable to say that artificial intelligence will eventually cause rise to an
array of economic, social, and political issues.
In order to effectively examine the problems with AI, it’s important in understanding
what AI is. According to SAS Insights, a credible tech news page, AI “makes it possible for
machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks. Most AI
examples that you hear about today rely on heavily deep learning and natural language
processing,” (AI 1). In a nutshell, AI enables systems to execute various tasks which would
typically require human-like factors, such as speech recognition, visual perception,
decision-making, etc. Back in the early-mid 1950’s and 60’s however, AI was its very early
stages of development and was just being introduced and trained on the ability to mimic human
reasoning. “This early work paved the way for the automation and formal reasoning that we see
in computers today, including decision support systems and smart search systems that can be
designed to complement and augment human abilities,” (AI 1). Since then, AI has significantly
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evolved and as a result, many misconceptions have formed around the dangers and implications
of AI, as well as what society itself will become with the full integration of AI. One of the most
popular misconceptions, is the idea that AI will eventually lead to the total annihilation and/or
enslavement of the human race, or the idea that AI will evolve into superior robot beings which
will rule the world. Popularized misconceptions such as these take away from the true (and more
realistic) dangers of AI.
These days, technological development has slowly become the modern version of the
1980’s nuclear arms race. As seen across many nations, “the development in autonomous
weapons systems is progressing rapidly, and this increase in the weaponization of artificial
intelligence seems to have become a highly destabilizing development,” (Pandya 1). At its
current rate, AI is slowly altering modern warfare. The mere idea of a machine that has the
ability to execute any form of militaristic warfare on its own is concerning as is. Weaponization
of AI is not much of a fantasy as much as it becoming a reality. In the collective efforts of
foreign powers to gain an advantage within technology, it is almost inevitable. Continuous
integration of AI into the workforce also presents the emerging issue of unemployment. Being
that AI has the ability to carry out human-based tasks, more and more companies are beginning
to turn to AI, particularly because of how cost-friendly and accurate these machines are. Another
growing problem that surrounds AI is the worry that AI will become incompetent with
misaligned goals when compared to ours. What this means is that AI can be programmed with a
benign goal but implement it in a perverse manner just because the solution is logical and
expeditious,” (Patrizio 1).
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It is no secret that AI plays a large role in our lives and society. Their ongoing
development and social integration only spells out a domino effect which will impact virtually
every aspect of society itself. The criminal justice system for instance, is slowly becoming more
and more dependent upon AI, especially when it comes to facial recognition software. Regarding
such software, a report released by the AI Now Institute cited of how “In terms of
facial-recognition technology, there is a need for national laws that require strong oversight, clear
limitations, and public transparency.” The authors also said communities should be able to reject
the use of facial-recognition technology in their areas if they believe that it could be used to
unfairly discriminate or target individuals,” (vanian 1). While this may prove to be more
effective and efficient than fingerprints or other evidence-based methods, full automation of the
justice system and other industries in general can have severe impacts on society. Democracy
itself is at risk without proper government regulations over AI, due to the fact that AI can be
used to listen in on our phone calls or even track our location at all times. Back “in 2016,
software used across the country to predict recidivism of people eligible for parole was found to
be biased against African Americans,” (Delgado 1). Since then, AI has given rise to a new
problem: being biased. This occurs as a result of the many and various algorithms that AI
operates under. When these algorithms become biased, they create a large social impact on
people in terms of injustice within the legal system, hiring processes, security, and far more. In
terms of socioeconomic equality, AI will vastly play a contributing role to the growing income
gap that exists between the rich and poor. Many tech experts and economists not only cite
technology as a contributing factor within global inequality, but they also agree that recent
technological advances have only worsened the issue. “In an interview with the MIT Tech
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Review, economist Erik Brynjolfsson said, “My reading of the data is that technology is the main
driver of the recent increases in inequality. It’s the biggest factor.” (Conn 1). As more companies,
brands and corporations result to AI-based labor, the are able to profit the money that would be
used to pay human workers.
When comparing human workers to that of AI, human workers cost companies more
money due the the fact that human workers require certain benefits, such as time off (which are
sometimes paid), sick days, vacation days, health and dental insurance, etc. Also, unlike AI,
human workers can suffer from job-related injuries which can result in a series of lawsuits and
legal fees for the company. Under the circumstances that an employee is injured or terminated of
their employment, the company would then have to spend precious time and money finding and
training someone as a replacement. Another reason as to why human workers are more
expensive, is because of the various benefits that women workers need, such as paternity leave.
As a whole, human workers are beginning to increasingly demanding higher wages, whereas AI
can be operated at a fixed cost. Before you might begin to panic, it is important to note that AI
robots will not be able to completely eliminate the need for human workers. After all, those
robots and machines require engineers and operators, to maintain and operate the machine.
In regards to political integration, many have advocated the use of AI in campaigns and
elections, such as calculating political strategies or predicting the possibilities of a congressional
bill being passed into law. There are various concerns however when it comes to the political
implications of AI. As mentioned, there is a need for government regulations regarding AI and
what it can and cannot do. As it becomes more and more integrated into society, new possibilities
are emerging, such as an AI running for office. With its continuous development however,
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people will only begin to become more weary of AI, which will spark political chaos for years to
come. Political parties will blame each other for the various social and economic impacts AI will
have, and will bring about substantial changes in how society will be governed. The overall
relationship between democracy and AI is one that needs to be understood more. Abhishek
Dasgupta, a Research Fellow in AI at the Centre for Technology and Global Affairs, discusses
the understanding in technology’s social and political impact. She mentions of how today, our
government has “an obligation to ensure social stability, because without that you have war. This
is only going to become worse with AI,” (Butterfield 1).
One of (if not the) main issues with AI integration is the growing concern regarding the
full automation of the work-labor force. Based upon where AI development stands and from
what we have observed so far, AI offers increased efficiency and decreased spending for
employers. It comes as no surprise then that we have already seen such automation occur within
companies such as: Amazon, DHL, Uber, Tesla, Best Buy, Target, McDonalds, Adidas,
Walmart, and far more. To grasp a better understanding of this, it is estimated that “by 2027, 23%
of the jobs in China’s financial sector will either be cut by AI or will be transformed into new
positions. The remaining 77% of jobs will not be replaced, but the efficiency of these positions
will increase,” (He, David, et al. 1). Those jobs being mentioned here refer to jobs that consist
mainly of standardized and repetitive tasks, such as factories. Labour automation comes with
various drawbacks however, such as the restricted work that AI can do in terms of physical labor.
Being that AI machines are programmed to execute certain tasks, it is impossible to fully rely on
AI to adapt to various environments and circumstances on their own.
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It’s quite obvious that technology has made and continues to make significant changes
within our society. At its current rate, it is inevitable that AI will give rise to various social,
economic and political problems. Although it is highly unlikely that society itself will evolve to a
science fiction plot that involves robots taking over the world, there are various realistic issues
and challenges that AI presents. From growing unemployment and political mayhem, to
restricted work and a lack of government regulations, AI technology remains to be both complex
and misunderstood in nature. As a result, we as a society need to ensure that we’re making taking
the necessary efforts needed to fully and completely understand the pros and cons of AI
integration within our society.
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Works Cited
“Artificial Intelligence – What It Is and Why It Matters.” SAS, SAS Insights.
Butterfield, Lanisha. “How AI Is Shaping the Future of Politics.” Research, 15 Oct. 2018.
Conn, Ariel. “Artificial Intelligence and Income Inequality.” Future of Life Institute, Ariel Conn,
5 June 2018.
Delgado, Anthony. “Three Impacts Of Artificial Intelligence On Society.” Forbes, Forbes
He, David, et al. “4 Ways AI Will Impact the Financial Job Market.” World Economic Forum, 14
Sept. 2018.
Pandya, Jayshree. “The Weaponization Of Artificial Intelligence.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 13
Mar. 2019.
Patrizio, Andy. “Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence.” Datamation, 7 July 2016.