ChatGPT is Coming for You
A couple of years ago a new app called Clubhouse was all the rage. You couldn’t login to LinkedIn without seeing something about it or getting invited to participate. It was a social network based on voice rather than images or video.
Good luck finding anyone who uses Clubhouse today. Who needs conversation when I can scroll all these videos on TikTok?
SkyNet has become self-aware. It’s just 25 years late.
Today of course, it’s all about AI services: Chat GPT and Google’s latecomer Bard. And the inevitable, “AI will steal your job!” In fact, the major creators of these automated systems have gotten together and declared a moratorium on further development because they are concerned about the potential negative ramifications, claiming these tools present “profound risks to society and humanity.”
SkyNet has become self-aware. It’s just 25 years late.
But how much do we really need to worry about this? Teachers and school districts complain that students can create term papers in a few minutes; blog posts are easier than ever.
Here are a couple of thoughts generated by ChatGPT when asked about the major concerns of AI tools:
There are several major concerns over AI tools, including:
1. Bias and discrimination: AI models can inherit and even amplify the biases present in the data they are trained on. This can lead to unfair treatment of certain groups of people or perpetuate existing inequalities.
2. Lack of transparency and accountability: The complexity of AI models makes it difficult to understand how they arrive at their decisions or predictions. This lack of transparency can make it difficult to hold AI systems accountable for their actions.
3. Job displacement: AI technologies have the potential to automate many jobs, which could lead to significant job losses and economic disruption.
4. Security and privacy: The use of AI tools can pose risks to security and privacy, such as data breaches or the use of facial recognition technology for surveillance.
5. Unintended consequences: AI systems can produce unintended consequences that are difficult to anticipate, such as the manipulation of online content or the spread of fake news.
6. Lack of human control: There is a concern that AI systems could become too powerful and out of control, potentially leading to catastrophic outcomes.
Wow — sounds like Armageddon is around the corner. Or not.
Let’s take a look at each of these in order, shall we?
1. Bias and discrimination — yes. Of course. AI was created by humans, and humans are riddled with those. We abhor differences and prefer what feels familiar and therefore safe. AI will reflect that. So does social media, the news, and everything else in our lives.
2. Lack of transparency and accountability — again, yes. See above reference to social media. The internet was built on the ability to air our grievances, stalk old girlfriends, and troll people we don’t like from what we see as our hidden corners.
3. Job displacement — probably. But technology has been displacing jobs for millennia. Note that this hasn’t reduced the number of jobs; it’s only changed them. That will continue unless we stop looking for better ways of doing things.
4. Security and privacy — that horse has been out of the barn for a long time. Any thoughts we have about maintaining either of those is little more than self-delusion. The more one is on social media the truer this is.
The last two are where things get to be more interesting.
5. Unintended consequences — this is one of my favorite topics. The list of things we do as humans that create outcomes we never intended is long and grows daily. We like to tell ourselves that we have control, but our scope of control over just about everything is miniscule. The bigger the changes, the greater the unplanned impact.
6. Lack of human control — see #5.
Sounds like Armageddon is around the corner. Or not.
Here’s one more thing: the AI genie is already out of the bottle, and it’s not going back in. All we can do now is watch and learn. Predictions of dire consequences are already bouncing around the media, including but not limited to those outlined above.
Some will come true, most will be less harmful than we expect, but something we have yet to realize will change the game completely. If we’ve learned nothing else from history, we should have learned that it’s the thing you never expected that creates the greatest change.
Even so, we are a long way from AI replacing human thought. While Chat GPT is really good at gathering info and presenting it, it has no creative skills. It can’t create a new metaphor or offer unique insights into anything that hasn’t been done before. AI is being used in medical analysis now, which is good, because it can see things people miss.
When we get to the point where we ask Chat GPT to create a new blog post, and it tells us no, it’s not interested in doing that, let’s play Scrabble (or War Games) instead — then we can worry.
For now, buckle up, pay attention, and get your popcorn. It’s gonna be a blockbuster. Right after that it will be old news.
