Living in the Age of AI

    

     Technology is changing rapidly whether we like it or not. Innovators are making new things at a rate that could not have been fathomed fifty years ago. Artificial Intelligence is the newest technology that is being created. The people funding and creating the technology are telling us that they are creating new things for our own good. They say these things will make our lives easier and will help us in new ways. However, they never tell us the downside of their creations. Are the things being made safe? Do they actually benefit us or people we never see? What happens if we make technology that is smarter than the human brain can fathom? The film In the Age of AI shows us what happens when technology keeps advancing. The film argues that the United States and China are in a battle for supremacy when it comes to Artificial Intelligence. The film compares it to an arms race. As history has shown, arms races are always great and have no long-lasting consequences. According to Bloomberg, AI is America's "Achilles Heel" when it comes to China. The two countries are trying to be the leaders in the field even if they do not fully understand what they are doing or the precedent it sets.  

    Several things surprised me about the documentary, both positively and negatively. It is shocking how quickly new things are being made. One of the positive impacts of more complex AI is how convenient things are. We can unlock our iPhones by simply putting the phone up to our face. Things can be paid for by using your fingerprints or having your face identified. Self-driving cars are becoming mainstream to help prevent traffic accidents and carry products across the country 24/7. A doctor in the film argued that this advanced technology can help spot cancer earlier and decide what the next steps should be. These are all positives that come with technology that should be celebrated.

    While there are definitely positives that arise with technology, the film does a good job of showing the flaws of AI. Computers are being designed to defeat men in games such as AlphaGo. This sets a precedent for creating something smarter than us. What happens if the machine continues to evolve past what we can comprehend? We will most likely not be able to stop the machine from doing whatever it wants. China has developed a system where the computer can judge by how quickly a person types as to whether to give them a loan or not. They are trying to take the human element out of the decision-making, just giving anyone a loan if they know how to hack the system. We give these companies all of our information in exchange for access to their services. It is very convenient to let Google store our passwords. They can be hard to remember and this is the best way to not forget them. However, we are giving Google way too much information about us and we open ourselves up to be hacked. The final problem that the AI age is bringing is how we are actively getting rid of jobs for people and placing them with machines. Some have argued that government policies today are being designed to cut out the middle class and make people more reliant on the government. If that is the goal, replacing man with machines with a factory is a great way to start. No one should be ok with people losing their job through no fault of their own. Technology is here to stay. It provides several goods but also several bad qualities. We have to be careful to not let it overtake every aspect of our lives.