Will AI really dominate the world?

There is a very popular movie series called “The Terminator.” Its basic scenario is that the world has been taken over by a globally connected artificial intelligence (AI) housed in a centralized computer. In the movie series, this AI has decided to eliminate mankind for the “good of the world.”

I recently viewed a TV interview that said the producers of “The Terminator” series have decided to hold their plan to produce another Terminator movie. The reason is that recent developments have made the takeover by AI of the world and the attempt to destroy humankind a potential reality beyond the realm of science fiction.

AI experts have been issuing statements of the “risk of extinction” from AI.  In fact, the latest Time magazine cover is titled, “The End of Humanity:  How Real is the Risk?”

AI experts have said the possibility of an AI takeover, unless regulated, will happen in the next five to ten years. We are not talking therefore of a doomsday scenario, coming in the next century or generation but in the next decade.

The European Union (EU) is already taking steps to regulate AI. There is intense discussion in the US government to follow this example. China is a secretive society and therefore it is difficult to find out what steps they are taking.

In the Philippines, presumably we will just follow the example of what the more developed countries will do. There are two visions of a world that will be dominated by AI.  One vision includes one that will produce medical breakthroughs that will save billions of lives and prolong the life span of people. In this world, AI will become the most powerful engine for prosperity in human history.

Even now, the use of ChatGPT has captured the imagination of businessmen, educators and even entertainers.  The latest story that has captured our attention is related by Paul McCartney, who says the latest Beatles song will be produced by AI. There are already experimental programs that will convert texts to video.

The bank Goldman Sachs has said that “widespread AI adoption could eventually drive a 7 percent or almost $7 trillion in annual global GDP over a ten-year period.” Some economists have predicted even higher growth. AI experts predict that the growth in labor productivity in firms that adopt the technology will drive this phenomenal growth.

Historians are now looking to the Industrial Revolution era for indicators about the effect of a new technological revolution on the world. However, the emerging consensus is that the effect of the AI revolution will surpass the impact of any previous revolution on the economy and daily lives of the people.

However, all the observers and writers on this emerging phenomenon have agreed that one result is that AI will lead to the loss of employment in many professions and the obsolescence of many technical skills. One of the causes of the writers’ strike in Hollywood is their fear that AI through ChatGPT and other technologies will take over their jobs.

While there is an agreement that certain occupations that are clerical and repetitive in nature will become obsolete, there are even articles I have read that AI will take over the professions of lawyers and accountants.

This should not be surprising. It is a fact that more than 60 percent of the jobs in America did not exist in 1940. The AI economy will therefore eliminate a lot of jobs; but at the same time will create new occupations, many of which we cannot even imagine yet today.

One can, for example, think that in 1940, the professions of data science, systems analysis and 3D manufacturing were unthinkable and not even imaginable.

The biggest paradox is whether AI can really be regulated. The principal obstacle to its regulation will be competition among nations and even business firms to exploit AI and gain competitive advantage.

AI theorist Dan Hendriycks, director of the Center for AI Safety, also had this scary theory: “… evolutionary pressure will likely ingrain AIs with behaviors that promote self-preservation… AIs could become embedded in our world in ways that we cannot easily reverse.  But natural selection poses a more fundamental barrier: we will select against AIs that are easy to turn off and will come to depend on AIs that we are less likely to turn off.”

Alarmists therefore believe that a world that has become addicted to TikTok and computer games can easily fall into the trap of being AI-dependent. The question now is whether Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest includes AI. Is it really possible that humans will be replaced by AI as the earth’s dominant species?

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Writefest runs from June 26 to July 7. Write Things’ 6-day creative writing workshop for kids and teens via Zoom and face to face sessions at Fully Booked BGC. Meet our two special guest authors Manix Abrera and Mae Coyiuto. For registration: bit.ly/junewritefest2023

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