The Insiders Report: 02

AI: What Does it Mean for Society?

[Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay]

We posed the following question about the development of AI and its meaning for society to The Insiders. Their response was at once surprising, disturbing and inspiring.

ION QUESTION: I’ve been looking into Artificial Intelligence (AI); its development, projected use cases, infrastructure requirements, etc.

The overall impression I’m left with is one that this is an enormous project in dehumanisation. That at almost every aspect of society, AI will be running it, either openly or surreptitiously.

To some, this may seem like an efficiency Eden and no doubt, if the AI is trained with values we like, efficiencies could be delivered. But this begs the question, whose values will the AI be trained with? To me, the idea of unfeeling, amoral, uncompassionate machines taking over the decision-making for us is a recipe for disaster.

What say will the populace have in the implementation of this new way of operating society? And who will be responsible for limiting the power of these machines over the lives of the masses?

From what I read, a plan seems to be well underway. Investment in the development of AI and the infrastructure to deploy it runs into hundreds of billions. Yet there seems to be no debate about how it will be used, who will regulate it and whether we even want it.

Please comment on the situation with AI and the massive infrastructure build-up that’s going on in data centres and energy to sustain it. What is perhaps going on in the background or outside media attention that we should be aware of. And what can we do to preserve our humanity in the world that appears to be rapidly approaching.

THE INSIDERS: This whole topic of artificial intelligence and its role within human society is one which has profound significance for the future.

In simple terms, you might say there are two camps or two schools of thought on this. One is that the advantages that it will bring to the world far outweigh the risks. And the other is to acknowledge that there may be advantages, even very significant advantages, but that the risks that it poses to society and indeed to humanity are real and have the potential to be equally profound, if not more so.

Now it should come as no surprise that these two schools are divided among those of a more thoughtful or intellectual nature on the one hand, and those who might be described as more creative or emotional on the other. Now we would hasten to point out that this is not a division of intelligence, this is a division of human nature. Of the dominance in personality of left or right brain, you might say, and that is an important fact to underline. But those whose way of interpreting the world is more analytical, more intellectual, will tend to be in the former camp of those who see only advantages and tend to minimise the risks involved here. On the other hand, those who are more creative or more emotionally driven in how they perceive the world tend to fall into the latter school, who can acknowledge possible advantages but are concerned about the risks to wider society.

There is a tendency amongst those of a more intellectual perspective to see the emotions as messy and troublesome, as difficult to deal with and a source of complexity. And likewise, there is a tendency amongst those who are more creative, more emotionally driven to see the intellect as somewhat dry and the source of many of life’s troubles, in a way that somewhat mirrors their opposite cohort. These are people who find creativity and emotion to be the source of life’s joy and reward. And so very loosely speaking, there are two very real sides to this argument.

Now the question that you raise regarding values that are set as a framework for how these artificial systems, these neural networks as they are known, are trained and operate is of fundamental importance. You can see that there are these two broad groups who have a fundamental difference in how they are you might say “wired” to view the world. Societies have evolved over time to be a synergy of these two factions. They have come to complement one another and human existence has become richer in every sense; intellectually, in abundance, artistically, emotionally, through the development of societies and the contributions of those different people within them.

Now what we see in the current situation is where one of these groups particularly, somewhat naturally it would seem, takes the lead in the development of technologies such as this. And to answer your question as to whose values these systems will be trained with, it is those who are doing the development.

It is popular within this group to suppose or even postulate that these artificial systems will in time perhaps develop a form of creativity, even perhaps the ability to feel and experience emotions. But this you can see is an unlikely outcome, when the section of society that holds these qualities in the greatest esteem, the greatest value, is far less involved and to some degree even excluded from the development and training of these systems.

[Image by Leo from Pixabay]

And how even if this were not the case would one go about teaching an algorithm to experience, when that very experience is beyond its physical capability.

And so, it becomes somewhat inevitable that these systems over time become less and less reflective of the societies that created them. That ability to evolve and synergise in this way is outside of the ability of a system that is without the capacity to experience.

Now even those who are most strongly reflective of the first group, those who experience mainly through the intellect are not 100 percent like this. They, being human, have an innate degree of emotion and creativity. It is simply that the intellect is more at the forefront of how they perceive the world. But try as they might to express in their guidance of these machines and their algorithms, they are the less equipped within society to do so and less comfortable with this aspect of humanity and what it is to be human. And so it does not take much imagination to see where this can lead. And because of the incredible capacity for pace, for rapid change that these systems have, things can go down a dark pathway very quickly.

It may be helpful to see these systems as an attempt at replicating humanity but with an internal flaw that ties one hand behind its back from the very beginning. These systems are not a true reflection of human nature and to many who find emotion and creativity challenging, even troubling or difficult, this aspect can seem very appealing.

Likewise, society is divided amongst those who acknowledge a spiritual dimension to human existence, something that is beyond that which can be explained, and yet which helps provide essential meaning and depth to the experience of living. And then there are those who do not perceive this or perhaps do not wish to. And what we would say in this regard is that a system that is incapable of experience must be therefore incapable of experiencing that which is beyond explanation.

And so really where we are getting to with this is to show that these systems, rather than being somehow superior in their capability to humanity and to society, they are a poor reflection, impaired at least, if not dangerously flawed.

Now there is at this time a striving amongst the technical elite to dive headlong into the development and implementation of these systems and to seek areas, tasks and implementations for them in ways that run deep into the structure of societies. And as you point out, there is little if any debate amongst the wider populace as to whether this is entirely a good idea, or even desirable. In this lies a great danger but also great opportunity to really learn what it is that sets humanity apart. This stark contrast that really must arise between mankind and machine can serve to illustrate where humanity’s great strengths truly lie.

Because no machine, no algorithm is capable of experiencing that which every human being is born with the capacity to experience. Experiences such as happiness, or sadness, love and appreciation. No machine will ever look into the eyes of its new-born child and be possessed of an overwhelming sense of responsibility. These are the qualities that are central to the greatness of humanity. And yet they are and must always be meaningless to the machine that has no capacity to experience these things.

And so in a world where these human qualities are valued, humanity will hold a special place. But in a world where they are not valued, the place of humanity and humans can only be diminished.

So there is the potential for society to move in two ways here. Away from its central humanity, to be dominated by the intellect, the unfeeling and the non-creative, or towards that which makes humanity unique; this powerful sense of meaning, of purpose, and of being a part of something greater than merely the self.

Now there are those within the societies who view this opportunity to move away from the defining qualities of humanity and towards a future dominated by AI, to view this with great relish. They view this as an opportunity for themselves. They see this as an opportunity to gain power and influence. And they are capable of gathering and committing vast resources to this outcome. There are those within this group who view themselves as the superiors of wider society, of the great unwashed. These are the people who have the power and influence to see that their values are instilled into these systems. In this is great peril for societies as you know them. This leads inevitably to tyranny.

But the individual who values their humanity, who refuses to relinquish that aspect of being that possesses meaning, purpose, happiness, love, cannot be compelled to do so. And the more that those people who feel this way join together and express their values for that which makes them human, the stronger they will become.

Now it is possible that it can take some time for the societies of the world to decide to express the value for that which makes them human, but when they do, nothing can stop that. And that perhaps is the great opportunity here for humanity, to come to learn and appreciate what it is about being human that makes this life so special.