Blog #10 - The Age of AI

In the Age of AI is a documentary from Frontline discussing AI and the implications it can have on society. It also showed me a Go match between South Korean champion Lee Sedol go against Google's AI named AlphaGo in 2016. Sedol would beat the AI in a game of Go, while it beat him four times.

Ever since this match was displayed to the world, AI has advanced to the point where it can automate jobs. On paper, this seems fantastic! We could live in a society where AI can take over the repetitive jobs and we can pursue jobs and hobbies we are interested in. However, this has not been the case. The documentary claims around 50% of jobs will be threatened by automation within fifteen years.

I previously believed that creative fields like art and writing would be safe since AI can not replicate human creativity. While it is true that AI can not be as creative as humanity, it does not mean these fields are safe. The introduction of ChatGPT in late 2022 allowed users to chat with an AI and make it write whatever they wanted to, threatening the jobs of thousands of writers across the world. 

Not too long ago, they went on strike to protest companies wanting to use AI instead of hiring writers to write their scripts, all to make more money. The Writers Guild of America ended the strike once it negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in late September. However, actors in Hollywood are also on strike due to low pay and AI's ability to replicate their bodies, allowing companies to use them without giving the actors a dime!

AI is also capable of creating fantastic art and can even replicate celebrities voices, even if they have passed away! The image below was created with an AI art generator, and it looks ridiculously good!

 

Because AI can replicate voices, voice actors in the video game industry are also preparing to go on strike because AI is becoming dominant in the voice acting industry. This has also led to deepfakes with political figures and other people. With some of the authority these figures have, things have the potential to go bad really quickly, especially with mounting tensions.

Some jobs AI can automate include jobs like cashiers, factory workers, truck drivers, fast-food workers, jobs in financing, insurance, human resources, law firms, Wall Street, and possibly secretaries. Once all of these jobs have been automated, the owners of a company will not have any workers to pay. The workers who have lost their jobs will have no source of income, diminishing the middle class and worsening income inequality.

The rise of AI has also seen the rise of two AI superpowers, those being the US and China. I discussed the US's surveillance in Blog #8, but there are some other surveillance systems in place like search engines using our digital footprints for profit and social media invading our privacy. China is no better since it had 600 million cameras installed in 2020 and aims to survey every part of China with its 'Sharp Eyes' program.

Alongside these cameras being able to recognize citizens' faces and license plates, it works in tandem with China's social credit score, determining which citizens may cause "political upheaval" and send them to "reeducation camps". They also force citizens to install software that listens in to their phone calls and text messages. There are also barcodes on the doors of their homes or apartments, meaning anyone can scan their barcode and learn everything about them!

As if all of this was not enough, China is working on something it calls the "Belt and Road Initiative". The goal of this initiative is to spread its influence to third-world countries by funding infrastructure projects in exchange for installing Chinese cameras in the country, giving China a backdoor to their surveillance. The United States and China are competing in an AI race and trying to get third-world countries to join their tech sectors instead of the opposition.

Speaking of America, its search engines collect data from our digital footprints to predict our interests and give the data to advertising companies, removing the uncertainty of showing someone an advertisement they would never be interested in. Google did not do this in the past, but they needed to find a source of income when the .com bubble burst in the 2000s. Once Google chose to collect user data, they saw their revenue increase by 3590% from 2000 to 2004!

Social media apps like Facebook and Instagram require their users to sign a contract of adhesion, which gives the company all of the negotiating power and allows them to install tracking malware, save every post we make, and send spiders to look for keywords. Products such as Google Home and Alexa always listen to you, since they use voice activation to answer questions someone can have. They also notice your tone of voice, which can be used to determine your mood and what you are thinking about.

We hoped AI would improve our lives in the future, but it does not look like it will be the case. AI is either automating our jobs or does it better than a human, it is being used to sell our data to advertising companies and used in surveillance systems, and has us locked in a race with China to see who can keep their global influence, and upending entire industries and our education system. The Go match in 2016 has opened Pandora's box, and I doubt we will ever be able to close it.