The pros and cons of artificial intelligence.

Trozi: Pros

Lama: Cons

Introduction

From SIRI to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is progressing rapidly. While science fiction often
portrays AI as robots with human-like characteristics, AI can encompass anything from Googles search
algorithms to IBMs Watson to autonomous weapons. Even though todays AI is still narrow AI (weak AI),
which is an AI programmed to perform a single or a couple of tasks (SIRI, facial recognition, driving a car,
playing chess), in which they can outperform humans. But scientists hope to create what is known as a
General AI, which could outperform humans in the majority of tasks.

First of all, lets review what is AI used for these days, and if those uses are beneficial or harmful to us
humans. While theres a lot of harmless uses for AI, like the personal assistant Siri, the AI used in games
or different talking robots that have become increasingly popular, there are a lot of other, much darker
uses for artificial intelligence. Smart robots are used in factories to manufacture various things and
speed up processes inside the company. While this may be good for the company and the economy, on
the long run it may prove harmful, since it would take many peoples jobs.

But the real threat comes when AI is used in warfare. Automated turrets, drones, autonomous weapons.
All of these present an enormous threat to humans, as they can kill and harm without human
intervention. Weapons like this, even though theyre not common, are being developed on, and can
present a real threat to humans, especially because they can make mistakes. Accurate as they might be,
an AI is far from perfect, and can make bigger, and much more harmful mistakes than humans. Robotic
warfare would also make it much easier to go to war, since less human involvement is needed and the
ethical cost of human life would be much less. All of this has started an arm race to develop autonomous
weapons, which could obviously end up really, really bad.

Finally, the sole creation of an advanced, general AI poses the danger of the AI becoming too self-reliant.
Designing smarter AI systems is a dangerous task. Such a system could potentially undergo recursive self-
improvement, triggering an intelligence explosion leaving human intellect far behind, and creating a
sentient being, much powerful than us and unpredictable. Other problem with such advanced
intelligence is the difficulties when it comes to aligning our goals with the robots, which is very hard to
do. For example, if you ask an obedient intelligent car to take you to the airport as fast as possible, it
might get you there chased by helicopters and covered in vomit, doing not what you wanted but literally
what you asked for.

So, in conclusion, AI are being developed on as we speak, and are becoming more and more complex
every day. It rests on us humans to decide whether or not they become harmful or helpful, on how we
use this robotic tools that we create, for violence and destruction, or improvements to humanity.