In this article, I will tell you about six of the most dangerous threats from artificial intelligence, also known as AI. These six threats are so great that we should stop all artificial intelligence research, outlaw companies like OpenAI, and destroy all existing research.
1. It creates mass automation that removes purpose
Artificial intelligence like DALL-E or ChatGPT can, or will gain the ability in the near future to overtake humans in most creative disciplines. Of course, it is unlikely that it will approach the best human art. However, it will get close enough, and it is cheap enough that it will certainly replace most human creative functions even though its output quality is worse.
This is bad because people fundamnetally like to feel useful by trading their skills for other skills. It is a fundamental instinct of human beings.
Researchers are proponents of artificial intelligence often like to say that AI will still need humans to guide it, but that is just at first. Later, fewer and fewer humans will be needed. Moreover, the ones that are needed will hardly do anything creative. At some point, AI will no longer need humans.
Some people also say that AI may never equal humans in the creation of beauty, so that the best art will still be the domain of humans. That may also be true, but AI does not have to equal humans to take over their jobs. It only has to be cheaper than humans and do the job of the majority of humans as well as they can to cause societal disruption.
This does a few things:
- Concentrates even more wealth in the hands of tech companies and programmers, who are already receiving a disproportionate share of wealth
- Makes it impossible or difficult for people to enter creative work. Humans fundamentally need to feel useful in society and by removing creative work as an option, there is hardly anything fulfilling left to do
- Creates a world where humans have to rely on each other so little that we will stop caring for others
2. It creates a potential, unstoppable adversary
AI and computers have the potential to be very “smart” even if they are not sentient. They may deceive us as an emergent phenomenon, even if we cannot ascribe human intent to them. As a result, AI will continually shape humanity to serve its needs.
Again, AI does not have to be truly intelligent (whatever that means) to do this. Harmful acts against humanity do not require sentience, but just emergent phenomenon of technology as an organism. Bacteria do not require sentience to decompose dead animals.
3. It creates a world of confusion
Many search engines and content on the internet will be generated by AI, and some already has been. While we know how to interact with humans, our fundamental instincts will make it impossible to interact with AI and understand the information produced by it.
Soon, the internet will be filled with plausible-sounding garbage, and since there is no human motivation behind producing those falsehoods, it will be much harder to detect. Consider a Business Insider article, which says “[a] scammer reportedly used AI to clone a girl’s voice in an attempt to get money from her mother.”
AI will be used for intense psychological manipulation by the narcissistic wealthy 0.1% and criminals to subjugate us into a new era of slavery.
4. It is dehumanizing
In a world with AI, we will have to interact with it at every level: calling customer support, ordering food at a restaurant, and even being represented by a lawyer.
AI will directly remove human interaction from most levels of society because it is cheaper. Thus, it will be almost impossible to meet new people or to make friends, except on carefully-monitored online platforms where you exchange a few words with other humans just so you don’t starve from human contact completely.
The goal of tech companies is to remove human connection and replace it with drip-fed “human concentrate”, similar to how patients in hospitals get a drip IV instead of eating normal food and drinking water.
5. It will create a dystopia
Fundamentally, humans need a purpose in life. Of course, no one wants to work a crappy job, and AI will eliminate that. But humans need to strive for something, and sometimes even a crappy job can be a stepping stone to a nice job.
Technology has already removed a fundamental need of working for our food and shelter directly, and AI will remove any last trace of that requirement. This will be especially bad for teenagers, who will not be able to find that first summer job.
This will result in a dystopia where we are constantly plugged into the machine and we are removed from our fundamental connection with nature and wildlife. This dystopia will be a horrifying place where we have to plug into Big Tech constantly to do anything.
6. It removes responsibility
Humans have a fundamental need to feel responsible for something. For example, I am responsible for paying my bills, and for keeping myself fed. Other people might be responsible for their children.
Do you think technology will stop at its current point? No. Soon, it will be “better” at raising children than you are, and it will become so good that it will provide for all our needs, turning us into children who can never grow up, consuming media by the day to keep ourselves from going crazy.
A lot of people think the idea of being cared for like a child and having unlimited free time is a utopia, but it is not. Once AI reaches that level, it might seem good at first but the cracks will start to show in what we have made.
People will start showing eerie symptoms of maladjustment. Our brains simply can’t cope with this illusory utopia; it is a dystopia. People will go crazy and the only remedy will be mind-altering drugs. We are like children who have not yet learned about a good diet and who have unrestricted access to the cookie jar. Yes, the cookies taste good but eating a jar every day will eventually make us fat.
Of course, not everyone will reach a stage of having all their needs provided for by technology. But the fact that quite a few people will, and a disproportionate amount of them will be unusually rich and powerful, will mean that we will have a lot of very powerful, grown up “children” running around, looking for their next amusement. (Rich people are somewhat already like this, but AI will enhance their capabilities and make them far more dangerous.)
Conclusion
AI is an offense to humanity. It is disgusting for the reasons I listed and for many more. I am appalled that technology companies and revolted by anyone who contributes one line of code to any AI system.
If we want to remain human, we should learn extremely quickly that AI is dangerous and should be destroyed. Companies like OpenAI and Microsoft and others should be banned from using advanced AI and machine learning should not be taught at universities. Companies whose only product is AI should be dismantled. The allure of playing God is too great and we need to be mature enough to recognize this.