LUMEN | THE PANDORA ’ S BOX OF A . I .
The Pandora ’ s Box of A . I . - Are we really the architects of our own destruction ?
By Rajavel Rahul
“ Look at how A . I . was five years ago and how it is now , take the difference and propagate it forward . That ’ s scary . It takes away the drudge work , it might take away more than that .” These are some prophetic words by Dr . Geoffrey Hinton , a highly revered figure in the field of A . I . Needless to say , the rather precipitous shift in his opinion towards his own life work has been the source of public disquiet , which in many ways is paralleled by other experts , most notably Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk . However , despite such cautionary advice , the advancements in AI seem to be accelerating at an ever-increasing pace , with new technologies being rolled out almost daily , from chatbots to other generative implementations of AI such as art , voice-changers and image editors . This rapid rate of AI development that is achieving humanlike capabilities more quickly than experts had forecast , is what begs the question : will humanity prioritise the progress of AI to such a large extent that it fails to address its caveats along the way ?
To identify an adequate answer to this question , we must get down to brass tacks and first understand how Artificial Intelligence works and why it offers a plethora of benefits whilst also posing many threats . Dr . Hinton adopted the idea of a neural network , which is a mathematical system that learns skills by analysing and perceiving data and built one such neural network that would lay the foundation for many of the AI software that is in use today . It analysed thousands of images to teach itself to identify certain objects such as flowers and dogs . However , when tech giants Google and Microsoft were able to harness the true potential of such networks using their substantial resources , everything changed . They created systems that were able to process , as opposed to simply identifying , unprecedented quantities of data , which led to extraordinary precision for prompts on chatbots such as Chat- GPT and Google ’ s Bard . This precision has paved the way for users to obtain results that they are specifically looking for , contrary to using regular search engines where one would have to sort through and find their desired information from the search results . As such , this newfound technology has captivated millions around the world , marking a remarkable moment for the technology industry at perhaps its most significant inflexion point in decades . This wave of AI systems has been compared to important milestones in technology such as the invention of the first smartphone , and shows promise in making great leaps in sectors such as cancer research and climate change .
This level of precision has been a ‘ productivity boost ’ to students and professionals alike , reducing much of the mundane aspects of our tasks , as Satya Nadella , Microsoft C E O , would put it .
Personally , I have used Chat-GPT to assist me when I am writing Geography essays , to identify examples of niche factors or issues . This was previously a time-consuming endeavour as I would have to scour the Internet for the information that suited what I was writing .
However , that is not to say that these highaccuracy systems have been utilised only for the betterment of society . As with all good technologies , if they were to fall into the hands of some nefarious actors , they could be exploited to fulfil devious intentions that could lead to catastrophic consequences . A growing concern
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