Top 10 Misconceptions About the Dangers of Artificial Intelligence
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Artificial Intelligence has been a staple of science fiction for a long time. From things books such as Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics to Arnold Schwarzenegger movies like The Terminator, we have been dreaming about the possibility of AI before it was even technologically possible. Naturally, its prevalence in popular culture has given us many misconceptions about what AI really is. While artificial intelligence can be many things, there are also many things that it isn’t. Check out below for the top 10 misconceptions about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
#10: Artificial Intelligence Will Take All the Human Jobs!
One of the greatest misconceptions about the dangers of artificial intelligence is that it is going to take away all of our jobs. It is true that AI provides a great opportunity to change the job market. However, AI will help change it for the better.[1]Forbes – 5 Myths About Artificial Intelligence (AI) You Must Stop Believing To help better understand this, it is important to look back at important historical events that helped change the world. For example, the industrial revolution of the 1800s completely changed how people worked. People were leaving the agricultural fields to work in the factories. However, statistics show that even though the amount of agricultural work decreased, the overall employment rate remained and even slightly increased.
The artificial intelligence revolution is working in a very similar way. For example, in car manufacturing, AI has taken over much of the hard and repetitive manual labor and allowed for an overall increase in efficiency. Now the human workers are able to do what they do best such as focusing on higher level ideas.
#9: AI Will Take Only Unskilled Workers’ Jobs
A popular misconception about the dangers of artificial intelligence is that it will only take the work of unskilled labor. While AI can do this, it can also do much more. In fact, many fields are currently using AI in rolls that require a lot of skill. For example, the fields of medicine and law are starting to heavily use AI in everyday work.
In law, lawyers must read through thousands of pages of documents in when preparing for a case. Obviously, this work can be long and tedious. Because of this, in many cases, it’s a real possibility that the human lawyers can miss important details of a case. However, this is a perfect situation to use artificial intelligence. The AI is able to scan the piles of documents quickly and efficiently. It then can help point out details for the lawyers that they can use in the case.[2]MIT Technology Review – Lawyer-Bots Are Shaking Up Jobs
#8: Artificial Intelligence Will Become Smarter Than Us
A major misunderstanding about intelligence is that it is linear. We assume that there must be a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. However, this isn’t true. In fact, intelligence is multi faceted.[3]Forbes – 5 Myths About Artificial Intelligence (AI) You Must Stop Believing For example, AI and computers are much better at making large calculations than humans because they are both quicker and more accurate than us. However, that doesn’t automatically mean computers are smarter than us. Computer may be much better at performing large mathematical equations than us; however, in things such a creative thinking, they fall far behind humans. In fact, humans will probably remain smarter than AI in this area for a long time.
#7: Artificial Intelligence = Robot Body
Many people fear the dangers of artificial intelligence because they automatically associate it with a humanoid robot body. However, the idea that AI needs a robot body is not necessarily true.[4]NCBI – Does intelligence require a body? Popular culture, such as movies like I Robot, have spread this misconception. While there may be cases that you want to develop a humanoid robot body for AI, it is not always necessary. In fact, with current technology, such as a camera, a few sensors, and your computer, you can make simple forms of artificial intelligence.
#6: Modern Technology Isn’t Powerful Enough for AI
One of the most popular misconceptions about artificial intelligence is that our current computers are not strong enough to make it. We get this misconception by misunderstanding the Turning Test. The Turning Test measures an Artificial Intelligence’s ability to show behaviors similar and indistinguishable from that of a human.[5]GeeksforGeeks – Turing Test in Artificial Intelligence
AI researchers are continually trying to make stronger computers in order to mimic how a human thinks. In fact, they have already made computers that can far outpace a human. For example, the world’s fastest super computer can make tens of trillions of calculations per second while the human brain can only make around 200 calculations in the same amount of time. Despite this great difference in computing power, humans still outperform computers in many tasks. It is not about the amount of computing power, but the way that the computer thinks that is more important. Today, AI researcher are heavily focusing on how the human brain works, in order to try and copy some of its efficiencies.
#5: We Shouldn’t Be Afraid of AI
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, famously said that we shouldn’t be afraid of AI because it can improve our world.[6]Software Focus – 10 Misconceptions About Artificial Intelligence While it is true that AI has the potential to improve the world around us, it also has the same potential to cause a lot of harm. At the end of the day, AI is just a computer program. We can program it to do good things, but we can also program it to do bad things. For example, a computer virus is a form of AI computer program. Some of the most famous hacker groups have programmed computer viruses to hack into nuclear power plants, steal personal information, and much more.
#4: Artificial Intelligence Is Still Far in the Future
Popular media constantly portray AI as something far off in the future. For example, the popular cartoon series The Jetsons portrayed AI in the family’s maid, Rosie the Robot Maid. However, this is not the case. However, AI is already here. A great example of this is Google’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology. Currently, Google’s NLP can recognize 19 out of every 20 spoken words. Google programmers trained NLP to not just understand a one persons voice but to understand a wide variety of voices that it had never heard before. As humans, we take this ability for granted. Sometimes, it can be difficult to understand other people, especially if they have a heavy accent. Normally we are able to understand other people without even thinking about it.
However, this task is quite difficult for AI. It needs to take into account many factors such as accent, word choice, and voice pitch. This is an important step in AI because programmers predict that by 2020, at least 30% of all internet searches will be done using speech recognition software.[7]ITProPortal – Artificial intelligence: Three common misconceptions
#3: Intelligence and Consciousness
One of the biggest misconceptions and fears about the dangers of artificial intelligence is that one day it will get so smart that it will become self aware. However, it’s important know the difference between intelligence and self consciousness. According to Roman Yampolskiv, director of the CyberSecurity Lab at the University of Louisville, ‘Intelligence is the ability to solve problems in any domain…Consciousness is something people claim they have.[8]TechRepublic – The 7 biggest myths about artificial intelligence
#2: AI’s Progress Is Extremely Rapid
A popular fear about the dangers of artificial intelligence is that just around the corner. This is largely due to popular culture. However, the idea of artificial intelligence has been around for quite a while. In fact, in 1950, English mathematician Alan Turing published the first paper detailing the concept of AI.[9]University of Washington – The History of Artificial Intelligence In the following decades, artificial intelligence has moved forward only through the slow and steady progress in the fields of computer technology, neuroscience, mathematics, and psychology. However, there is still a long way to go before it ever gets fully realized.
#1: AI Is the Answer to All of Our Problems
One of the dangers of artificial intelligence, is that many people think that it is the answer to all our problems. In fact, this idea is very prevalent with non-technical company leaders. According to Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, an AI powered influencer marketplace, “Some executives think A.I. is a sentient being, like in Terminator. They ask if it can think and tell them what to do. We have to explain that A.I. is simply a better way to turn data into actionable insights.”[10]Topbots – COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS BRAND EXECUTIVES HAVE ABOUT AI
They believe that AI is something magical that will solve all of their problems. However, AI is just a type of computer program. Like any other computer program it can only do what it has been programmed to do. For example, you use a calculator to do mathematical equations. You don’t expect it to tell you what to order at a restaurant.
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