There are two ways to understand what the new artificial intelligence technology holds in store for us. One is to dig so deep into the technology that one becomes an AI nerd. That’s beyond the capabilities or interest of most of us.
But the other way is to draw some lessons from the history of other technologies, and that’s what I’ll do in this column.
And the most obvious conclusion is that we accept any negatives inherent in a new technology in order to get the benefits.
Let me start with a whimsical observation: When the telegraph first went into widespread use in the 1840s, people voiced the same complaints that we heard when email and texts entered our lives ― that a technology once reserved for truly important communications was soon being used by kids to send any silly old thing.
But on a more serious note, the record shows that people are willing to accept any negative fallout from new innovations, so long as the benefits are great enough.
New technology, familiar complaints
Take transportation. From steamships to railroads to air travels, each mode suffered numerous fatal accidents. Almost a century after commercial air travel launched, we still see the occasional fatal crash, even as air travel has grown remarkably safe. And along the way, nothing stopped people from riding the rails or booking flights to distant cities.
Even more telling: The first auto traffic fatality in the U.S. was recorded way back in 1899. Since then, about four million Americans have died in crashes on our roads. Four million! That’s roughly three times the number of Americans killed in all the nation’s wars since the Revolution.
We made safety improvements along the way, like seatbelts and air bags, but fatal accidents still happen every day on our roads. And every day, millions of Americans still get behind the wheel. As the great mid-20th century architecture critic Lewis Mumford once observed, “The current American way of life is founded not just on motor transportation but on the religion of the motorcar, and the sacrifices that people are prepared to make for this religion stand outside the realm of rational criticism.”
How about communication tech? The internet is a wonderous invention, allowing everything from easy online shopping to communicating with distant friends. But the internet also empowers scams, pornography, cyber bullying and hate speech. We take the bad with the good, even as the bad often seems to overwhelm the good.
And so it will be with AI.
Societies accept risk when the payoff is big enough
For the ease of researching term papers or cribbing notes for a presentation at work, we will accept AI’s ability to create deep fakes and supercharge hate speech as part of the price we pay for it.
The direst predictions for AI hold that it may destroy humanity itself. That may sound hyperbolic. But atomic energy first harnessed in the 1940s has brought a new power source even as atomic weapons hold the power to destroy us all. We ignore the perils of new tech at our peril.
We don’t know yet all the ways humanity will use the powerful new tool of artificial intelligence. But it has long been apparent that what humans can control, they will. AI is here, and it’s becoming a more powerful tool by the hour.
Many of us find that prospect rather scary. Perhaps the best advice is simple: Use it for what you will, but protect yourself as best you can ― and run scared.
John Gallagher was a reporter and columnist for the Free Press from 1987 to 2019. He continues to do freelance writing, public speaking, and book projects. His latest book is Rust Belt Reporter: A Memoir, published by Wayne State University Press. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters and we may publish it online or in print.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: AI may be risky, even dangerous. We’ll use it anyway. | Opinion
Reporting by John Gallagher, Contributing columnist / Detroit Free Press
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