A.I. Will Kill Us All!
Let me apologize right at the top for the obviously provocative title. But, be honest, would the flowery opposite have garnered your click?
In a world increasingly driven by technological advancements, Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands out as a pivotal innovation. Yet, despite its transformative potential, much of the discourse around AI is dominated by doom and gloom scenarios.
From fears of children cheating more than ever to the dystopian vision of a Skynet-like AI exterminating humanity, these narratives distract us from the real opportunities AI presents. This fixation on negative possibilities not only misguides our focus but also incurs significant opportunity costs. It's time to shift our perspective from fear to optimism, recognizing the tangible benefits AI can bring to education and society as a whole.
The Specter of Cheating
Because I am focused in the EdTech arena, one fear I hear constantly is that AI has led (will lead) to rampant cheating among students. Critics argue that tools like AI-powered writing assistants and homework helpers enable dishonesty, undermining the educational process. However, recent research shows that the incidence of cheating has not significantly increased with the advent of AI. Instead of expending energy on policing potential cheaters, we could be exploring how AI can enhance education.
AI offers numerous educational benefits, from personalized learning experiences to real-time feedback. For instance, AI can identify a student's strengths and weaknesses, tailoring instruction to their unique needs. This individualized approach not only improves learning outcomes but also fosters a deeper engagement with the material. By focusing on the positive applications of AI in education, Leonardo Learning has been able to create a more effective and inclusive learning environment.
The Skynet Fallacy
At the other end of the spectrum, another common narrative is the Skynet fallacy—the fear that AI will become so advanced it will deem humanity a threat and seek to exterminate us. This dystopian vision, popularized by science fiction, distracts from more realistic and immediate concerns. Instead of worrying about an AI uprising, we could focus on how AI can help to address societal issues.
For instance, AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by predicting disease outbreaks, improving diagnostic accuracy, and personalizing treatment plans. In environmental conservation, AI can help monitor ecosystems, predict natural disasters, and optimize resource management. These applications, and many more, demonstrate that AI can be a powerful tool for solving real-world problems, provided we approach its development and implementation responsibly.
Opportunity Costs
The real danger of these doom-and-gloom scenarios lies in the opportunity cost. By fixating on improbable threats, we divert attention and resources from leveraging AI's potential for good. This fear-based mindset inhibits innovation and prevents us from addressing the very issues we fear a superintelligent AI might exploit.
If we believe a higher intelligence would view humanity's flaws as reasons for extermination, why not focus on addressing those flaws? Improving societal conditions such as reducing inequality, enhancing education, and ensuring sustainable development would not only mitigate the risks associated with the doomsday AI scenario but also create a better world!
There are many reasons that we more readily embrace fear-based thinking as a species, ranging from simple fear of the unknown, fear of losing control, as well as unintentional cognitive biases based on a higher availability of stimuli in one direction or the other. To wit, there are few contemporary examples of stories that extol the positive nature of any technology. The dystopian themes in sci-fi or over-sensationalism in the media play on our biases.
Moving from Fear to Optimism
Shifting from a fear-based to an optimistic perspective on AI (and in general) involves recognizing that our brains are programmed to find reasoning shortcuts as we triage incoming data. That shortcutting can trigger many biases. For the larger challenges facing us, we need to interrupt those “shortcut” patterns. We must actively commit to changing our personal narratives by being more reasoned and thoughtful about the true nature of our concerns and the opportunity costs associated with focusing on the wrong areas.
