Since the coming of the digital revolution in the 1950s, the world has been in constant stage of technological innovation that is still ongoing. The entry of computers, smartphones, iPods and the Internet has drastically modified our ways of life.
Ever since technology has started to play a prominent role in our daily lives, people have managed to make significant maturations in all spheres of study and improve many aspects of society.
Artificial Intelligence is now changing the already penetrated technological revolution. It is further enhancing technology and bringing easiness for users. Though, AI has negative impact and dangers that could be disastrous.
Lead AI tools have developed and new innovations are taking place.
For instance, Lexica.art is generating photos, ChatGpt is generating content, contentbot is altering writing, synthesia is an avatar video generator, Lumen5 is a new addition in video creator and notion.ai is copy writing tool.
Invideo is generating faceless videos, durable is building AI-generated website and copy.ai is an Instagram caption generator.
These innovations and technologies are shaping our lives. Recently, some software was designed by a team of Harvard Medicine School that can read medical images. A Pakistani doctor has developed AI method to check the sweetness of citrus fruits; while Danish prime minister delivered a speech made by ChatGPT. Notwithstanding, companies such as Tesla (American automotive company) and more are working on designing driverless cars.
It is an undeniable reality that Artificial Intelligence has many advantages. In the sphere of bomb defusing robots, sending machines which are atmosphere resistant into deep ocean or going into space are the most important features. In addition, AI is available on 24/7. Furthermore, unlike human beings, AI is unbiased and devoid of emotions.
On the flipside, AI has drawbacks too. Its cost is high. It is killing creativity, decreasing decision making, and works on already available data. It is also increasing unemployment. Experts believes that AI will replace 30 percent of the human labor force by 2032,
It is also causing dependency and laziness. A research paper published in humanities and social science communication supposes that AI is making students lazy and is disastrous for cognitive capabilities. While fears are that it is devoid of ethics and can increase the theft of data, especially in the field of cyber security.
In May this year, the G7 countries called for adopting law to regulate AI and make it more trustworthy. Meanwhile, the EU is already inching towards formulating a law to regulate AI. The regulating AI is a must for which the UN should play its role. If Artificial Intelligence is not regulated, the future catastrophes won’t be avoided.
The revolution of Artificial Intelligence is knocking at the door. It has undoubtedly brought numerous benefits while, at the same time, it poses a myriad of challenges to humanity. The immediate step of the hour is to pause the misuse of it, for which the UN could play a decisive role with respect to its regulation through a holistic stratagem and the formulation of law.
Hence, the reasonable solution would be to continue research in AI while withholding its availability to the public until more is understood on how AI works and processes data. The world may be dysfunctional, but we must not make the mistake of surrendering our future to thinking machines in an effort to better the society.
Advocate, High Court of Kenya
