ARE THE DRAWBACKS OF AI MORE HURTFUL THAN ITS ADVANTAGES?

By: Basil Abbasi

Stronger than a 100 armies, smarter than a combination of the greatest minds, and one of the fastest beings to ever exist; AI is, without a doubt, humanities definition to an almost perfect being. When accomplished, AI will be mankind’s greatest achievement. However, one must wonder if its drawbacks will outweigh its benefits.

The manufacturing and design of these sophisticated machines has so far proved to be very expensive and has made AI a very niche market. Only the rich are able to afford AI. Such a situation, however, completely contradicts AI’s main purpose—providing convenience and ease to all living beings. AI, as of yet, is far beyond the reach of a common man. This has continued the divide between rich and poor to grow even further.

If AI ends up replacing the jobs of humans, a dangerous amount of unemployment will infest the society. This will cause severe conflicts in the poor areas of the society. Without money it becomes difficult to obtain even the very essential necessities of life such as: food, water, shelter, medicine, and healthcare; a man easily loses his sanity when pushed into a situation like that. This insanity is more severe, especially, if there is a family to take care of.

 When in wrong hands, AI can be used to bring about chaos. Politicians can use AI to manipulate the votes and give power to the wrong people. Robbers can use it to steal and plot robberies, in a very sophisticated and high-tech way. Criminals all across the world will have a new tool to use to their advantage. If the forces of good fail to take advantage of AI to their best, the criminals will easily be able to turn the world into a very dark place very quickly.

 There are many ways that AI can make this world dive into a black hole, so we must be very careful when building our future upon this life-threatening machine, our lives could be broken or made by these robots.