If you’ve landed on this post fresh off of the AI Ethics and Safety conversation, you may be inclined to boycott AI for the good of the planet and all humanity. I’d like to try to dissuade you from that decision for the same reason. Let’s expand the situation to make my point a little more obvious.
Suppose someone was to say “Technology allows us to do bad things on a larger scale, so I’ve decided not to use technology at all.”
That may be fine for you right now. And other like-minded people who truly care about the future may join you…but the people you’re worried about won’t. The greedy people won’t. The unscrupulous won’t. Heck, even those who are just mildly concerned won’t. Before long, the power will have shifted by catastrophic amounts; with the other side becoming faster, richer, and more powerful than you could ever hope to be with your self-imposed limitations.
AI is already driving social media, graphic design, software engineering, and investing; allowing people to start successful business faster than ever before. It’s now possible for everyday people to create “disposable” companies — companies that only exist to take advantage of profitable trends before dissolving when they’re no longer viable. Individuals who are capable of spinning-up these businesses (using AI to reduce start-up costs to almost nothing) stand to gain far more than someone holding down a 9-5 job. Meanwhile, those who aren’t familiar with using AI to its fullest extent are left working 10 times as hard for a fraction of the result.
Instead, we may want to consider the idea of fighting fire with fire. If enough humans use AI for good, then those groups will stand a fighting chance among those who want to use it for evil. If enough humans fight for reasonable regulations and safety precautions, we can lower the profits of companies that refuse to adhere to those rules.
The future of AI won’t be driven by the abstainers, it will be driven by those who use it, understand it, and create it…so if you want a better world, you’ll want to be a part of that group.
