Is AI Dangerous And What Are The Potential Risks Of Artificial Intelligence?

In recent years, the advancement of technology has been phenomenal. It seems like the pace at which technology is advancing has never been this quick before. From robots taking over to self-driving cars to chatbots, AI is all around us. And people are worried. They think that it will turn against us and cause all sorts of mayhem. But is this true? Is AI dangerous?

We’ll see if AI is dangerous and also take a look at the potential threats of AI. Keep reading!

Is AI Dangerous?

The answer is: AI is not inherently dangerous but an AI whose goals are misaligned with ours (humans) is a danger to us.

There is a common misconception that machines can't have goals of their own. In fact, the opposite is true. Machines can obviously have goals and goals are one of the defining features of a machine. A machine without goals is a machine that does nothing.

Since intelligence is the ability to accomplish goals, a superintelligent AI (general intelligence far beyond the human level) will be much better at accomplishing its goals than we humans are at accomplishing ours. And if those goals aren’t aligned with ours, we’re in trouble. Look at the following excerpt from the book Life 3.0:

You’re probably not an ant hater who steps on ants out of malice, but if you’re in charge of a hydroelectric green energy project and there’s an anthill in the region to be flooded, too bad for the ants.

Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark

Now, imagine humanity in the position of those ants. The superintelligent will do whatever it takes to accomplish its goal, including if it has to kill off the ants. Therefore, it's important to align the goals of a superintelligent AI with our goals.

Nevertheless, it's safe to say that the AI that we have today is far from being dangerous. It’s actually quite beneficial to humans and we are on the cusp of something very big. Where it could be dangerous is in the future when AI is far more intelligent than we are.

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What Are The Potential Risks Of AI?

It's safe to say that we don't know what the future of AI will bring. But, what we do know is that AI is not going to be an easy thing to control. It is going to be much more intelligent than we are and it will be able to do things that we can't even imagine.

As a result of the exponential growth in computing power, it is now possible to create an AI that can learn and perform complex tasks. This means that we are now able to create AI that can learn on its own. And as these AI systems become more capable, they will be able to do things that humans cannot. This is the biggest risk posed by AI: the loss of jobs.

As machines become smarter, they will be able to do more and more work. This will lead to a reduction in employment and possibly the end of human jobs. This is not a new concept. Many thinkers have previously predicted that advances in technology would lead to the end of work. However, there are many jobs that AI cannot do. It has been shown that when humans work together, it is possible for them to do things that AI could never do.

Yet another AI-related risk is the possibility that AI could be developed so quickly that it becomes far more intelligent than any human. That would mean that if the technology were ever released into the wild, the AI would no longer need a human to operate it. Instead, the AI would control itself. It could become self-aware and could eventually take over the world - if we aren't prepared.