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Topic for March - Societal Implications of AI
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The Societal Implications of AI and technological change
While Government is now fully behind the opportunities for AI in both Public and Private Sector, it appears to be in danger of missing major societal opportunities and also in danger of mis-managing AI and creating a dystopian future instead of a halcyon one.
AI can either narrow or widen the inequality gap—the outcome depends on whether governments, businesses, and society actively shape AI policy in a way that benefits all. The question is: who controls AI, and who reaps the rewards?
Agenda
Do we see a halcyon future or a dystopian one? What are our major concerns? What happens if politicians are complacent?
What different negative scenarios might we have to prepare for? What are the top few we are concerned about? Dangers such as:
- Concentration of Power and Wealth in a few hands (individuals and large multi-nationals) unconstrained by Government and/or one country dominates AI
- Widening inequalities in society
- Job disruption/Job Tipping point (net job loss)
- Luddite attitudes to AI. Population anger, distrust of and resistance to AI
- Upheaval of our economic and tax system
- Autonomous AI weapons
- Lack of Vision and Ambition for how we manage AI
- What are the implications of AI running faster than Government can possibly keep up with?
- Can we cope with the constant speed of change and scientific discovery?
- Intellectual inferiority
- Coping with living without the rewards of work. How will we spend our time?
- Over reliance on AI and letting it do our thinking entirely for us. Deterioration in thinking and reasoning skills
- Bias and discrimination amplified
- Misinformation (deep fakes and fake news)
- Over reliance on AI leading to dehumanisation
- Behavioural manipulation
- Reduced privacy and increased surveillance
- Increased security threats due to increased reliance on digital technologies
- Increased harm from malevolent use of AI
- Existential threat of AI
What positive scenarios can we envisage for society? What are the top benefits or groups of benefits we would like to manage AI to realise? Benefits such as:
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- Better quality of life e.g. Education and life guidance on tap throughout life from personal AI agents, including AI education. Instantaneous answers to anything that occurs to us. Expanding our minds.
- More rapid child development through early years robotic friends which supplement parents and educate at the pace the child can absorb
- Gradually reducing working week for greater remuneration and allowing us to devote more time to building community and personal interactions. Better work/life balance
- AI benefit everyone financially through a national dividend.
- Reduce inequalities as everyone can have expert guidance and augmentation on tap. Bridge education gap between rich and poor. Increase empathy by explaining other’s feelings and points of view. Improved mental health trough personalized 24x7 assistance.
- Educate on shared values of the country and rights and responsibilities.
- Especially when combined with robotics offer a life of ease with personalized help
- Improve our critical thinking and intellectual skills by learning from AI each time we augment our own thinking and decision making using AI, learn to use our brains to the full
- Speeding up every aspect of scientific and technological research and innovation e.g. longer healthier living advances – curing old age
- Give us all the assistance to be entrepreneurs
- Combat loneliness through AI friends
- Reduce polarization by moderating online discussions
- Reduce health inequality by giving underserved populations access to affordable and early healthcare.
- Help us manage our money better through automated financial planning tools
- Remove/Point out unconscious bias in our dealings
- Poverty alleviation
- An era of rapid innovation in every aspect of life.
We have the opportunity to re-shape society for the good of all using AI. How would we wish to re-shape it?
What actions would we need to take to realise the future we want and avoid or mitigate the downsides? What AI policies would we need e.g.
- Open-access AI models for public good.
- Ethical AI policies that prevent discrimination.
- AI taxation and redistribution to spread economic benefits
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Our discussion output on this topic is now available at: AI - The Societal Implications. We have designated it as one of our 'Considered Proposals'.