The question isn’t “when will the robots become self-aware and take over?”
The real question is, “are the robots adding life, supporting humanity, right now?”
For instance, when AI is used to help radiologists read mammograms, there is a 20% improvement in detecting cancer. This is clearly a case where AI adds life.
But when a Virgina-based AI data center had to run on diesel for 24 hours, causing residents to have to evacuate, then here is a situation where AI is taking away from life, and is not designed to foster humanity.
The average person doesn’t have much, if any, say in the design of AI systems. But we could start looking for ways to “buy local” in the sense of choosing products that are made by humans.
Benjamin Mayo proposes having a “proof of human” video attached to any piece of art that a company publishes. A video may be overkill, but some kind of identification in Alt text seems reasonable to me. It would be like country of origin labeling in the United States. Essentially, every use of AI should be identified as such, in order to give consumers a choice.
Personally I think that “choose a human” extends well beyond AI. Buying local, buying handmade, listening to live music in small venues are all ways to support humanity and create more life.
Via John Gruber on Daring Fireball
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