What will AI do to our future?
Earlier this year, I stumbled across a talk by the Israeli philosopher Yuval Noah Harari about artificial intelligence. He was making a provocative analogy. Think about AI as a new form of immigration, he said — only this wave of immigration is going to be more intense than anything that’s come before it.
AI immigrants are going to flood our economies, he said. They will take our jobs. They will change our culture. They will change our language. If that’s OK with you, fine. If not, Harari said, regulate it now, because in five years’ time, it will be too late.
The analogy has stayed with me because it does two things: It gives a sense of the disruptive potential of A.I and it also hints at the vast political backlash that could be coming our way.
So what will AI do to our politics?
We don’t have the data yet to know exactly how many jobs are at risk from AI But early indicators suggest we’re in for a bumpy ride.
In just the past few weeks, companies have cited AI to justify tens of thousands of layoffs. Entry-level coding jobs are declining.
AI interprets radiology images. It makes pop music. It drives taxis. Regardless of whether we reach the “artificial general intelligence” tech that chief executives promise — machines that are as good as humans at everything — the technology is already powerful enough to threaten generation-defining levels of economic disruption.
And not just economic disruption.
Because what history tells us is that the ripple effects of major economic disruptions are almost never confined to the economy.
We can already see the backlash; what we can’t yet know are the ways it might rearrange politics in the long term. But the economists I spoke to all made some of the same points:
•Humans can still control AI The decisions that politicians, regulators and companies make now will affect how an AI-driven future plays out. Whether and how AI is regulated, how the wealth it creates is distributed, the extent to which it replaces or augments human labor — these are political choices.
•The people who will be displaced by AI first will not be blue-collar workers. They will be knowledge workers — members of the educated middle class, the people.
•Concerns about AI and how to deal with it bridge the political divide. There are politicians across the American political spectrum, for example, from Bernie Sanders to factions within the MAGA movement, calling for regulation. So is the Pope. AI policy could become the basis for new political coalitions.
•The mere threat of AI replacing humans is crystallizing the meaning of human work. Work is a source of identity. It’s also a source of economic and political power.
Whatever the transition looks like, it’s probably going to play out fast. While we don’t know what the economic or political future will look like, we won’t have to wait long to find out.
It is obvious to me, that the human influence in this development is absolutely needed. We humans have to avoid that AI’s potential negative influence is leading us into the wrong direction.
Humans of the world – unite!!
But the question is what ‘humans’ are included? Politicians, world leaders, the rich business leaders who influence politicians, the middle-class leaders, the poor, the sick, t, and the hungry, and…
While I believe that AI does many good things to us, I am also of the opinion that the potential bad influence of AI as demonstrated above needs to be fought through strict regulations. Is that possible given the power of AI?
All things considered, I think politics is the one thing AI should never get a hold of. Why? Because it dictates people’s lives, and because the ones who can access and influence AI are the rich influential private sector and greedy politicians, who will do nothing but keep their power intact.
I look forward to your reactions: contact me at [email protected]
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