Living in the Age of AI

 When it comes to AI I am somewhat conflicted on what to think. On one hand I think some of the innovation is great and beneficial especially when it comes to productivity. On the other hand I hate how it is almost taking over and controlling many parts of our world, invading our privacy, and taking away jobs. Yes there are some good things that come from AI but the question is does it out way all the bad and is it even ethical?

I personally think that some of the automation is unnecessary especially when it is taking over jobs that humans are perfectly capable of doing. Kai-Fu Lee who is a computer scientist who works in AI warns society that “50% of jobs would be somewhat or extremely threatened by AI in the next 15 years or so”. Right now having AI take over some jobs might seem like a good thing especially for the big companies and their productivity but what will happen in the years to come when so many people are out of jobs? I think that is something people should be paying attention to more because if half of the jobs are threatened in a few years what does that mean for the future of our country and its people?

In theory having AI and facial recognition to help with the safety of our country sounds great but in reality it isn’t. After watching the video In the Age of AI I fear to live in a world like China is living in with cameras everywhere watching everyone's every move. I don’t think the government should have that much power over us but instead use this technology in a different way that could still protect our country.

I think that AI technology would be great if it was used to do actual beneficial things by the hands of good people. We should focus our energy into developing more AI technology that helps with health care, especially what they were talking about in the video about using it to detect cancer in people sooner. I recently lost someone very close to me from breast cancer that was diagnosed too late in order to do anything about it, she died about a month after she was diagnosed. I can’t help thinking that if AI companies originally focused their attention on trying to improve problems in medicine  instead of using it for selfish reasons to benefit themselves if they could have found the cancer early and possibly saved her life. Like Kai-Fu Lee said “AI can be used for good and for evil.” and I hope at some point our country will end up using it for good but I am doubtful that it will happen.