If you are interested in reading about where the world is headed, I came across an interesting read. This is a rare and antiquarian books site, but this is not rare or antiquarian, nor a book. However, it is written thoughts, and that's what matters most.
The author is not a Shakespeare with words. He could use some training on how to keep the expression of his thoughts more concise. However, he has had a lot of time to think about these things since he hasn't needed a paying job in many years. He is smart, and is very familiar with computer code and technology. He's made billions off his skill in the field. Everyone uses what he created. Now, Bill Gates' mind has wandered from comparatively simple computer code to AI and how it will change the world.
I have been around for 80 years and have seen enormous changes: Television, computers, cellphones, the internet. All were created or developed into something consequential during my lifetime. Now, there is artificial intelligence, AI. It is like nothing we have seen before. It can do great good, but it can also do great harm. TVs can't attack people, randomly kill them in the perhaps not too distant future. The Beverley Hillbillies might have rotted your brain a little, but Jed Clampett never shot any of his viewers with his rifle. This is something else.
In an issue of his Gates Notes, he says, "AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice." He warns, "I believe we need time to prepare for the period of social, political, and economic upheaval we are about to enter." This can be good or bad. He explains, “With its ability to synthesize knowledge from every scientific field, AI can accelerate innovation in the world’s toughest technical challenges: providing reliable clean energy for everyone, combating climate change, growing enough food, eradicating diseases, and more. Researchers working on cancer treatments or nuclear energy can use AI to search through massive amounts of scientific literature.”
On the other hand, Gates recognizes the downside, the risks. "Think about the infrastructure that will be vulnerable," he writes: "hospitals, financial institutions, water systems, power grids, systems for managing government benefits. When these institutions are attacked, it’s the patients, customers, and benefits recipients who stand to lose."
Recognizing the mixed possibilities, Gates says, "The same goes for bioterrorism. Although AI will lead to lifesaving advances in drugs and vaccines, it will also make it easier to design a deadly new disease. Again, the positive capabilities are hard to separate from the dangerous ones. This is a global problem."
He also is concerned about what AI may do to our own ability to think independently. "One preliminary survey suggested that heavier AI use was associated with less critical thinking. The effect was stronger for younger people... This would be the worst possible time for humans to lose their critical thinking skills."
Gates can see the problem, but does not have an answer. He can't be faulted for this. No one else does either. Looking for similar issues in the past, this reminds me of atomic energy. It may become the answer to our energy needs, while avoiding the pollution that may overheat us into catastrophe. At the same time, it created bombs that could blow us up into extinction. We have advanced technologically to the point that we have the tools to do fantastic things once unimaginable. Unfortunately, we still lack the social maturity not to use atomic energy to do the terrible things once unimaginable to destroy ourselves.
Younger generations will have to deal with this mixed legacy those of my generation are leaving them. I don't envy you. Hopefully, coming generations will not only develop the technological skills we developed, but the societal skills we did not.
Destroying some old books, bad as it may be, is not the most consequential stepchild of AI.
