I’m a child of the internet age.The first iPhone Released in January 2007, it hasn’t been that long since my 4th birthday. As we grew older, screens provided education and entertainment for myself and his colleagues. Still, I wouldn’t call myself a technology expert.
Sure, I know how to help my non-tech savvy grandparents navigate the iPad display, but I’m helpless when it comes to understanding AI.
I attended an Engage NexPoint lecture at the George W. Bush Presidential Center with Google locked and loaded. I was already preparing my thumb to quickly type unknown words into a search engine to define unknown technical terms. Instead, I came across a fascinating metaphor to help us understand the impact AI will have on our country.
The most memorable questions of the night revolved around artificial general intelligence and the possibility of circumventing the human side of AI.
Shane Tews, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the internet is a reflection of our society and that “terrible people will find a way to be even worse.” Human evil is perpetrated by technology such as AI, and much of Tews’ work is done by technology such as AI: finding and putting in place the appropriate guardrails.
Garry Kasparov, a Russian pro-democracy leader and former world chess champion, believes humans will continue to be an integral part of artificial intelligence. He points out the importance of the end goal humans give to machines. Kasparov recalls when he faced off against the IBM supercomputer, Deep Blue, in 1996 and 1997. He says humans can learn from past experiences, but machines have to start from scratch.
While the discussion at the Presidential Center revolved around democracy, I couldn’t help but think about other examples of human intelligence confronting artificial intelligence.
What immediately comes to my mind are writers and actors on picket lines against AI threats to their careers. And some students, like me, have been warned against the use of AI to suppress personal interpretations of literature, history, and countless other subjects.
This expression of human thinking and creativity cannot be replicated by artificial intelligence, Kasparov said. There is no point in recreating it using AI. casablanca or any other cult classic movie, so don’t try it. Nor should it be the way to solve social problems, Kasparov continues.
But both Kasparov and Tews believe in AI and its importance in our world. Tews likens it to the invention of the automobile. Because without it, we would be stuck in a small village. Of course, breakdowns and accidents will always occur, but from a more positive perspective, artificial intelligence can expand our worldview and encourage ingenuity.