AI has had a positive impact on our world since its inception and at the same time poses a lot of threats. Today, we are going to be delving into some of the popular artificial intelligence risks while at the same time handpick the major risks involved in artificial intelligence and applicable solutions to combat them.
Where Do We Stand Regarding Advancements in AI, Is AI Even A Threat?
Artificial intelligence apprehends the imagination of many people, yet it is foreseen as the most disruptive technology in the coming years. Artificial Intelligence (AI), or machine intelligence is the branch of computer science that develops computers and robots that are capable of performing the task which would typically require human involvement and intelligence. These computers and robots capture and learn what we humans are capable of doing. They are designed to execute the same tasks more quickly without human intervention. They also learn to discover frameworks and rules by reading a vast amount of data. AI is created by humans, but due to certain loopholes, it gets away from human control thus creating devastation in its way.
The quality of artificial intelligence technology has immensely improved in recent years. These systems grasp a better understanding of our existence, background, wants, likes, and dislikes. It provides us with convenience, comfort, and saves time. Personal assistants, chatbots, and other similar autonomous systems are widely being used in recent times. Sooner or later, we will automatically get into the habit of extensively using these systems on a daily routine. As of today, we know that the Internet is something basic and has become a necessity. Our dependency on the internet is so tremendous that it’s hard to imagine ourselves living without it. In terms of these autonomous systems, we shall see the same scenario in the upcoming years as even before we would know it ourselves, these systems will know better about our needs and wants.
Apart from knowing our needs, these systems will also provide a perception that we never thought would be possible, and the answers to the existence we were not aware of. It is quickly progressing into reality as artificial intelligent systems are smarter, faster, non-exhausting, and learns from the examples and other systems too.
Though we are still in the early phase, we cannot turn blind to the potentially lesser positive aspects of Artificial intelligence’s powerful technology. It thus makes sense to have a closer look at the major risk this technology comes with.
Artificial Intelligence Risks; An Overview of Threats, and Emerging Issues
1). Privacy Concerns
Privacy is one of the many potential risks of AI. The use of AI in a maleficent manner could not only threaten the privacy of an individual, but it could also keep at stake the digital, physical, and political security of a nation.
The greed for data is on an increasing trend within companies dealing with Artificial intelligence. These companies will never be satisfied with the data available and are therefore ready to justify the mode of data collection to gain good results.
Our privacy is currently being abraded and is at stake in many circumstances. With the internet and IoT, we carelessly offer to sacrifice our data. All our efforts to protect our privacy will be futile. However much we may try to safeguard our privacy, these companies will use various methods and will keep targeting us. They will use our data for a specific purpose and then sell it off. The process of reselling data is continuous and it poses a great threat as we are unaware of who receives our data and the purpose of using our data.
There has been a rise in tools that aid in capturing private data. The most popular one is using a smart camera with facial recognition software. These devices can be used to capture age, gender, race, behavior, state of mind, etc. The data is then interconnected and used by political parties, businesses, etc. to attain their motive.
We’ve seen several banking companies leveraging AI to deliver a better experience to their customers while offering them a variety of additional offers and services and at the same time ensuring reduced risk levels to the business. This can be done due to AI having access to multiple data points that it can process quickly without the factor of emotion added into the equation providing unbiased results and suggestions.
Another crucial tool currently gaining momentum for privacy is the deep fakes. Deep Fakes are audio or videos created by distorting existing audio and video and replacing them with somebody else’s likeness. This tool will emerge as extremely problematic and this alone tops the growing list of artificial intelligence risks that is causing a lot of concerns around the world. With the help of machine learning, an audio or video clip of any influential person could be manipulated to give it a communal, racial, or sexist effect when in reality they have not spoken anything of that sort. If the public fails to detect and falls prey to it, it can lead to the distorting of harmony and spoiling of the image of the influential person or group. Deep Fakes along with AI make it difficult to know what is real and what is unreal.
2). The false fear of AI taking over the world
We may still have many questions and fears with regards to Artificial intelligence technology. One of them is thinking of the phase when the world will be taken over by robots, smart devices, and computer programs. Also termed as AI takeover, it is a theoretical scenario, wherein the AI emerges to be the most supreme power and intelligence, thus replacing humans with robots and program software. This has raised concerns about whether AI technology could enchant the end of the human labor era and leave people jobless, causing economic imbalance and further crisis. However, AI has often been misunderstood as Superintelligence. When the system or program surpasses the intelligence of a human, it’s known as Superintelligence. As a result of which, these systems without human intervention gain the skills and expertise, the ability to train themselves for various situations, and understand the circumstances. Nothing to worry about this Artificial intelligence. It’s a normal tendency of us humans to get terrified of what we do not understand – hence, we lay more emphasis on these artificial intelligence risks than the benefits they tend to offer. Instead of being terrified, we need to emphasize inculcating conscience in these systems. They should be taught about human considerations and ethical morals instead of a set of rules. If not so, these systems that are programmed with a certain motive to achieve will do it adamantly without taking into consideration the factors we humans consider important like moral, conscience, empathy, etc.
3). Can we trust AI with confidential data?
The sci-fi movies try to depict what the world may have to go through if AI becomes a wretch. Though what is depicted in the movies is purely fictional, many specialists believe that these systems will give rise to a consequential threat to humankind. It is highly unlikely that the drawbacks of AI will be as adverse as sci-fi movies. However, while programming these systems we need to understand public concerns. Various issues on AI safety must be analyzed and be more focused on creating a trustworthy AI system. The proficiency of AI can already be seen in the healthcare, retail, and manufacturing industries. This is therefore leading to losing of jobs in respective sectors and creating panic amongst people. The major reason for concern is that AI systems may become smarter than humans thus surpassing the human race. Also, there is a possibility that these systems may evolve behavioral and cognitive intelligence. This could lead to the systems having empathy, morale, and the capability of understanding what’s good and bad by themselves in their definition. This may function against human morals and cause a considerable threat. This occurrence can be alarming as there is no standard process to design the set of rules for AI worldwide. AI can prove to be biased due to the data used to instruct these systems. Such AI bias can prove too troublesome for a certain section of people and may differentiate between race, ethnic group, gender, etc. Due to these artificial intelligence risk factors, trusting AI becomes strenuous. However, we should be focused on creating trustworthy AI systems. This can be possible only once we acknowledge the viable issues and attain actual solutions.
Solutions to Artificial Intelligence Risks
AI is no more a futuristic concept. It’s already a reality with personal assistants becoming more salient in our everyday lives. AI is having an extensive influence not only from an individual aspect but is also impacting the wider sectors like health, finance, and government.
AI in the banking and finance sector has provided it with new ways to meet the demand of its customer who is looking for convenient and safer ways to invest, save, and spend barring the artificial intelligence risks that may arise along the way. It’s also helping the banking industry to enhance customer service by understanding the customer behavior, requirement and enabling personalized services thus keeping the customer satisfied.
Additionally, the healthcare industry as well has shown its positive potential towards AI. The various AI solutions have helped in optimizing the operations of this sector, facilitating remote monitoring, managing administrative tasks, providing alerts systems, and many more. It thus helps in saving significant time for the health care workers as well as providing the required medical attention along with a bit of convenience to the patients
Irrespective of whether we want it or not, AI is going to be all around, in every direction. We shall see the transformation around us and the switch in the operations. The only thing we need to do is prepare ourselves to accept this transition of Artificial intelligence and use it in the best possible and safe manner.
