AI, a Protector or Assaulter!?

Explore the potential of #AI as both friend and foe in various industries. Discover how #ArtificialIntelligence can improve #jobs, #healthcare, #education, #environmental sustainability, #legitimacy #deepfakes and #transparency while also posing challenges. Join the discussion on the future of AI.

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere these days. From your smartphone to your smart fridge, from your social media feed to your online shopping cart, AI is making decisions for you, about you, and sometimes without you. But what if AI is not just a helpful tool, but also a potential threat? What if AI can be used for good and evil, for protection and assault, for defense and offense? In this blog post, we will explore the dual nature of AI in cybersecurity, warfare, and disinformation.

Jobs: AI vs AI

AI has the potential to both help and hinder jobs. AI can be used to increase efficiency and productivity in various processes, including hiring practices.

AI has the potential to create new jobs and opportunities in various industries. Some examples of jobs that could be created with AI include:

• AI researchers and developers: responsible for designing and developing AI systems and applications.
• Data scientists and analysts: responsible for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting large amounts of data to help improve AI systems.
• AI ethicists: responsible for ensuring that AI systems are developed and implemented in an ethical and responsible manner.
• AI trainers: responsible for teaching AI systems how to perform tasks and make decisions.
• AI support specialists: responsible for providing technical support and assistance to users of AI systems.

However, there are also concerns about its impact on employment and potential for discrimination.

AI has the potential to automate many tasks and processes, which could make some jobs obsolete. Jobs that involve repetitive tasks or processes that can be easily automated are most at risk. Some examples of jobs that could be made obsolete by AI include:

• Data entry clerks: responsible for entering data into computer systems.
• Telemarketers: responsible for making sales calls to potential customers.
• Bookkeeping and accounting clerks: responsible for maintaining financial records and performing basic accounting tasks.
• Assembly line workers: responsible for assembling products on a production line.
• Receptionists: responsible for greeting visitors and answering phone calls.

Ultimately, whether AI is a friend or foe for jobs depends on how it is developed and implemented.

Healthcare: AI vs AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to both improve and disrupt healthcare.

AI can help improve quality and lower costs in healthcare. It can be used to analyze large amounts of data to help with clinical decision-making, diagnosis, and treatment.

Some examples of AI applications in healthcare are:

• Consumer devices, wearables and apps that can monitor health indicators, provide personalized feedback and connect with healthcare providers.
• Diagnosis and treatment recommendations based on large-scale data analysis and machine learning algorithms.
• Drug discovery and development using AI to identify new targets, optimize molecules and accelerate clinical trials.
• Healthcare operations and management using AI to optimize workflows, reduce errors, enhance communication and coordinate care.

There are ethical debates around how AI and the data that underpins it should be used, such as ensuring privacy, security, consent, accountability and transparency.

There are also technical issues such as ensuring data quality, validity, reliability and interoperability.

Moreover, there are human factors such as ensuring trust, acceptance, collaboration and education among healthcare practitioners and patients.

Education: AI vs AI

AI has the potential to both help and hinder education. AI can be used to personalize learning, boost engagement, increase productivity, and enhance processes in education.

Some of the possible ways that AI can hinder education are:

1. AI can reduce human interaction and emotional connection between teachers and students, which are essential for effective learning and motivation.
2. AI can create biases and inequalities in access to quality education, especially for marginalized and disadvantaged groups who may not have the resources or skills to use AI technologies.
3. AI can pose ethical and legal challenges such as privacy, security, consent, accountability and transparency of data and algorithms used in education.
4. AI can undermine the role and autonomy of teachers and educators, who may feel threatened or replaced by AI systems or lose their professional identity and creativity.
5. AI can affect the quality and relevance of education, as it may not be able to capture the complexity and diversity of human learning needs, contexts and goals.

AI is a tool that can enhance and support education, but it also requires careful design, implementation and evaluation to ensure that it is aligned with the values, principles and goals of education. AI should be used to complement and empower human intelligence and expertise, not to replace or undermine it.

Environmental Sustainability: AI vs AI

AI has the potential to both help and hinder environmental sustainability. On one hand, AI can be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prevent overfishing, and improve renewable energy production.

AI can also have some negative impacts on environmental sustainability if not used appropriately or ethically. Some of the possible ways that AI can hinder environmental sustainability are:

• AI can increase the carbon footprint and energy consumption of computing systems, especially for large-scale data processing and machine learning models.
• AI can create biases and inequalities in access to environmental resources and benefits, especially for marginalized and vulnerable groups who may not have the voice or power to influence AI decisions.
• AI can pose ethical and legal challenges such as privacy, security, consent, accountability and transparency of data and algorithms used for environmental purposes.
• AI can undermine the role and autonomy of human experts and stakeholders, who may feel threatened or replaced by AI systems or lose their contextual knowledge and creativity.
• AI can affect the quality and relevance of environmental solutions, as it may not be able to capture the complexity and diversity of environmental problems, contexts and goals.

Cybersecurity: AI vs AI

Cybersecurity is one of the most important domains where AI plays a crucial role.

On the one hand, AI can help protect networks, systems, and data from malicious attacks by detecting anomalies, automating responses, and enhancing efficiency. On the other hand, AI can also help attackers breach security measures by exploiting vulnerabilities, generating malware, and evading detection.

According to a report by Trend Micro, cybercriminals are already misusing and abusing AI for various purposes such as phishing, ransomware, botnets, deepfakes, and more.

The report also predicts that cybercriminals will use AI to enhance the scope and scale of their attacks, evade detection, and abuse AI both as an attack vector and an attack surface . This means that we are facing an arms race between defenders and attackers in cyberspace, where both sides are using AI to outsmart each other.

Disinformation: Deepfakes

Disinformation is false or misleading information that is spread deliberately to deceive or influence public opinion or behavior . One of the most powerful tools for creating disinformation is deepfake technology .

Deepfake technology uses deep learning algorithms to manipulate audiovisual content to make it appear authentic. For example it can make someone say or do something they never said or did or swap their face with someone else’s face or change their voice or expression or age or gender. The possibilities are endless and scary.

Deepfake technology can be used for various purposes such as entertainment, education, journalism, art, activism, satire, and parody.

It can also be used for malicious purposes such as blackmail extortion fraud defamation propaganda manipulation deception impersonation incitement violence. The problem with deepfake technology is that it is becoming more accessible, more realistic, more convincing, more undetectable, more viral, and more harmful!

Transparency in AI decision making

Transparency in AI decision-making is an important issue that has received increased attention in recent years.

It can help mitigate issues of fairness, discrimination, and trust 1. One approach to promoting transparency is through the concept of “Transparency by Design” which serves as practical guidance for designing transparent AI systems.

This model integrates principles such as contextual, technical, informational, and stakeholder-sensitive considerations in a step-by-step manner and as an ex-ante value, not as an afterthought.

Another approach focuses on providing justifications for decisions made by AI systems to provide sufficient ground for perceived legitimacy without producing the harms full transparency would bring.

Conclusion: What Can We Do?

So what can we do about this double-edged sword called artificial intelligence?

How can we ensure that it serves us rather than harms us?

How can we balance its benefits with its risks?

How can we regulate its development without stifling its innovation?

How can we trust its decisions without losing our agency?

How can we coexist with it without losing our humanity?

There are no easy answers to these questions. But there are some possible steps we can take:

• We could develop and adopt ethical principles and guidelines for the design, development and use of AI systems, such as fairness, accountability, transparency, privacy and human dignity .
• We could ensure that human values and interests are embedded and respected in AI systems, such as human rights, democracy, diversity and inclusion .
• We could foster human-AI collaboration and complementarity, rather than competition or substitution, by leveraging the strengths and weaknesses of both human and AI intelligence .
• We could educate and empower ourselves and others to understand, interact with and benefit from AI systems, while also being aware of the risks and limitations of AI .
• We could engage in critical and constructive dialogue with various stakeholders, such as policy makers, researchers, developers, users and civil society organizations, to shape the future of AI in a responsible and democratic way .

These are just some possible steps we could take to coexist with AI without losing our humanity. There may be other steps or perspectives that you or others may have. I think it is important to keep an open mind and a curious attitude towards AI, while also being mindful of its ethical and social implications. Feel free to comment your opinion.

Sheriff Babu is Crafting ideas, off beat thinking