For Better Or For Worse

In a recent article, "Why No One Trusts Data Centers and Flock Cameras," Erick Erickson examines AI and how general mistrust of it was sown long before it became a common headline. According to Erickson, the mistrust began during the 2020 pandemic.

As businesses were forced to close, people were locked in quarantine, and mandatory vaccines and boosters were required to keep certain jobs. During isolation, institutions, governments, news outlets, and corporate entities everywhere were viewed with skepticism and resentment. Contrary to the promises made to those who complied with restrictions, few compromises slowed COVID-19's spread or lethality, leaving people feeling duped by flawed recommendations in the midst of a life-or-death situation. We were conditioned to question everything and trust no one.

And now, on the heels of global skepticism, big tech companies are facing widespread doubt that AI is a good direction for humanity, and that it may be a foundation for a dystopian future. Even Bill Gates, a past advocate for AI, is voicing certain concerns. Jobs that rely heavily on repetitive digital tasks, data entry, and basic text or media creation are easy targets for artificial intelligence to replace. Even tech nerds could be getting a pink slip from the oversized synthetic brain they're crafting. As students earn their high school diplomas and choose higher education pathways, will their high-priced degrees even be relevant in the years to come?

Erickson expressed support for developing data centers to process artificial intelligence, arguing that America needs this technology before China.

I am for the data centers. We need the compute power. If we do not get it, China will get it. If we have it, we can make sure the future is free. If China gets it, the future world will be shaped by the Chinese Communist Party.

That statement may be true, depending on your definition of "free," but technology is not exclusive. Whether the US is first or dead last to leverage AI, Pandora's box will be open.

The overlooked point is that people aren't clamoring for AI development. It's being imposed and characterized as necessary, opening a set of double doors to potential mediocrity. Out of reliance, people may lose the basic skills to communicate or express a thought with words, with or without typos, organize their day, write an important proposal, build interpersonal relationships, or operate their own car. Menial tasks could be a thing of the past, making way for an abundance of free time. But the sense of accomplishment comes in small doses, too, and grounds us in our surroundings.

The pandemic was a great social experiment that proved human connection is indeed fragile, and social skills are like fitness programs that require frequency to be beneficial. More importantly, will there come a day that none of the above matter if AI has your back? Will digital management and assistance in your life make you more organized and efficient, or complacent and unfulfilled, or any combination of all four? Or will there be a greater burden to carry since tasks once left to others can now be accomplished using AI, and ultimately by you?

The world has run on human intelligence since the beginning of time. Some civilizations were so advanced that their accomplishments in art, architecture, and science remain impressive and, in some cases, confounding to this day. If we've lost interest in managing our daily lives, or lack the skill to do our jobs unassisted, is implementing a substitute for intelligence the best solution, or should we place more emphasis on nurturing human intelligence, which may atrophy in AI's wake? Let's face it: to get to the moon again, we needed the engineers who figured it out the first time to come out of retirement to help. Human traits like imagination, audacity, and perseverance were critical to launching Apollo 8. No amount of data computation alone substitutes for the desire to accomplish something great.

AI promises to go beyond being a devoted partner; it is replacement technology. It would be pure nonsense to mix artificial flowers with their live counterparts, which, like us, eventually fade and die. AI is being touted as a tool to assist mankind, which is where doubts begin to creep in. Those who are developing it are building the greatest possible enemy of mankind, intentional or not, and one potentially more aggressive and overpowering than communism.

We can question a video's legitimacy that depicts a dancing chihuahua, or Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Sound of Music, and still get a good laugh. But we have yet to fully realize AI's destructive nature in the wrong hands. What a perfect tool for corporate sabotage, fabricated stock trades, foolproof consumer scams, or compromising security systems and communications networks on a cataclysmic scale. Like it or not, AI is here, for better or for worse, and depending on how much we embrace it, AI could become our only hope for survival.