So here’s my dilemma: how do you write an article about AI without sounding like a doomsday prophet? When I pitched the idea, I was hoping to end up with a clear, concise piece that looked at the potential dangers but also provided some hope and a few possible scenarios of where it’s all headed. Oh, the arrogance.
What I’ve since realised, emerging bleary-eyed from a bottomless rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, neck-deep in research and AI think-pieces, is that no one knows anything, really. The experts at the forefront of AI can make educated guesses as to where it’s all headed, but the moment AI becomes more intelligent than we are, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen.
In an episode of the podcast Diary of a CEO, host Steven Bartlett spoke to AI expert Mo Gawdat, former chief business officer of Google X and best selling author of Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World. Gawdat had some big pronouncements… ‘This is the most existential challenge humanity will ever face. It’s bigger than climate change… bigger than Covid. This will redefine the world… We’re not talking 2040; we’re talking 2025, 2026. It’s going to reshape the way we do things, and the way we look at life.’
AI is already here
We tend to think of AI as a far-off, distant-future concept. But in fact AI is already a huge part of our day-to-day life. And I don’t just mean Siri and Alexa. Do you use face ID on your phone? That’s AI-powered. If you shop online, AI uses your web searches and shopping habits to make personalised recommendations. Your social media feed is curated by AI: it shows you what it thinks you may like based on what types of posts resonated with you in the past. The spelling check and spam filters on your email? That’s AI at work. Google Maps and other travel apps use AI to monitor traffic
