Will AI hurt us or help us?: Reid

How will AI transform human societies, and are we humans doing such a good job of running our own societies in the first place? — Image credit: Getty Images

The rapid progress of artificial intelligence is predicted to upend markets, kill and create jobs, and remake entire economies. Optimists say that AI might enable humans to spend more of their time on family, friends, travel and art, or switch to a four-day workweek, take more vacations, and so on. On the other hand, pessimists warn that modern humans have a historical tendency to find or create new work instead of enjoying their free time and that the highly concentrated profits from the AI revolution will produce so much inequality that democracy itself will be at stake.

Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid dives into the AI debate and asks viewers to reflect on whether AI will be good for humans or not.

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The following is an excerpt from the above video:

Like most of us old people, AI scares the bejesus out of me. I harbor dystopian ideas about computers taking over the planet that are largely informed, I believe, by the impact that “Terminator II” had on my life. I picture jobs across the spectrum, mine included, circling the drain and dying a not-so-slow death.

My admittedly nihilistic perspective confused my 12-year-old son. “But Mom,” he said, “why would it necessarily be bad? It’s not human, so it’s not necessarily flawed. So wouldn’t it be equally or more likely to make things better?” And then he said something very dark, but also very true. “Besides,” he said, “it’s not like we’re doing such a great job anyway. Would it be so terrible for AI to take over?” Yes, I feel you my child.

Anyway, my second point of entry to the semi-pro AI club came courtesy of my friend Carmel, who started an AI-centric business, and is enthusiastic about it to an inspirational-speaker level, like her eyes sparkle. What she says about AI: “It’s here. It’s happening. It’s going to change the world. Why not learn how to help it work for you.“

I, like most of us old people,

AI scares the bee Jesus out of me. I harbor dystopian ideas about computers taking over the planet that are largely informed, I believe, by the impact that Terminator two had on my life. I picture jobs across the spectrum. Mine included circling the drain and dying a not so slow death.

My admittedly nihilistic perspective confused my 12 year old son, but Mom, he said, Well, why would it necessarily be bad? It’s not human, so it’s not necessarily flawed. So wouldn’t it be equally or more likely to make things better? And then he said something very dark, but also very true. Besides, he said, it’s not like we’re doing such a great job anyway. Would it be so terrible for AI to take over? Yes, I feel you my child. Anyway, my second point of entry to the semi pro AI club came courtesy of my friend Carmel, who started an AI centric business and is enthusiastic about it to an inspirational speaker level, like her eyes sparkle. What she says about AI, it’s here. It’s happening. It’s going to change the world. Why not learn how to help it work for you. She gave the example of a dog psychic as an excellent example of a career that, to the best of my knowledge, does not exist when a society is more concerned about things like shelter and light when you take away the need most presently occupying your mind. Well, it raises the question, what comes next in your personal Maslow’s hierarchy, I am a writer and I am an absolute purist about my craft. The idea of letting AI write for me doesn’t just bother me. It like insults me at a core level. But I thought about what Carmel said, and I figured, you know what the hell so I asked chatgpt to write an article for a segment. It was one I posted a couple of weeks ago about Trump’s pugilistic attitude towards Nancy Pelosi at a recent event, it did okay. It gave me a bit of structure, a couple of interesting talking points. It saved me only about, I don’t know, maybe 10 minutes of research. But still, it saved me maybe 10 minutes of research, 10 minutes I could then apply to crafting an even more unique argument, or boning up on next week segment, or, I don’t know, spending time with my kids. AI will take jobs away. Of course, it will, but it will also create them. And by the way, we were also pretty freaked out about, you know, like telephones, and now we have face time, and FaceTime helps me connect with family members around the world with whom I would genuinely have had no prior contact. As scary as AI can sound, and as much as I would very much love to avoid seeing what Elon Musk’s version of Skynet turns out to be, it’s also pretty exciting to think that one day, our kids and grandkids will be employed in career fields that aren’t even imaginable to us today. Because, as a wise man once said, it’s not like we’re doing such a great job right now. Anyway, it’s a fair point. I.