The technological progress of the last several decades never ceases to amaze. There are many recent inventions that have made people's lives more comfortable and joyful. Yet, along with positive changes, the technological progress also raises a great deal of ethical and practical issues. One of the most argued topics in this regard is the work on artificial intelligence. Humans should not create artificial intelligence because firstly, it might become an extremely destructive means of warfare, and, secondly, intelligent robots might eventually outsmart people, leading to the death of human civilization.
One of the most worrying matters in terms of artificial intelligence is the matter of control. The sphere of warfare is quite an illustrative example. Inventing artificial intelligence would allow to invent warfare machines that will eliminate a human's tendency to err, which, as some might argue, is a positive development since many unnecessary casualties are caused by the human factor. At the same time, it is important to understand that, along with the tendency to err, replacing human soldiers with artificial intelligence will eliminate other traits which are “human”, such as compassion, the ability to act in non-standard situations, and, most importantly, disobey orders. If invented, artificial intelligence will provide an excellent playground for those who are interested in developing deadly weapons with minimum investments. Even today many understand that the main problem with artificial intelligence is that computers “are trivially easy to reprogram, allowing anyone to create an efficient and indiscriminate killing machine at an incredibly low cost” (Musgrave and Roberts). Thus, a group of humans in possession of such weaponry may pose a threat to the entire world order.
Another issue which calls for preventing invention of the artificial intelligence is the possibility of the machines getting rid of the human control. Intelligent robots taking over the human world is a very popular science fiction theme. It is explored in such never-aging classics as The Matrix and Terminator, but is very far from being exhausted. Yet, there are good grounds to take a step back from breath-taking science fiction and take a look at this theme as a real scenario possible in the near future. Unless humans are extremely careful, it might turn out to be the worst-case scenario. The main problem in terms artificial intelligence lies in the tendency to view intelligent machines still as servants of humanity despite the possible loss of control. In other words, people tend to ask “What self-sufficient machines can do for us?” and forget to ask “What self-sufficient machines can do for themselves?”. As prominent researchers Hawking, Russell, Tegmark, and Wilczek pointedly noticed, “Whereas the short-term impact of AI depends on who controls it, the long-term impact depends on whether it can be controlled at all” (Hawking et al.). Simply speaking, if scientists create artificial intelligence, they might create a potential superior enemy of the human civilization with their own hands. Of course, there is always a possibility that the machines will turn out friendly and submissive, but the risk of their not turning out so is immense.
There are many ways in which creating and involving self-sufficient robots can benefit humanity; however, one should be aware of the ways in which such invention can make people's existence worse. Research in artificial intelligence should be stopped before humans have created a means of self-destruction.
Works Cited
Hawking, Stephen, Russell, Stuart, Tegmark, Max, Wilczek, Frank. “Stephen Hawking: 'Transcendence looks at the implications of artificial intelligence - but are we taking AI seriously enough?'”, Independent, May 1, 2014. Web.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stephen-hawking-transcendence-looks-at-the-implications-of-artificial-intelligence-but-are-we-taking-9313474.html
Musgrave, Zach, and Roberts, Bryan W. “Humans, Not Robots, Are the Real Reason Artificial Intelligence Is Scary”, The Atlantic, August 14, 2015. Web.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/humans-not-robots-are-the-real-reason-artificial-intelligence-is-scary/400994/
