Freedom forever
There is little doubt that AI is and will continue to move fast, to develop and to diversify. These will happen in terms of the quality of the output, the technologies that harness its power and the ways society finds to apply it for the betterment of human existence. It is this last part, the societal applications, that offers both the most intrigue and probably fosters the greatest fears for many because we are then reliant on humans making choices often with ulterior motives. Yet, I think there is little to fear for the most part. Let me explain why by looking at how we deal with medical issues:
Early Diagnosis
We have known and promoted the benefits of early diagnosis in health care for quite a while now. To my mind, this seemed to come from the AIDS/HIV epidemic where we began to accept as a norm, that the only way or most effective way to deal with life threatening medical conditions was to diagnosis these early, enabling treatment to begin, thereby slowing or stopping the progression of the symptoms. However, I admit to being no medical historian so perhaps the concept of early diagnosis developed earlier or later than. Regardless of the accuracy of how early diagnosis has become so important to health improvements, it is the norm in so many facets of health care such as dental hygiene, cancer in various forms, mental health, learning disorders, etc. In other words, we are used to or have learned to, as a society, look for signs of when things are not going right, where things change, especially in ourselves or those close to us such as families members.
Looking for early warning signs comes with responsibilities in the majority of cases. We are informed (educated) not only what to look for but also what to do when we see things not going right. Any changes, any signs or signals usually have a follow up plan, a next step eg go see the Doctor. Again, this is something most adults understand. There are common processes and systems in place costing significant amount of money in developed countries relying on these ways of working.
Acting on the Signs
Despite all we know about early diagnosis, all the knowledge we have about what to do when see the signs in ourselves or others, and the systems in place to enable early diagnosis and then treatment, we do not always act fast enough or at all to the warning signs we are given. Some may, at this point, suggest that this highlights exactly why we should fear advancements in AI. There are warning signs out there of what harm AI development could do to mankind and we are not acting on these signs. Yet, I firmly believe there are more positives than negatives, more potential to improve lives than harm them. Hence, the analogy I want to use here is to suggest that the way we do not always respond to signs that there are health issues is the same choices we are free to make and will make when it comes to how AI affects our lives.
These kind of ‘choices’ albeit seemingly kind of irrational in some respects, are not confined to when we get warning signs. I know that exposure of my unprotected skin to the sun can cause cancer especially in a country like Australia but it is my choice to wear protection, bowel cancer detection kits are sent to residents across Australia kits but many choose to ignore them. These are just a couple of examples. There are many more which highlight the things we do and the things we choose not to that undermine the systems in place, the knowledge we have and often work to our detriment.
Freedom to Choose
We make choices in our lives and these are made for a variety of reasons. Why does anyone think that AI will take away our freedom to choose? Regardless of how far AI develops, I just do not buy the idea that Artificial Super Intelligence is going to be designed or permitted to take away our freedom to decide when and how we want to act on information we receive, the signs, advice or even diagnosis. Sure, I can foresee that AI advancements will lead to vastly improved early diagnosis, greater knowledge and, likely, awareness of cause and effect, ie knowledge of how certain behaviours, actions, lifestyle choices, etc, lead to higher risk of certain things happenings. That is to be celebrated. Similarly, I am confident that use of AI will see increased use of systems/platforms to encourage and coerce humans into being proactive or reacting to early warning signs eg health insurance companies offering AI personal health companions that provide regular advice based on data collected form smart devices. Advice that is acted on reduces premiums.
Despite how we will undoubtedly see this intrusion of AI into our lives and the inevitably that this will happen regardless of whether we want it to or not, the doomsday view of AI making choices for us is fantasy, in my opinion. We will still be able to decide when and if we want to act on the information and advice AI gives us even if it is 100% trustworthy, provided very early and hard to ignore. More importantly, we will not only be able to do these things, we will actually continue to act just like this, like we always have done. History shows us this. Sociology shows us this, Psychology shows us this. Philosophy shows us this.
