Madison Vale

It’s interesting to see how far people will go when thinking about AI. When looking at the extremes, most will go as far as to say AI will outsmart us and take over the world. They’ll overwhelm human strength and we’ll be goners. But what’s even more interesting to think about is as pointed out by the Center for Humane Technology; it’s not when they overwhelm our strength that we should be focusing on, but when it overwhelms our weaknesses. That’s when the alarm bells should truly be ringing.  

What does it mean to “overwhelm human weakness”? According to the Center for Humane Technology, “When we build technology that overwhelms human weaknesses we open up the risk of new and extremely dangerous forms of exploitation. It is critical that we understand the vulnerabilities of the human minds engaging with our software and build guardrails to prevent exploitation so that we can support—rather than undermine—the agency of those our technology serves.” We are opening the doors for humans to be manipulated to the point of exploitation through innovative technology. A territory we most certainly do not want to enter.  

I thought that this was a unique lens to look at the worries of AI through. Even I am guilty of going as far as to think that AI would overcome our strengths, making us the weakest link. But it’s true, it is much easier for AI to look at our weaknesses and manipulate us from there instead. Which is why it is so important for developers and companies to look at the issue through this lens too. AI should be able to help us become more productive, wiser, and overall benefit society, not aim to find our Achilles heel and take us down. Ensuring people are aware of this is a crucial step in the right direction of keeping technology humane.