Artificial Intelligence

 I have always been fascinated by the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Before watching the video, I had actually always wondered how it was possible to play online games against a computer: chess, or poker for example. Those games require such strategy and complex moves and I have always been so intrigued at how a computer can play those games - and win! 

So it was not a huge shock to me to hear about the Chinese board game "Go" because I, myself, have had these thoughts before. However, it did not make it less fascinating. 

The pros of AI are efficiency and definitely more innovative technology. The cons are the privacy issues, and the thought that humans are creating something more powerful than ourselves. This is a scary thought because what if AI took over the world one day?! It sounds crazy, but after watching this video...doesn't seem that far off. Also, if AI can do the things that humans can do (but better and faster) then what is the need for people to have jobs? In the past couple of years, so many people have lost their jobs to computers. "The Brookings Institution estimated that 36 million workers will lose their jobs because of AI." That's crazy. I did some more research into what kind of jobs are most at risk and found that cleaning, food preparation, and driving are the most at risk to soon be completely automated. 

The amount of data that Google has on every person that uses technology is a crazy thought. I had never really thought about it too much before watching this video. 

This entire concept makes me think of one of my favorite shows, Person of Interest. Essentially in the show, a man creates an Artificial Intelligence, (called The Machine) to detect crime before it happens, and his partner goes to stop the crime in real-time. Throughout the storyline, a competitor machine is created and is overseen by a much less morally just individual, and it shows just how threatening AI can be if we let it. In the show, there are certain instances where control of both machines is lost altogether, resulting in a lot of privacy issues and even threats to national security. Once again, I know it's a TV show, but it seemed so realistic! And after watching this video, I am becoming more and more convinced that that show could soon become our reality

Losing Jobs to AI