What are your biggest fears about artificial intelligence?
This may sound dystopian, but ever since I watched all the Terminator movies, I can’t help seeing the parallel:
People are becoming overly dependent on AI and feeling helpless without it. Almost as if AI slowly takes control of our lives.
I’ve come across several articles highlighting the darker side of this “helper”:
– a teenager died by suicide after conversations with AI or
– a woman is suing OpenAI, claiming her ex used ChatGPT in a way that reinforced his delusions and stalking
Reading these reports, it’s clear that AI brings risks beyond just “job loss.”
What are your biggest concerns about AI?
Speaking for myself, they include:
– the spread of conspiracies, blind trust in them, and a decline in people’s critical thinking/intellect
– bad advice from AI that could potentially cost someone their life
Replies
I remember a 1951 Superman episode in which a scientist's mind machine designed to help people, became a weapon of deaths due to criminals using it to destroy peoples' minds. The overall takeaways are no matter how noble the intents are, there will always be ne'er do wells to circumvent them, along with flawed humanity becoming complacent with things that spoil them, rather than humbly assist them.
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@bruce23 I have the only answer for that "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke :)
The most dangerous people are those who will remain quiet :)
@busmark_w_nika You're much too young to remember what transpired in 1964, so I include it below. It
began the reality of a crowd of people ignoring pleas for help, creating the "bystander effect", which of course still exists today, & will forever.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese
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@bruce23 Sometimes it makes me shiver at what people are capable of. This case reminds me of how cruel we can be sometimes and how boundaries are being pushed, but also the rights we have. 200 years ago, it would have been completely normal to take someone's life or fight over a woman with a gun.
@busmark_w_nika There needs to be "crass" extinction, but with greed & corruption @ the forefront, it's not happening. I believe these obsessions are genetically fueled, & despite being
addictions, there are no vaccines, support groups, or treatments that I'm aware of. As we continue
to advance, our fallibilities will always undermine our achievements.
The thing that worries me most about AI is that it might kill human creativity. In the past, people put real effort into research and creating something truly useful. Now, many rely on AI for even the simplest tasks, which sometimes feels ridiculous.
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@bugdev754 I have heard (read) an argument that it saves our time, we can get faster to some result, and that saved energy can be used for something else. I partially agree, but as I know, the vast majority of people will not use that saved time productively.
AI makes life easier.
I have a story my master degree, 18 years ago.
When you have an exam, what you need to do is to read a few books, notes, remember as much as possible, and reproduce everything in an hour. Remembering is an important part of our brain. When you go to job interview, when you need to think for something, this internal storage can help you make fast decisions.
In one summer I worked as an intern software developer. If I had problem, I opened Google search what I needed, copy/paste, continue with next task. I didn't need to remember anything, I become lazy. It was much easy to open google, find it and use it.
After that summer, I read for an exam, really hard, and on the exam I was not able to reproduce anything! Like I forgot how to remember things! And I failed on the first try.
Making life easier, can make people lazy and dump, and that's my biggest fear. People will not seek for discomfort, they will not fight with passion, they will not feel the happiness of overcoming something hard, and complex, because it is much easier to ask AI to do it for you.
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@stoyan_minchev Memory needs to be trained (that's what AI sometimes lacks), that's why we need to strengthen neuropaths. For sure, 90% will become way more comfortable and sorry that I will say that – too dependent and dumb.
Ovren
I think the biggest risk is not AI itself, it’s people outsourcing too much judgment to it.
AI can be incredibly useful, but the moment we stop questioning outputs, verifying facts, or thinking deeply ourselves, that’s where real danger starts. The future probably belongs to people who use AI as leverage, not as a replacement for critical thinking.
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@mikita_aliaksandrovich I have to say (very sadly) that I can see many people in my country blindly trusting any conspiracy.
The worst cases are boomers who blame the younger generation for being too much on the internet, but these boomers, with their smartphones in their hands, are revealing top secrets (conspiracies) in the world and are the only right. Coincidence? I do not think so. :D
My biggest fear about AI is the overreliance and unclear safeguards being used by governments. It's clear it is being used for sensitive operations, drafting of policy, and is being given access to critical systems critical to financial and national security.
We should be careful about regulation writ-large, but we should develop safety frameworks that can be adopted worldwide to protect citizens.
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@milescward I think this is already happening (predominantly in China).
The TechCrunch case says it all: AI wasn't just a tool; it actively reinforced someone's delusions while real warnings were being ignored. My biggest fear isn't AI replacing jobs, it's AI replacing judgment.
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@farrukh_butt1 The Idiocracy movie has become a document. 🤷♀️
I fear the I, Robot (2004) movie with Will Smith scenario instead. In the moment my greatest fear is the privacy, where the data goes and how the AI use and could misuse them (check the Transcendence movie also)
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@colenikol now, I need to behave politely, right? :D
My major concern related to AI is that ONE day AI will be much more intelligent than all of humanity then how would humans be able to control it. If it starts talking to all the systems throughout the world then they can do anything to humans. It will be a very tough spot just like IRobot movie.
If we have an unplug button for it then we are good but otherwise we might run into trouble in the future.
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@manishajmc The question is how AI will be transmitted, it needs electricity and resources from the Earth that are limited (not easily renewable) or? 😅 But yeah, potentially, only one thing could devastate the internet, and that's the solar eruption.
AI is a tool and any tool can be used for good or bad, it depends on who is holding. I guess my question comes down to what you mean by trust? For what I do with AI, I trust in the answers it gives me but I also double check what it gives specially in areas I know. For Example I am teaching some coworkers technology in the server client role of Microsoft. I use AI to create the hands on projects. I describe what I want to do and have it write it out. Why? Because it would take me hours to right it out for each week and it takes AI minutes. I value my time lol. But then I work through each weeks project for what AI wrote to ensure it is accurate.
Another Example and a little more personal. A few weeks ago there was blood in my urine, I contacted my doctor right away but through the portal as that is the only way I can contact the doctors anymore. While I was waiting I used AI to figure out what the possibilities were of what was going on. AI asked me a series of questions and they gave the responses and encourage me to see a doctor. When my doctors office contacted me and I went in, they aske d the very same questions as AI and gave the same responses.
AI cannot make up for a persons instability in thinking and as a tool it, again comes down to who is holding it, will be used to the will holder.
Can AI make life easier and help business, absolutely, but it can only be used to the intelligence of the one using it and it should never replace life. Even though some day it might. I, Robot comes to mind.