Save Our Souls
by Zoltán Dankó
Future-Proof Organization Practitioner -- Human leadership fuels high performance. If you have open mind, I help add open culture to leverage open-source - Change is risk: doing the same leads nowhere. Let's move on!
Recently, I have faced discussions about how AI will affect human values, society, and our fate as species. Some individuals were eager to warn us that it would be better to eliminate AI entirely because it might potentially destroy humanity.
These are essential questions. We must deal with them.
I spent some time thinking about these questions and ended up with even more questions. Funny-wise, they were not related to AI at all. :)
AI (I use the term to embrace many aspects and branches of it) is a tool. At least, it has still been at this stage—a device like a knife, a pistol, a book, or an atomic bomb. If you consider the list, it will be evident quickly that you can use them differently. You can slice bread with a knife or kill someone. You can read a book or use it as a door blocker.
We, humans, have values. For example, truth saying, integrity, empathy, or protecting other individuals' health and life. These are values many live by. Therefore, we expect an AI system to function by the same values and standards.
If we look at human history, we can notice immediately that humans have known these values for millennia - in principle. However, the practice was somewhat different. We have had wars, genocides, slavery, and world wars. So, isn’t it funny that humans created AI systems with millions of biases, and we demand high-flying ethical standards and values to regulate the AI systems? Because humans have been so successful in following these values and ideals?
What kind of practice can we see in companies regarding values and ethical standards? This is a critical question since capitalism’s first principle is profit-making. Some individuals add to it instantly that companies are forced to follow ethical standards and strong values while generating profit. Is it more than a PR slogan?
I suggest a thought experiment. It won’t be painful. What will happen if the corporate management receives an offer of some advantages in implementing AI systems? For example, only 20% of the employees can do the remaining work, which will hugely boost profitability. The system will work 24/7/365. They won’t go on holiday or sick leave. There won’t be children, so that the employees won’t need maternity leave. Such machines won’t argue with the boss.
Here comes my simple question: How long will a manager consider the decision to approve the implementation of the system? Did the same managers demand unconditional loyalty from employees?
By the way, to what extent are corporate behaviors consistent with the values and ethical standards that we demand from AI systems? The higher we climb the hierarchy, the more question marks we find. So let’s keep it simple, is it OK to demand bed-wow from my partner while I have biweekly affairs? Then what?
How can we resolve these conflicts? Where is the escape route if this cognitive dissonance exists in our heads?
Sitting here in desperation, I conjured up a world with millions of AI systems. These systems manage the world without a glitch. If it comes to a potential conflict, wrong strategies cancel out each other, and the systems pave a smooth road ahead. All the systems calculate with the fallibility and incapacities of humans; they handle human biases and do not disrupt the smooth flow of events.
AI systems of the future will have the capability and power to eliminate our imperfect species instantly. Still, these systems might be governed by such strict values not to lose any element of the world because they may have a purpose and goal to fit the big game.
