Blog #10 Living in the Age of AI

 In the Age of AI is a documentary that highlights the competition between China and the United States over who will become the AI leader.  I have always had mixed feelings about AI. I think that it has pros and cons, just like anything else in the world. After watching the documentary, I have learned more about AI than I ever knew. I always thought of ChatGPT and the checkout lines at Walmart. But in reality, it is a lot more than that. 

One of the most concerning points Frontline made is that Artificial Intelligence violates our privacy. It is known that China is using facial recognition to follow citizens and create social statuses, which I find to be absolutely shocking, because who is to say the United States isn't doing the same without our knowledge? When you really think about it, the United States has already started heading in that direction by using cookies to track our digital footprints. I don't find cookies to be that frightening, but what can come in the future is what scares me. 

My biggest concern is that Artificial Intelligence is taking over jobs. Even as cliché as it sounds, it has already begun. Checkout lanes, data entry, education, etc., the list goes on. There are already so many unemployed Americans, and the majority of the jobs being taken over are the ones that don't require a degree. People are repeating grades, dropping out of school, but also, our future doctors and lawyers are using artificial intelligence to get through school. So, all around, it is negatively impacting our jobs. If there aren't regulations put on what we can use AI for, I believe it will eventually set society backward and we will become so uneducated that we will have to restart everything. 

But what is concerning during current times is the threats AI imposes on human life; in China, Turkic Muslims are being detained, and in fact, almost a million. Almost all of China is being watched, and they're collecting data on what language you speak, how many times you pray, and they are using this information to determine how to reeducate people on politics. People are being stopped everywhere they go and are forced to scan their faces. China's main goal is to spread its technology and influence other countries, and so far, it is working. The documentary says there are 58 countries that have started to engage in Artificial Intelligence, like China. I could see this potentially leading to a genocide, and Nicholas Thompson from the Frontline documentary says he sees the world splitting into two.                 

Overall, I find artificial intelligence to be very alarming and scary for our generation and future generations. We have no idea how it is going to affect our government, careers, and society, and we are just expected to adapt to it. It makes me question if I am wasting time and money on a degree I won't be able to use. I believe there needs to be regulations enforced by the U.S. government, which we know they can do to protect us from artificial intelligence taking over.