It is believed by scientists that computer systems will soon surpass humans in intelligence, and people have differing views on this development. While some see this as a positive change, others are concerned about the negative ramifications of this phenomenon. In my view, the growing trend toward artificial intelligence can be seen as both positive and negative at the same time.
On the one hand, the rise of artificial super intelligence can be beneficial in many ways. Firstly, these systems will be highly precise, thereby reducing human errors significantly. We can take autonomous vehicles for example. Recent research has shown that human error accounts for the vast majority of road collisions worldwide. This is why driverless cars have the potential to hugely lower the number of road accidents as the machine is controlled by intelligent systems, free from human behavior, saving millions of lives as a result. Furthermore, intelligent computers can help us solve global problems such as climate change and global warming. They can process and analyse vast amounts of research data, looking for common patterns and come up with new technologies and inventions that can curb greenhouse gas emissions or reduce global waste.
However, the advent of computers more intelligent than humans does not come without its fair share of problems. Key among them would be massive layoffs for humans as the need for human workers radically diminishes, if not completely disappears, in the age of super intelligent machines running the world. As a result, we can expect to see mass protests erupting in the streets, causing social and political turmoil as societies grapple with the problem of mass human unemployment. Another serious concern is perhaps the discomforting fact that when super intelligent systems take over the world, there is no guarantee that they will peacefully cooperate with us in solving our problems and achieving universal prosperity. In other words, the world ruled by AI may not look so favorably down on humans and therefore, we, as a species, may be wiped off from the face of the earth in the hands of cold machines that have immoral objects.
In conclusion, there are reasons to be optimistic about the future of AI as it can help us reduce error rates and tackle our collective problems including climate change and global warming, thereby saving millions of human lives. However, it seems to me that we have just as many reasons to be worried about super intelligent systems because they, among other things, can, as stated above, cause massive human redundancies and turn the world against us, driving the human race to the point of absolute extinction.