AI, its Harm, and its Benefits
When most people ask what my stance on artificial intelligence is, I say that I don't support it; and most of the time, I don't.
However, truthfully, it's far more complicated than that.
There is a difference between assistive AI and generative AI. All AI is trained off of things created by humans, the different kinds use that information in different ways and for different purposes.
I am very anti-generative AI, especially when it comes to AI "art" of any kind (including visual arts, music, literature, etc.). Art has a soul; art is something inherently living. I saw a comment somewhere the other day; I can't remember it exactly, but it was something along these lines:
"Art always has a soul, but AI has shown us what it looks like without it."
That resonated with me. Even as AI gets more and more advanced, art is in our nature - human art is something we will always recognize.
In terms of assistive AI, I do support the idea, but very few of the processes (see next section).
Some AI has already proven to be extremely beneficial to society. A great example is in the medical field. Scientists are able to develop new technologies and analyze DNA, diseases, bacteria, etc. in ways like never before.
I know how many people feel about the use of AI when it comes to coding, and I empathize with that. Fully coding something using AI is something I'm against, but I also believe that you can learn from AI, and that it can help with small parts.
AI in education is a very, very delicate balance. For now, I believe that schools should not use AI. I might expand on this further in a future post.
Many data centers, including those powering assistive AI's, are built in small communities, native land, and other vulnerable areas. Residents' taxes go towards funding these data centers without their consent, and the data centers often lead to pollution. They're also very loud; and if you want to sell your house? Good luck, because home value drops significantly due to the environment created by these data centers.
The corporations and people building these data centers have the resources and funds to use clean energy to power them. Unfortunately, these corporations and people are also extremely greedy, and will choose to spend as little money as possible without any regard for the people, animals, communities, and general environments it could affect.