There are three ethical problems with AI and none of them have anything to do with the technology itself and everything to do with the people behind AI.
Starting with #3 – NOT LEARNING FROM OUR PAST:
We continue to develop AI technology in the same way we approached the industrial age–racing ahead without thoughts of the human equation. The myth of the industrial age is that automation replaced menial jobs and that the workforce soon adapted as always–by finding employment and training elsewhere.The reality is our approach to industrialization, while proven to be welcome (in some ways) in the long term, in the short term, damaged social and economic constructs in ways that devastated the individual. A lucky few benefited; the vast majority suffered, and huge swaths of the population (and towns) have yet to recuperate.
While no one will argue that mass production of cars and computers has been welcome. The mass production of plastic tchotchkes? Not so much.
We’re fortunate that our socio-economic scientists have been able to study this period and can put forth solutions that could allow us to incorporate AI better than we did automation. And yet, here we are seeking to automate not menial tasks this time, but constructs of creativity itself without thought to the human equation.
Which brings me to the second problem with AI…