Joshua McCormack chronicles the looming feeling of mass Instability in the age of AI
Rogue supercomputers. Murderous robots. Synthetic humanoids. Illusory worlds like the Matrix designed to enslave humanity. Post-apocalyptic vistas; shattered cities, urban warfare, skies engulfed in nuclear winter. Mention the words 'Artificial Intelligence,' and these are the images which boil up, cemented in our collective psyche by some of the most influential works of popular culture – think films like Blade Runner, Terminator and 2001: A Space Odyssey, or post-humanistic novels like Neuromancer and Homo Deus.
Like the oracles of old, many of these authors and texts proved prescient; predicting the emergence of computers, virtual reality, and AI … but if were to consider the texts whose ideas might prove most influential in the years and decades to come, as Artificial Intelligence transforms the fabric of society, then, ironically, it isn't in a novel that deals in robots that we must consult, but one that explore humanities other great fascination and great fear: aliens.
Liu-Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, recommended by no less than Barack Obama, is an unique melange of detective-thriller, sweeping sci-fi and philosophy. Woven throughout the story are various references to intellectuals and strategists, both real and imagined, which serve to root the narrative in an epistemic reality. One of the most interesting ideas furnished in Cixin's work is that of 'Contact As A Symbol.'
"Suppose that the nature of the contact is such that only the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence is confirmed, with no other substantive information – what Mathers called elementary contact. The impact would be magnified by the lens of human mass psychology and culture until it resulted in huge, substantive influences on the progress of civilization."
Liu-Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, recommended by no less than Barack Obama, is an unique melange of detective-thriller, sweeping sci-fi and philosophy.
Cixin's idea posits that if an intelligent, human-like alien civilization were to be discovered, the mere knowledge of such a development – no communication, no contact, no certainty about whether their intentions towards humanity was malignant or benevolent – would rip through society like an earthquake, potentially causing waves of mass-hysteria, polarisation and social unrest; all this before the alien civilization in question had the opportunity to show its true nature …
And, if we're not careful, this has the potential to be echoed in the world of AI.
As evidenced by the wealth of philosophy and literature exploring the subject, Artificial Intelligence has dogged our dreams and nightmares for decades, but it's only in the last few years that the conversation has reached the all-consuming fever pitch we see today. A watershed heralded by the November 30, 2022 release of ChatGPT.
The now infamous – or famous; depending on who you ask – chatbot has, less than five hundred days since its release, prompted a wave of changes in fields as varied and diverse as education, finance, business, journalism and many more. And yet, despite its impact, ChatGPT isn't AI in the sense that we, the wider public, understand it.Androids and autonomous computers fall under the scientific umbrella of AGI(Artificial Generative Intelligence) which would be capable of a human's ability to solve all range of problems and tasks; whereas AI's like ChatGPT embody machine-learning programmes designed to imitate intelligent human behaviour.
As evidenced by the wealth of philosophy and literature exploring the subject, Artificial Intelligence has dogged our dreams and nightmares for decades, but it's only in the last few years that the conversation has reached the all-consuming fever pitch we see today.
In essence, the system that currently dominates the AI scene is a mask of intelligence covering up a complex algorithm designed to swallow data by the terabyte and use that information to regurgitate the kind of literature, writing and art that humanity produces: an echo.
One which, for all the furore, is yet to cast the dramatic waves that the avalanche of doom-laden auguries have predicted. In fact, the job's landscape remains in a relatively similar state to its pre-ChatGPT days, albeit with professions that rely on heavily-formulaic procedures – copy-editors, helpline assistants – beginning to suffer layoffs.
That being said, it is early days.
AI is ubiquitous. Good or bad? Catalyst for success or ruin? Impossible to tell. And yet, what dread the word inspires. AI. Like nuclear weapons before it, this technology is a new Pandora's Box … but if we are to predict what changes might burst from the vase, we must plunge into the past, to the Industrial Revolution and the Luddite's ill-fated uprising.
AI is ubiquitous. Good or bad? Catalyst for success or ruin? Impossible to tell. And yet, what dread the word inspires. AI. Like nuclear weapons before it, this technology is a new Pandora's Box.
In the early nineteenth century, the invention of various wide weaving frames shook the British textile industry to its core, brought productivity in textile mills to hitherto unimaginable rates and eliminated the need for scores of specialised workers.
Consequently, thousands lost their jobs, rendering many families destitute and driving them into the arms of the Luddites; an organised band of redundant workers who travelled the country smashing machines, burning factories, and sparking riots in protest of their lost livelihood.
The movement was quashed by a government crackdown which saw hundreds of Luddites executed, and thousands left penniless as industry steamrolled over them.
Back to the present, where many people are advocating restrictions on AI in order to protect their jobs. Modern Luddites. History repeating … but unlike the last impactless uprising of the early 1800s, the coming Luddite revolution might not be so easily ignored.
Accountants, financial advisers, computer programmers, legal advisers, white-collar jobs, highly sought after by the college-educated middle-class, all facing threat from AI.
Scary times if you're a student, watching the future you've spent years working for melting like a mirage, worse if you're several decades into your career, and worse still if you're the government forced to grapple with the problem of a fallen middle class.
According to figures published by the Pew Research in 2018 roughly half of US households are considered middle-class, while in Europe the number is roughly 40 percent, globally they are said to represent about 45 percent of the population. A healthy middle-class is synonymous with strong economic development, stable governance and political stability, greater value placed on education, reduced emigration and a less polarised society.
Scary times if you're a student, watching the future you've spent years working for melting like a mirage, worse if you're several decades into your career, and worse still if you're the government forced to grapple with the problem of a fallen middle class.
However, a squeezed and shrinking middle-class is synonymous with division and economic instability. Case in point, the United States, the UK and Brazil, nations have experienced sharp declines: this drop coinciding with a rise in social division, plunging economic fortunes and ratcheting levels of unrest.
As AI continues to develop, the number of middle-class jobs will shrink, and the divide between the haves, the corporate aristocracy that stand to line their pocket from AI, and the have-nots will grow. Competition for the dwindling number of white-collar jobs 'immune' to AI takeover will turn the already competitive job's market into a seething arena, while blue-collar workers, many of whom are well-under the poverty line, will face drastic cuts in their salaries as the out-of-pocket middle-class flood the market.
The governments of the world had best chart the coming years and decades with great care because if they're not careful, we'll destroy each other long before AI gets the chance to.