What is missing in the list of harms AI will likely do, is removing our significance as humans, and contributing to further shrinking our brains since we won't need to memorize, create or solve problems any longer.
While I agree we cannot stop or maybe even slow down AI's rapid development, I don't think we are equipped to contain it's potential damage.
I remember asking early on one of the founders of AOL (on an NPR program), if the company should be held responsible if humans did not judiciously chat on the internet, just like car companies are responsible to provide safety features on a car, to which he replied that no, internet companies are not responsible for human behavior which should be entrusted to users.
I fear the developers of AI will be just as irresponsible in their vision of the future.
Let's be clear, I am not disputing AI's amazing potential. In clinical practice, I am witnessing medical house staff increasingly unable to master patient's cases in a credible fashion, lost in a sea of outdated EMR notes and unable to memorize or even clearly list tests performed, not to mention the just about disappearing clinical exam as more time is spent on unreliable EMR that was supposedly designed to help us become better physicians. Perhaps a machine will be better eyes, ears and brain, but in the end, will it create worse physicians? And if AI's knowledge is based on data interpretation, and that this data is pooled from EMR or incorrect data, will it be credible? Not to mention the fact that there is less and less confidence in science among the public, as we painfully witnessed during the pandemic, so how will people feel about data generated by machines, will the public believe it?
Thank you for your astute summary.
What is missing in the list of harms AI will likely do, is removing our significance as humans, and contributing to further shrinking our brains since we won't need to memorize, create or solve problems any longer.
While I agree we cannot stop or maybe even slow down AI's rapid development, I don't think we are equipped to contain it's potential damage.
I remember asking early on one of the founders of AOL (on an NPR program), if the company should be held responsible if humans did not judiciously chat on the internet, just like car companies are responsible to provide safety features on a car, to which he replied that no, internet companies are not responsible for human behavior which should be entrusted to users.
I fear the developers of AI will be just as irresponsible in their vision of the future.
Will look forward to reading the book.
Let's be clear, I am not disputing AI's amazing potential. In clinical practice, I am witnessing medical house staff increasingly unable to master patient's cases in a credible fashion, lost in a sea of outdated EMR notes and unable to memorize or even clearly list tests performed, not to mention the just about disappearing clinical exam as more time is spent on unreliable EMR that was supposedly designed to help us become better physicians. Perhaps a machine will be better eyes, ears and brain, but in the end, will it create worse physicians? And if AI's knowledge is based on data interpretation, and that this data is pooled from EMR or incorrect data, will it be credible? Not to mention the fact that there is less and less confidence in science among the public, as we painfully witnessed during the pandemic, so how will people feel about data generated by machines, will the public believe it?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Sincerely, Michèle Halpern, MD