There is too little attention to the dark sides of AI, according to innovation expert Simone van Neerven. Technology determines what we see, do, and how we feel. We get out of touch with our bodies, and we get lonelier. ‘Millions of people spend more time with AI characters than with family or friends.’
The end of the world
The Cold War is in full swing, and Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet military officer, is responsible for the warning system for nuclear attacks. On September 26, 1983, the alarm goes off, and on his screen, the word LAUNCH appears in big, bold red letters. Soon after, a new alarm that a second missile was fired, followed by a third, a fourth and a fifth. The text on his screen changes to MISSILE STRIKE.
It seems that the Americans are firing missiles at Russia, and Petrov has to act quickly. But something tells him that things seem off. In a split second, he decides. He calls his superior to say the alarm is false and prevents the Russians from launching a counterattack. A brave decision because what if the attack was really happening?
It turned out the computer was wrong because the system had mistaken the reflection of the sun on the clouds for missiles. Petrov had averted a global nuclear war.
Trust your intuition
Petrov listened to that little voice in his head wondering what was really going on. He trusted his intuition. But often, we ignore that feeling and sigh afterwards: “I knew it”, or “It did not feel right from the start”. Research shows that we make better decisions by paying attention to our intuition. For instance, during a job interview, you see through a toxic boss more easily and spot fake news faster.
But what is intuition? For years, Giel Beelen has tried to grasp it in his KUKURU podcast by asking every guest whether intuition is trainable. The answers vary, but two common themes seem crucial: to be in good contact with yourself and listen to the signals from your body.
Technology changes our behaviour
And that is precisely the problem because technology shuts us off from what and how we feel. Nowadays, instead of tuning into our bodies to see if we have slept well, we check our smartwatch. At the gym, people constantly look at their smartwatch for their heart rate and amount of calories burned rather than just enjoying their workout.
Technology is optimised for our animal instincts, and as a result, we unconsciously make choices that benefit a company’s profit but are not necessarily good for us. Since McDonald’s introduced the self-service kiosks, customers order differently and eat more. That mainly affects men, who now order two hamburgers instead of just one.
AI makes us lonelier
Every second we are not doing anything, we grab our mobile and are sucked into it, watching meaningless videos selected by AI to keep our attention as long as possible. But these moments of boredom, when we do nothing, reduce stress and make us more creative.
Recent research by professors David De Cremer and Joel Koopman shows that employees who use a lot of AI in their daily work feel lonelier, drink more and sleep worse than employees who do not. The reason for that is that AI helps them to work more efficiently. They complete more tasks and become so absorbed in their work that they have less and less social contact with their colleagues.
Character.ai, which specialises in AI personas, now has 80 million users who spend an average of two hours a day talking to fictional characters such as ‘mafia boyfriend’, ‘campfire girl’ and ‘school bully’. That’s more time than they spend physically with family or friends.
Worrying development
It seems that this trend will not stop, on the contrary. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently announced: “Whether we burn $500 million, $5 billion, or $50 billion a year, I don’t care. We are making AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), and it is going to be expensive and totally worth it.”
We live in a world where machines get more articulate, analytical, critical thinking, contextual, and deep understanding, while humans have resorted to short tweets, emojis, memes, and stickers to communicate. As singer and investor will.i.am noted: “Investments in AI to make machines smarter – there’s no limit to the amount of money that’s been pumped into it. The investment in HI to make humans smarter, human intelligence, that’s just sad.”
This article was originally published in Dutch on MT/Sprout, the most popular business and management platform in the Netherlands.
CHRO.nl
January 15, 2024
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