As with other conundrums of the day (guns don’t kill people, people kill people for example) the course of evolution for AI is squarely on the shoulders of both those developing it and those who will leverage it’s capabilities. Just as HIPAA compliance is more about the user than the device or thing so it will go for AI.

If you’re ethically pure (a good person) and certainly careful then the partnership with AI will be a boon to society. On the other hand, science fiction is rife dystopian futures where some megalomaniacal artificial intelligence takes over at the expense of the human race. I fear that some of the people who will be responsible for the ethical pursuit and ultimate governance of AI simply don’t understand it or worse, lack the ethical backbone to bear that responsibility.

BY KEVIN DALLAS – Artificial intelligence is revolutionary, but it’s not without its controversies. Many hail it as a chance for a fundamental upgrade to human civilization. Some believe it can take us down a dangerous path, potentially arming governments with dangerous Orwellian surveillance and mass control capabilities.

We have to remember that any technology is only as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ as the people who use it. Consider the EU’s hailed ‘blueprint for AI regulation’ and China’s proposed crackdown on AI development; these instances seek to regulate AI as if it were already an autonomous, conscious technology. It isn’t. The U.S. must think wisely before following in their footsteps and consider addressing the actions of the user behind the AI.

In theory, the EU’s proposed regulation offers reasonable guidelines for the safe and equitable development of AI. In practice, these regulations may well starve the world of groundbreaking developments, such as in industry productivity or healthcare and climate change mitigation — areas that desperately need to be addressed. 

You can hardly go through a day without engaging with AI. If you’ve searched for information online, been given directions on your smartphone or even ordered food, then you’ve experienced the invisible hand of AI. 

Yet this technology does not just exist to make our lives more convenient; it has been pivotal in our fight against the COVID pandemic. It proved instrumental in identifying the spike protein behind many of the vaccines being used today. Read On: