Alice in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: A Maze of Wonder and Perils

Artificial intelligence is an unprecedented transformative force that is rewriting the rules of entire sectors and ways of living. In a global warning recently published on the webpage of the Center for AI Safety, a group of industry leaders, including Sam Altman from OpenAI, Demis Hassabis from Google DeepMind, and Dario Amodei from Anthropic, highlighted the potential risk that artificial intelligence could pose, up to the possible extinction of humanity .

However, artificial intelligence, in itself, does not understand what it writes. It is a statistical model that generates output based on the data it has been trained with. This learning occurs through a process called machine learning, where AI analyzes repeated examples from a training dataset and learns to recognize patterns and associations.

There are two main methods of machine learning - supervised and unsupervised. In the former, the AI is 'taught' through labeled data, where each example in the training dataset is associated with a label or correct outcome. In contrast, in unsupervised learning, AI is exposed to unlabeled data and learns to recognize patterns and structures in this data on its own. In both cases, AI uses neural networks, which are computational models inspired by the operation of the human brain, to 'learn' from this data.

This way of learning can, however, bring with it bias. If the AI is trained on a dataset that contains biases, for example of gender, race, or age, it might 'learn' these biases and produce responses that reflect them. This raises important questions of accountability. Who is responsible when AI produces problematic results? Is it the creators of the AI? Is it those who provide the training data? These questions require extensive discussion, especially in light of the alarm raised by experts.

Our relationship with artificial intelligence can be effectively described through the analogy with "Alice in Wonderland". In this famous story, Alice goes through the mirror and finds herself in a completely different world, strange and uncertain, but fascinating at the same time. This is very similar to how we deal with artificial intelligence today. At first, AI may seem strange and incomprehensible to us, almost as if we have crossed the mirror into a new and unknown world. But over time, just like Alice, we can learn to understand and adapt to this new reality.

But for Alice, understanding Wonderland required a careful, curious, and conscious investigation, in the same way, we must actively engage in understanding AI and its implications. We must educate the public about AI and promote a culture of safe and effective use. We must work to develop regulations and guidelines that ensure responsible use of AI.

Artificial intelligence is having a profound impact on various sectors and aspects of society. It is transforming the way we work, how we impart education, how we manage our health, and how we interact with privacy. These changes have significant implications that we must address.

Finally, the issue of AI regulation is crucial. Different nations are addressing the question of AI regulation in different ways. Some are implementing strict privacy laws and ethical norms, while others are adopting a more lax approach. These differences in regulatory policies will have significant implications for the future of AI and society.

We should not fear artificial intelligence, but rather seek to understand and adapt to it, just like Alice did with the world beyond the mirror. However, this understanding must go hand in hand with careful scrutiny of the ethical, social, and regulatory issues that AI raises. This is even more urgent in light of the warning issued by the leaders of the artificial intelligence industry about the potential risk that AI could pose to humanity.