Google Green Lights Its AI To Be Used In Weapons & Surveillance Development
By: Desmond Price
The Google owner, Alphabet, has dropped its promise not to use artificial intelligence for purposes such as developing weapons and surveillance tools.
The US technology company said on Tuesday, just before it reported lower-than-forecast earnings, that it had updated its ethical guidelines around AI, and they no longer referred to not pursuing technologies that could “cause or are likely to cause overall harm”.
Google’s AI head, Demis Hassabis, said the guidelines were being overhauled in a changing world and that AI should protect “national security”.
In a blogpost defending the move, Hassabis and the company’s senior vice-president for technology and society, James Manyika, wrote that as global competition for AI leadership increased, the company believed “democracies should lead in AI development” that was guided by “freedom, equality, and respect for human rights”.
They added: “We believe that companies, governments, and organisations sharing these values should work together to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security.”
Source - The Guardian
A lot of you are either newer subscribers from here on Substack, or just recently started following me on Instagram, so you probably haven’t had a chance to hear my fears around artificial intelligence yet. So I will start by summing them up as best as I can.
AI has always been my number 1 fear for how the world would end.
Yes, artificial intelligence, not:
Zombies
A pandemic
Aliens
Climate change
World war 3
An asteroid ☄️
Yellowstone finally erupting
It’s possibly due to watching the Matrix, the Terminator & iRobot a lot as a kid, but beyond that, something just felt oddly simplistic about it.
If we give birth to a new form of sentience, how long until it identifies humans as a plight to the planet and takes us all out?
Growing up, it felt like us millennials would always joke “who do you want with you for the zombie apocalypse?” However, I was always more concerned with the robot apocalypse. And while climate change & world war 3 are still viable options, I’ve never shaken my fear of what a full sentient AI system could do, after it had access to every major system on the planet 👀
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Anyway, that’s enough focusing on my, *hopefully* nonsense paranoia about AI. So now let’s focus on things we know to be tangible.
Why We Should All Be Concerned
It’s no secret that artificial intelligence is here to stay. It has already entered every classroom setting, in the form of ChatGPT. It’s making its way into hospitals, call centers, social media, hell it’s even taking your order at the Taco 🌮 Bell drive through.
The question isn’t whether or not AI can enhance our lives and make everyday processes easier, but rather what if any, limits should be imposed on this technology.
It’s that very question that’s been pondered a lot over the last several years. Back in 2023, over 1,000 tech experts, scientists & other surrounding the industry called for an “AI moratorium”, so the world could catch up to the implications of artificial intelligence’s impacts on our society. Something I found to be incredibly reasonable & rational.
The technology is expanding at a pace that hasn’t allowed the world to examine what impacts it could have on the planet, and also importantly, what safeguards might be required to protect the citizens of the world.
With a tool as powerful as AI, it SHOULD BE the most regulated entity on the planet.
Yes, the most regulated.
Google removing its own longstanding policy of “do no harm”, to allow its AI to be used in weapons development & surveillance technology is not surprising. Corporations will always chase the illusion of “never-ending profits” at all costs, it what they do.
But nevertheless, we as a society are already lacking in adequate protections against government surveillance & the weapons of war are already stronger than they need to be.
Adding a multiplier like AI to the equation, takes two forces - weapons & surveillance - and makes the limits for oppression and destruction to an incalculable level.
My focus & goal for bringing you this news, is rather for us to all ponder the question of what we want? What kind of world are we willing to live in & whether or not we’re willing to accept this dangerous integration?
Yes, there are those like me who have an immense (possibly irrational) fear of AI & see every advancement it makes as a threat. There are others who welcome every step it takes, seeing only the benefits it can bring to society.
Regardless of where you fall in the love/hate spectrum for this technology, I hope 1 thing would remain true for everyone — we need more regulation, oversight & protections from this technology.
Would you agree?
Please comment below ⬇️
While many might use AI for altruistic reasons & advancing society, we should never assume that others would do the opposite. Therefore, we as people, need protection against these new potential abuses.
It’s troubling to me, to see a force so powerful, now being integrated into weapons and surveillance technology, and we still barely grasp its capability.
And no, this isn’t just the direct parallels that are drawn to Skynet (iykyk).
As we continue to see AI further infused into our world, I hope enough of us, will demand this force is safe & well managed.
We simply cannot afford the alternative.
Until next time,
Desmond
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Google broke their promise to do no harm because money has replaced their conscience
I would like off of this ride.