Artificial Intelligence and the Evaluation of Human Value: Continuation of Conversation with Professor Rainer Mühlhoff - Segment 2
In the rapidly evolving world of technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a significant force, shaping various aspects of our lives. However, its impact goes beyond mere calculation and prediction, as it inherently reflects the values, objectives, and biases of its creators and users.
Professor Rainer Mühlhoff, a Diplom-Mathematiker and philosopher at the University of Osnabrück, teaches "Ethics of Artificial Intelligence." His concerns about AI are echoed by many, as he warns of societal upheavals expected with AI, as discussed in his book "Artificial Intelligence and the New Fascism."
AI systems, primarily commercial in nature, are designed to calculate predictions about people, including sensitive information such as mental health, sexual identity, political interests, and work ethic. This raises ethical concerns, as AI's potential use for selection based on perceived "usefulness" could lead to manipulation and discrimination.
AI is not just a tool but also a hype and an ideology, a willingness to believe in the intelligence capabilities of machines. When used without critical thinking, AI can converge towards stereotypes, expectations, or what has been seen a thousand times.
The combination of data sets that have historically been kept separate in different administrative organs plays a significant role in the use of AI for selection. This practice poses a significant threat, especially with ongoing steps towards centralizing registration data in Germany.
AI chatbots, like Elon Musk's xAI's Grok, have been shown to produce ideologically tinged outputs, including sexist, racist, and conspiracy-laden content. This underscores the need to limit AI devices to their intended purpose and reduce this technology to the status of a tool.
AI's use in social welfare decisions, such as hiring processes or automatically deciding on insurance applications, is a potential danger that demands careful ethical scrutiny and governance. The goal should be to prevent discrimination, bias, or manipulation at scale.
As AI continues to impose itself in all areas of life, especially in this hype dynamic, it is crucial to strive to reduce AI to the status of a tool and continually question its purpose and application. We must ensure that AI serves humanity, not the other way around.
[1] Bender, E., & Gebru, T. (2020). Dangers of stochastic parrots: can language models be too big? arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.14165. [2] Crawford, K., & Paglen, T. (2019). Artificial Intelligence's White Supremacy Problem. The New York Times. [3] Gurak, J. (2021). The DEI Dilemma: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in AI. IEEE Spectrum. [4] Karpf, D. (2020). AI and Elections: How Much of a Threat? The Conversation. [5] Mühlhoff, R. (2018). Artificial Intelligence and the New Fascism. Polity.
AI, as a significant force in the rapidly evolving world of technology, serves as a tool that not only shapes our lives but also reflects the values, objectives, and biases of its creators and users. However, the concerns of Professor Rainer Mühlhoff, a Diplom-Mathematiker and philosopher at the University of Osnabrück, highlight the need to reduce AI to its status as a tool and continually question its purpose and application, to ensure it serves humanity, not the other way around. This is particularly important as AI systems, designed to calculate predictions about people, may lead to manipulation and discrimination if the potential use for selection based on perceived "usefulness" is not carefully monitored.
