Threats of Evil AI: The threat to individual development
Today, Internet companies collect vast amounts of information about us. They track our movement patterns, our Internet browsing and purchasing habits, and our social media behavior: our family and friends, who we follow, which links we click on, which posts we pause at, which videos we watch. They even analyze the content of our communication, even including what we type but end up deleting. They also share this information in largely-unregulated markets. All this information then feeds into ever more accurate statistical models that describe who we are to the machines.
The machines can then use these models to predict our future behavior, such as which products we may like to purchase, which news items we are more likely to click on, which vacation packages might appeal to us, and so on. This helps the machines provide us with exactly the information we need, when we need it, which is great. They do so not only via online advertisements, but also through AI-powered voice assistants that live in our mobile phones or smart speakers. The average human today has a butler that medieval lords could only dream of.
But there is a moral hazard in this emerging economic model, which Harvard anthropologist Shoshana Zuboff dubbed ‘Surveillance Capitalism’. As Zuboff puts it, “it is no longer enough to automate information flows about us; the goal now is to automate us.” That is, the AIs will figure out ingenious ways to influence our behavior to further their ends, whether to sell us particular products, influence our voting behavior, or to keep us glued to our devices (so we can see more advertisements) rather than going out for a walk in the park. As such, the companies that operate these AIs have substantial power to influence to ends we cannot control, which is why it is not obvious if we should trust them.
Of course, we’ve always been subject to the assaults of advertisers, hawkers, hustlers, and propagandists. And there is a lot we can do, as individuals, to shield ourselves from those who try to influence us to their selfish ends. So I do not believe we are completely hapless puppets that can be fully manipulated by the strings of AI-driven devices. With that said, the extent of the ability of AI to influence us is still not well-understood: Can they alter major life decisions? Can they cause addition? And more worryingly, can AI-operated toys cause unhealthy behaviors in children or impede their development? We deserve to know the answers to these questions before we decide whether personal responsibility is sufficient, or explicit regulations and bans are required to protect us.
References
Pasternack, S. M. A. Here are the data brokers quietly buying and selling your personal information. Fast Company (2019).
Zuboff, S. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power: Barack Obama’s Books of 2019. (Profile Books, 2019).
Shulevitz, J. Alexa, should we trust you. The Atlantic (2018).