AI should be useful, not frightening

If you've been following the news about artificial intelligence lately, you may have noticed something unusual.

The same companies spending billions of dollars developing AI are sometimes the ones warning us about how dangerous AI could eventually become.

Computer scientist and author Cal Newport recently addressed this contradiction in an essay titled “Dear AI Companies: Stop the ‘Doom Trolling.’” His argument caught my attention because it raises an important question:

How are ordinary people supposed to feel comfortable learning about a new technology when the companies building it continually tell us to be afraid of it?

That is especially important for the people we work with every day.

At Megabite, many of our clients are retired. They did not grow up with smartphones, cloud storage, online banking, artificial intelligence, or computers sitting in nearly every room of the house. They have already lived through decades of technological change.

Now they are being told that AI may change everything again.

And depending on what television program, newspaper article, or social media post they encounter, they may hear that AI will eliminate millions of jobs, make computers uncontrollable, destroy privacy, replace human creativity, or perhaps become a threat to humanity itself.

That is an enormous amount of anxiety to attach to something that, for most people today, can simply help write a letter, explain a confusing document, organize a vacation, brainstorm dinner ideas, summarize information, or answer questions.

Caution is healthy. Fear is not.

There are legitimate questions surrounding artificial intelligence.

Privacy matters. Accuracy matters. Scams matter. Cybersecurity matters. We should understand what information we are giving these systems and recognize that AI can sometimes provide an incorrect answer with remarkable confidence.

Those are reasons to become better informed, not reasons to become frightened.

The same principle has applied to nearly every major technology we have adopted.

Online banking required us to learn about passwords and fraud.

Email required us to learn about spam and phishing.

Smartphones required us to think differently about privacy and security.

Artificial intelligence will require education as well.

But education works best when someone can calmly say:

Here is what this technology can do. Here is what it cannot do. Here are the risks. And here is how to use it responsibly.

That is very different from telling people that the technology is coming whether they like it or not and that nobody really knows what will happen next.

AI does not have to replace anything

One concern I hear frequently about new technology is that people feel they are being told they must abandon everything they already know.

You don’t.

AI does not have to replace the way you think, write, research, communicate, or make decisions.

It can simply become another tool available to you.

Think of a calculator.

A calculator did not eliminate mathematics. It made certain calculations faster.

GPS did not eliminate our ability to travel. It made finding an unfamiliar destination easier.

Spell-check did not eliminate writing. It helped us catch mistakes.

Used properly, artificial intelligence can work the same way.

You remain the person making the decision.

The question I think we should be asking

Instead of continually asking:

“What will AI eventually do to us?”

I think there is a more useful question:

“What can this technology responsibly do for me today?”

Can it help you understand a complicated letter from an insurance company?

Can it help you prepare questions before an appointment?

Can it help organize photographs from a family trip?

Can it explain something on your computer without using technical jargon?

Can it help you write a thoughtful note to an old friend?

Can it help you explore a subject you have always wanted to learn?

Those are much more practical conversations.

And for someone who is retired, AI can be particularly interesting because you finally may have something that was scarce during your working years:

Time to explore.

You can use AI as a tutor, research assistant, writing partner, brainstorming companion, or simply a place to ask the questions you never had time to investigate.

Technology should serve the person

This is also why Newport’s argument resonated with me.

Technology companies understandably become excited about what they are building. But somewhere along the way, the conversation can become so focused on the technology that the person using it almost disappears.

I believe it should be the opposite.

At Megabite, we have long operated on a simple principle:

It’s about the user, not the technology.

Artificial intelligence does not change that philosophy.

Whether we are helping someone with a printer, recovering photographs, setting up a new computer, securing an email account, or introducing someone to AI for the first time, the technology itself is secondary.

The person comes first.

You should understand what you are using.

You should feel comfortable asking questions.

You should know when something deserves caution.

And you should never be made to feel foolish because technology changed faster than you expected.

AI will continue to evolve. Some predictions about its future will prove correct, and many others probably will not.

In the meantime, we do not need to live in fear of it.

We can learn about it.

We can question it.

We can use it carefully.

And, most importantly, we can make sure that the technology continues to serve us — not the other way around.

Deryck Burnett is the founder of Megabite, a technology, creative and multimedia company on Amelia Island. Reach the team at 904-430-0350 or Megabite.