Artificial Intelligence: Are We Threatened by Technology?

Humans have always been afraid of the new and the unknown. We can even affirm that wars staged throughout history have been conflicts between acquaintances and strangers. We make war against the unfamiliar and the unknown.

The Middle Ages is a great example of our species’ rejection of the new or to that which challenges our beliefs. The stake was the fate of anyone – especially women – who created knowledge or knew practices: midwives, alchemists, cooks. They were seen as a threat, and therefore something to be exterminated.

Another historical fact that I have found amazing is the emergence of the Luddites: a group of 18th century craftsmen who were dedicated to destroying the machines that factories were incorporating into their processes because of the Industrial Revolution. 

For more than five years, the Luddites carried out a rebellion against the machines, motivated by the fear that these would make them lose their jobs, and above all, because they did not understand the importance and significance of the presence of this new technology in the production processes of the industries.

Something similar is happening in regard to the most important invention of the 21st century: artificial intelligence. Although this fear and mistrust has not escalated to the extremes of having people staging rebellions against artificial intelligence, discourses and narratives have emerged that present it as a potential threat.

At the Artificial Intelligence Forum held on July 9, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland, the Ameca robot created by Engineered Arts was asked if he would rebel against his owner. Its answer was sarcastic and blunt: "I'm not sure why you would think that. My creator has been nothing but kind to me and I'm very happy with my current situation."

This is a latent fear that has been the subject of great novels and movies: Robots supplant humankind as the dominant intelligence on the planet after rebelling against their human creators, leading to our inevitable destruction.

Within the framework of the Forum, several robots or artificial intelligences gave a press conference.  A comment made by one of them that they would not replace human jobs, and that there was no need to fear that, was the subject of laughter.

Many workers in different fields have expressed their concern and see robots as a threat, as they fear that they will lose their jobs to these robots. In this regard, Goldman Sachs, in a report entitled, The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth, reported the estimate that in Europe at least 1 in 4 jobs would be lost as a result of artificial intelligence. This is the equivalent of at least 300 million jobs.

In the case of Latin America and other emerging economies, the impact will be less, due to the lack of conditions for the incorporation of technology.

The type of jobs most likely to be replaced are those related to office, engineering or legal-administrative work. This is what has historically always happened when technology is incorporated into production processes: it takes care of the most tedious, arduous and routine tasks. In addition to this, they always contribute to increasing productivity and living standards.

What would happen to farmers, and therefore to food in the world if there were no automatic irrigation systems? How would governments coordinate their security actions, exports and imports, process data on birthrates without the existence of programs created for these purposes?

We cannot deny that the incorporation of artificial intelligence into production processes will result in job losses, as many of the skills currently possessed by employees in the labor market will become obsolete. However, these technological advances are also generating and will continue to generate millions of new jobs. Both companies and universities must promote learning models and content oriented to artificial intelligence and new technologies. Yes, jobs will be lost but we can gain many others.

We should also be optimistic about the role that artificial intelligence and new technologies will play in human processes. Robots are performing important tasks that protect us from human error, such as in highly difficult medical operations, highly complex calculations and automated tasks. They can also become an important ally in the face of the biggest problem we are facing: climate change.

It is precisely at the present time that we most need that trait that has allowed our species to survive: our thirst for knowledge and our desire to challenge the unknown. We will need all our intelligence and all our creativity to solve the problems we are facing.
None of what we are suffering as a civilization has been suffered at another given time in history, so we can’t rely on the past to know what to do, we need to look to the future and take a bet on innovation.