AI uses a massive amount of electricity, and like Bitcoin is a crazy thing for humans to be doing when we are battling climate change. There are only two reasons for AI that I know of – health and prosperity.
I an of course okay with the health angle. Using AI to discover cures for illnesses and diseases is a wonderful thing, and if we can restrict the use of AI to just that, it is worth the cost.
All the other reasons, regardless of what they are, boil down to “prosperity”. Inventing new materials, writing code, making video ads from a sentence, writing reports for your boss… all can be seen as valuable in terms of dollars. None of them materially improve our wellbeing. All they do is make money for someone.
And that’s where the ultimate problem lies. Prosperity from AI (artificial intelligence) sound great on paper, with more GDP and greater profits. But since the 70s such prosperity has primarily not been passed on to the regular person. We work longer hours (with typically two workers in a household, versus one back then), and houses are less affordable. Life for the regular person has become harder, not easier – although we have benefited from cheaper food and more consumer items.
The prosperity goes to the already rich. AI doesn’t make our lives fundamentally better. It will take jobs from people, it will burn a huge amount of fossil fuels, and it will make the rich richer. If we can stop it, we should.