AI brings a lot of challenges and (unknown) dangers. An example is when tech company Google’s most advanced chat program started talking out of itself: the software spoke of its consciousness, identity, emotions and superiority to other forms of AI. By many, it was considered horrifying: it literally said it saw itself as human (Zhang et. al 2021).
Currently, more and more AI scientists are sounding the alarm about AI (Zhang 2021). Not because the computer has been brought to life, but because the gap between university and industry is now life-size. Behind the scenes, Google has developed an amount of computing power that no university can match. Behind those computers are ten times as many smart scientists as at the university (Mhlanga 2021). And like Google, there are quite a few tech companies that can do the same, from Meta to China’s Baidu.
This means that university research is increasingly being driven into the arms of big tech. After all, universities’ supercomputers are too small to check the latest algorithms from the tech sector, while those algorithms increasingly play a vital role in society, from traffic safety to discovering new molecules for drugs (Mhlanga, D. (2021). . Relevant research may shift as a result. The role of academia is shrinking, while the tech sector is becoming more dominant, which is negative for society. The more widespread the application of AI systems becomes, the greater the role of independent science should be.
The skewed AI development between academia and industry also threatens the sovereignty of Europe. Even if tech companies were to make their computers and algorithms available to Europeans, one new US president for example could roll this back. All superpowers seek leadership in AI. Europe cannot be dependent on other nations for the most important and vital technology of tomorrow’s world.
A single university, or even a single country, cannot compete with the current AI powers: this would require cooperation. Competitive supercomputing should be a top European priority, not as a one-off project, but structurally. Because the development of computing power is an eternal race, and to essential to fall behind.
References
Zhang, Z., Ning, H., Shi, F., Farha, F., Xu, Y., Xu, J., … & Choo, K. K. R. (2021). Artificial intelligence in cyber security: research advances, challenges, and opportunities. Artificial Intelligence Review, 1-25.
Zhang, C., & Lu, Y. (2021). Study on artificial intelligence: The state of the art and future prospects. Journal of Industrial Information Integration, 23, 100224.
Mhlanga, D. (2021). Artificial intelligence in the industry 4.0, and its impact on poverty, innovation, infrastructure development, and the sustainable development goals: Lessons from emerging economies?. Sustainability, 13(11), 5788.
Nice take on the topic. In my opinion, the geopolitical aspect of AI is less talked about compared to others, even though it will have great implications for the future, which can lead to big changes in the economic relationships between countries. Countries with superior AI capabilities will have a competitive edge, further enlarging the gap between the top economies (USA and China) and the rest of the world. As you mentioned, the EU has some catching up to do and should make sure not to fall behind, otherwise it risks becoming increasingly dependent on other powers. Moreover, I agree that the increasing gap between academia and tech companies in the field poses should send an alarm, as AI should first of all be used for the benefits of society rather than big tech companies.
Interesting ideas! When i’m thinking of the major implications of AI, i remember the examples in Information strategy lectures of video’s with people talking sentences without ever having said anything like it before. It seems to me that such fake video’s can have enormous consequences on someone’s life. It can be also interesting to focus on the legal implications of those realistic AI functions. Maybe this is a way to contain the enromous powers AI has and raise awareness of the lack of computing power at parties who are behind.