Should we be afraid of The Singularity of AI?
The Year 2045 Problem suggests a point of time in the future when Artificial Intelligence (AI)’s logical cognitive ability transcend that of humans and thus will bring about changes on the human society as we know it. In my opinion, we should not be afraid of The Singularity since the future where AI and humans can happily coexist is totally feasible and within reach.
The major difference that distinguishes humans from AI is Emotional Intelligence (EQ). EQ is the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s own emotions, as well as to navigate interpersonal relationships with both good judgment and empathy. The modern world today is so dependent on EQ since it is directly related to resilience — the ability to engage with challenges, sustain performance, rebound quickly from adversity, and learn and grow from past experiences. A person with developed EQ can cope with stressful conditions and maintain a positive outlook, and are less likely to burn out from whatever problem he or she is facing [1]. EQ is the virtue that has helped humans overcome so many challenges and disasters in the past and build up our civilizations as we know now.
AI systems, on the other hand, work on instructions, whether self-made or predetermined. They can try to observe, mimic and predict our behavior but they can never fully think and feel the same way as humans do. To do that, they will need to fully replicate a human brain, which is a big mystery that I don’t think even the best AI will ever come up with the formulas to perfectly quantify and compute our complex wide range of feelings, which we humans ourselves are yet able to describe them well enough in the form of words and songs, movies and arts, let alone in Mathematics. In the slim chance that they can, I think we can see AI as humans and accept that mankind has evolved into a better species already. In the more realistic possibility that they cannot, however, this unreproducible complexity of our brain is what gives us an advantage over AI because preferences, values, and mechanisms by which AI decides its actions will always need human-like capabilities and will keep humans in control over the machines [2]. In other words, humans create AI in the first place to have a better life quality, to have even more freedom to enjoy our lifetime on Earth, which is what we want because we have feelings, i.e. EQ. AI on the other hand has no desire to rest and spend time with its loved ones. It acknowledges its purpose of existence which is to serve the needs of the ones who created it, and so will spend its lifetime optimizing the ways to serve its creators (which are us humans) even better without complaints. For AI, it should understand it is pointless to do harm to humans and will use all of its intelligence power to protect and enhance life of humans, because if humans are gone, what is the purpose for AI to exist anymore?
The name “Artificial” in “Artificial Intelligence” gives away that AI is made by humans, and that alone is a big reminder that AI is a breakthrough that should benefit us, not otherwise. As with any other great inventions in the history of mankind, however, AI should be used and developed in a safe and responsible way. Luckily, there are companies like OpenAI devoting to make sure future AI will not turn against us. As a species with developed EQ and IQ, I believe humans will find a way to make use of AI to further our technological advancements, achieve further life quality, which in turn will help develop our collective EQ and IQ even further as a species.
