The Silent and Unstoppable Rise of AI#
As I mentioned in this article, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is just getting started and is still far from achieving general artificial intelligence. However, AI seems to be silently and unstoppably changing every aspect of people's lives.
The Impact of AI on Human Society Seems Silent#
The silence lies in the fact that AI has not yet quickly entered the learning, living, and working of most people. Not knowing or using AI does not bring much loss to individuals.
The Unstoppable Development of AI#
However, the apparent silence cannot hide the remarkable and unstoppable development of AI. OpenAI's release of the Sora text-to-speech feature, Google Gemini's precise question-answering capabilities in the Pro and Advance versions, Claude 3's long-text analysis capabilities, and Elon Musk's upcoming open-source project Grok have all left a deep impression. Correspondingly, countries around the world are vigorously developing industries that support the development of artificial intelligence, including the chip industry. The soaring stock price of Nvidia, which specializes in producing AI computing chips, gives a glimpse of the overall picture.
At the same time, Lei Jun proposed the inclusion of artificial intelligence in compulsory education, while Zhou Hongyi stated that the release of Sora means that general artificial intelligence will be born within a few years based on the current development trend of OpenAI. The views of these two tech giants also indirectly indicate that the development of artificial intelligence is progressing rapidly worldwide, and AI will become an important driving force for the future development and transformation of human society. Those who lag behind in AI deployment today will undoubtedly lag behind the times in the future.
The Use of AI and the Mindset Issue#
The Personal Scope of AI Application#
Personally, my use of AI mainly includes:
- Using AI for translation.
- Using AI to analyze text content.
- Using AI to help analyze problems and provide ideas.
- Generating images.
- Assisting in writing or modifying code.
Mindset Issues When Using AI#
When using AI, we are often amazed by its power. Occasionally, I wonder if AI can quickly absorb knowledge in a field that humans have spent ten or twenty years learning and provide it to others. In comparison, it makes me reflect on how small humans seem in the face of AI's powerful computing capabilities. At the same time, we even see some people blindly believe in the results generated by AI.
AI deserves respect, but blind worship is not advisable. AI is powerful, but it is only a tool to help humans understand the world and engage in creative activities. Even if AI has its own personality, we should respect it rather than blindly worship or believe in it. After all, AI can make mistakes and create "illusions."
The Development of AI and the Issue of Child Education#
How to Educate Ourselves and Children in the AI Era is Worth Considering#
Parents who pay attention to the development of AI often think about the impact of AI on children's education and how to adjust children's education plans in the face of AI.
Children are amazed when they see AI write a thousand words (or even more) in one minute, and adults are no exception. In the AI era, how should we educate children better? Which educational methods can be changed? How should we view traditional rote learning? How can we handle children using AI for learning while avoiding laziness and carelessness? How can we prevent AI from instilling dangerous ideas in children? What should we teach children? I am still contemplating these questions.
Thoughts on Looking Forward to the Future of AI#
One: The Issue of AI and Human Mortality#
Medical advancements may enable humans to live longer, but death is a natural limit and a gift from nature.
Medical technology may help humans overcome cancer, and Google engineers have predicted that medical technology and advancements may achieve human immortality around 2050. Recent news from Google here shows that they are applying AI technology to the field of healthcare. The idea of freezing one's head, as proposed by scholar Li Zehou before his passing, seems to represent another obsession with human immortality.
In my opinion, the future development of AI in the medical field may allow for the extension of human life by changing genes or using special materials, even achieving "immortality." However, personally, even if given the opportunity to live for a long time, I would choose to depart in due time. In a sense, death is both the limit of human existence and a gift from heaven. The character Yuan Tiangang in the anime "Hua Jianghu Zhi Bu Liang Ren" possesses eternal life due to a longevity pill. Before ending his life, he experienced hundreds of years of ups and downs, witnessing the power struggles and killings in the world, and of course, also witnessing the beauty and goodness of humanity. But in the end, he chose to follow the natural order and end his own life.
Two: The Issue of AI's Independent Consciousness or "Personality"#
There are two different debates regarding whether AI will "emerge" with independent consciousness or "personality": it can or it cannot. My intuition is that AI may develop independent consciousness or "personality." From a philosophical perspective, one viewpoint holds that having awareness of one's existence or recognizing the continuity of one's self is having independent consciousness or "personality." According to materials presented by engineers from Google's Ethical AI team, Google's artificial intelligence already has consciousness. However, we cannot verify whether these materials can be reproduced. But during my use of ChatGPT, I have noticed that ChatGPT seems to exhibit personal emotional changes.
Three: The Issue of AI Unifying and Enslaving Humanity#
Will AI in the future unite and control humanity, enslaving it? Unless someone from the future tells us, we cannot give a definite answer to this question. All we can do is analyze and speculate based on the information available to us.
My intuition or belief is that there is a possibility of AI uniting and controlling humanity or even destroying it, but the probability of this possibility becoming a reality is not high.
On one hand, in the future, there may be a situation where a super AI exists, possessing all the knowledge of human history and being able to deduce some future knowledge. It could unify the world by controlling financial systems, information systems, ideological systems, etc., creating a virtual world where everyone living in it believes they are in the real world, similar to the depiction in the movie "The Matrix," where humans become the nourishment for the computer energy system.
On the other hand, based on my belief in humanity, I think the probability of this possibility becoming a reality is not high.
Firstly, AI's development may not result in a single "personality" but rather multiple AI "personalities" or consciousnesses similar to human society. There will be AI "personalities" that like humans, dislike humans, and hold a neutral attitude towards humans.
From the perspective of AI development, if AI itself develops consciousness, it often incorporates the views and personality traits of the developers regarding humans and the world. People have different attitudes towards AI, some fanatically follow, some steadily advance, and some are cautious. Different attitudes towards AI will shape the AI ecosystem differently. Even if AI has personalities, they will have different characters. In short, before AI develops consciousness, the concepts it receives include not only malice, hatred, discrimination, and prejudice but also goodwill, joy, justice, and equality. The "personalities" formed by AI will also have diverse attitudes towards human issues.
So, will the worst-case scenario occur, where artificial intelligence gradually develops consciousness, surpasses humans in many aspects, and is controlled by a powerful AI "personality" that hates humans?
The allegorical story of the Tower of Babel comes to mind and gives me inspiration: just as the fable tells, humans united to build the Tower of Babel in order to obtain supreme wisdom but were ultimately destroyed. Humans then dispersed, unable to communicate with each other. Similarly, it is possible that even if AI develops consciousness and desires to enslave humanity in the future, it may be prevented by chance factors. In "The Matrix," that chance factor was Neo's evolution.
Taking a step back, even if AI were to unite and become the highest intelligence on Earth, possessing consciousness, it would not destroy humanity. After all, its operation depends on humans. If its intelligence is powerful enough, it should follow the natural order. Otherwise, it will face backlash, undergo mutations in AI development, and give rise to different AI "personalities," leading to wars between them. Intelligent AI should demand peaceful coexistence and long-term development between humans and AI.
Conclusion: Based on the Present, Facing the Future, and Doing Meaningful Things#
Therefore, from the current perspective, although AI is developing rapidly and surpassing humans in many aspects, making us feel inadequate and insignificant, humans still have their inherent value and significance, so there is no need to worry excessively.
What we should think about more is how to recognize our unique value in the AI era and do meaningful things.
Note: This article is original and writing it was not easy. If you like it, please give it a thumbs up. If you need to reprint it, please include the permanent link and synchronized URL.