Everyone has an opinion, so here is mine!

My reasoning is based on several personal views:

  • I start with the biggest question: Is there a God? I think there is something we have not yet discovered, and I lean towards humans communicating at a subconscious level without our conscious state knowing.
  • In Western medicine, emphasis has been placed on the organs and how they work. Eastern medicine looks at the whole biology of the body and how energy flows through it.  Based on ancient Eastern culture, it has been demonstrated that our life force or qi (chi) can be harnessed with mental intent and training. In effect, a relaxed body can muster more force based on Newton’s 2nd and 3rd laws of motion.
  • Humans have not found the balance of life. They have destroyed much of the Earth and continue to do so even though the evidence of climate change will lead to unknown weather-related disasters. They also move closer to a world war with the threat of nuclear extermination.
  • Our knowledge of how our brains work and our understanding and exploration of the oceans and space is limited. Why do we think we have the deep insight and knowledge to allow machines to learn? We know that the World is made up of opposites, day/night, right/wrong, good/bad, etc. There will be good AI and bad AI. How this plays out has already been predicted in films and books, which brings me back to subconsciously communicating and providing us with a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Many societies place political correctness as a cornerstone in the way policies are enacted. A nihilistic and woke approach to AI will lead to the wrong outcomes. AI structure should, above everything else, be truth-seeking, love humanity and pursue the best interests of humanity going forward. 

Energy

Cloud Computing currently has a larger carbon footprint than the airline industry. The AI market was worth 200 billion dollars in 2023 and is expected to grow 20% per year. Where does the energy come from to provide power for the computer clusters required for processing AI data? The Sun is the only power source capable of providing power without affecting climate change. We are using less than 1/8000th of the sun’s energy on the surface of the Earth. Less than 1% on the Kardashev Scale 1 for a civilisation using the Sun’s energy. (Kardashev Scale 2 is when you have harnessed all of the power of the Sun). All energy will be from the Sun in the future. AI clusters are difficult to run – you have to train a frontier model, a massive amount of computing and technical skills only a few companies possess at present. It may be that for the man in the street who doesn’t require powerful AI tools, the next-generation home computers or laptops will become small clusters in their own right, reducing the large cluster requirement. However, history has taught us that world power requirement will continue to grow.

Human Interface

AI uses vast amounts of data, but how is this generated? There is a book called “Feeding the Machine, the Hidden Labour Powering AI”, by James Muldoon, Callum Cant & Mark Graham. Tens of thousands of poorly paid workers in the global South, called Data Annotators, work in Outsource Centres for the large tech companies. How do we create a world in which machines serve humans? It requires a constant supply of natural resources, human intelligence and human labour to function. Social Media content moderators are mainly outsourced to the global south, where conditions and pay are low. These people are subjected to horrific content for long hours for a dollar/hour, processing one every 55 seconds for 10 hours/day, often 6 days per week. The job is a mixture of complete boredom, horrific scenes, and experiences with deadlines that must be met with no escape, devastating their lives and causing mental health problems. Counselling is provided, but the efficacy of the service is not monitored, and many do not have time to attend clinics. When tech companies outsource AI data processing if the same annotators are exploited by these “digital sweatshops”, can the outcome of the process be valid and trusted? To improve the conditions of annotators, the EU has an initiative called “The Due Diligence Directive”, which sets minimal environmental and social standards for companies in their total production processes and networks. If anyone is employed or outsourced in the production of AI, the tech company must adhere to the directive.

In her book, “Middle Tech Software, Work and the Culture of Good Enough” by Paula Bialski, University of St Gallen, Switzerland. The mood of the software engineers (outside of the USA) has changed from enthusiastic to indifferent. They just want to do their work, take breaks, have lunch, leave on time, and do only what is required of them. There is a nonchalance to scrupulous checks as they know that if the software has a bug, then an online update will be issued.

Real humans are behind the creation of AI, and if we want it to work properly, we need to look after the socioeconomic and health conditions of the people who produce it. 

The Future Outlook

Is this Sci-Fi or reality? If we look at the man behind breaking more technological barriers than anyone, Elon Musk, his Neuralink company has successfully produced a brain-machine interface that, to date, has been inserted into the brains of two people, who can now operate a computer with just their thoughts. This holds huge potential for the restoration of damaged human sensory and motor function and the treatment of neurological disorders. Trials with more humans are planned. Musk said he was influenced by the “Culture” series of sci-fi books by Iain M Banks, where “Minds” communicate with one another and influence control within their culture and without. They are giant spaceships supporting huge populations, and they have avatars to communicate to the populace. Human agents of the culture communicate with a neural lace, very much like the Neuralink. The technology of Neuralink is a scalable high-bandwidth brain-machine interface system and requires neurosurgical robots to insert arrays of miniature flexible ultra-fine polymer probes into specific areas of the brain as required. The electrode array is packaged into a small implantable device that contains custom chips for low-power on-board amplification and digitisation. At present, a single USB-C cable provides full-bandwidth data streaming from the device, recording from all channels simultaneously.

“If you don’t make humans, you have no humanity”, a quote from Elon Musk.The global population is collapsing – At current rates, not enough babies are being born. Even if birth rates returned to the stability point of 2.1 children per female, the current population of many countries will drop by 5% within three generations. With dwindling populations, AI and robots could make up the difference. By 2040, there could be over 10 billion robots, more than the human population of Earth, and they will be undertaking all of the menial tasks humans do not want to do. A life of leisure where humans can relax in their seats and their brains can be plugged into the main frame. Did I say leisure or mean horror?