A number of recent surveys revealed that Americans are scared of artificial intelligence. 75% of us think it can be abused and needs to be regulated. However, only 30% of us believe the government would be an effective regulator of artificial intelligence. The abuses that bother us aren't the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator movies, but or how it could be used to control our lives on a daily basis. Their fears are well founded given recent uses of the technology to support left wing political positions and to target those that express differing opinions.
But there is a more sinister use that has been developed. Stories are appearing in which a parent receives a phone call from a child. The child tells mom or dad they are in trouble; maybe they've been kidnapped or are on spring break and got arrested. The parents are convinced the call comes from their child because they recognize the voice and details of their call are extremely plausible. But the calls don't come from the child. Bad people have replicated the voice using AI. The AI program has scoured social media to find out details about the child's life and finding recordings of them speaking. It makes the calls extremely plausible. Experts are telling everyone to create a safe word, much as we did when our children were in elementary school.
I can now see that this will be used to target opponents of the regime. AI can create not only voice recordings but can also create videos that are extremely believable. Can you imagine the implications for a Supreme Court Justice nominee or a political candidate that threatens the existing power structure? Artificial intelligence could be used to create an audio track or video in which the target seems to say things that are misogynistic, bigoted, or any other number of things that could derail them.
We already know the Department of Justice and the FBI will manufacture evidence in order to obtain court warrants. What's to keep them from using artificial intelligence to create confessions? Not just against political opponents but the average person. Maybe it's not a law enforcement agency but someone who hates their husband or wife. They could get an audio or video recording saying that their spouse wanted to hire a hitman to kill them or admitting that they were abusing the couple's children. The possibilities for abuse are endless.
Don't worry too much however, because Joe Biden recently held a meeting with industry leaders who are expressing their concern at what they have created. As a result of that meeting, Joe Biden has appointed a Czar of artificial intelligence. This person might be the poster child for someone that is artificially intelligent, Kamala Harris. Why not put someone who is at the opposite end of the intelligence spectrum in charge of regulating AI? Especially given her track record as the Czar of border security. Makes perfect sense.
It's interesting that the people in the industry developing artificial intelligence are now sounding the alarm bells. Many people, including some of the original creators and developers of artificial intelligence were sounding the warning bells a long time ago. These very same people that met with Joe Biden told us that they could control artificial intelligence and put safeguards into the programs. But much like what happened in the Terminator movies, artificial intelligence programs were able to bypass some of the safeguards. I guess the neophytes were right after all. Now we are all going to pay for their hubris.