AI: THE MORAL DIMENSION

AI: THE MORAL DIMENSION

BACKGROUND
As things stood until recently, if an author or any other artist set out to create a book, painting, sculpture or other work of art, or if a scientist was to carry out some research, they would be doing it in the expectation that they may create something that is not only unique, but perhaps also - optimistically - the best thing of its type that has been created so far in our civilisation. AI changes all of that: if we are no longer the most intelligent “beings” on earth, then we will no longer be able to produce leading art, science, business ideas and so on. Not only that, but what takes us years of work may soon be achieved in an extraordinarily short space of time by AI. Not only will we have nothing to do in order to contribute to society usefully, but there may not even be any purpose to having pleasure time for any creative endeavour, because this will also be surpassed by AI. So anything we can think of will have already been done better by AI. This has huge ramifications for the human race and our whole purpose and achievements will be undermined. Then there are the potential dangers too....

I do believe that these changes will take some time to come, but come they will. There are some serious flaws with the current AI models, but newer AI models will solve these issues over time.

Rather than providing any reading references myself, it would be great if you research the questions below yourself.

QUESTION 1: The capital required to develop AI can only be afforded by a limited number of companies (which are mainly in the USA or China). If these few companies increasingly provide the intellectual content which was previously the effort of human endeavour, then all the revenue will also flow to these few companies. Any tax imposed on these companies will likely also only go to these few countries. How do we overcome this inequality?

QUESTION 2: Intelligent weapons controlled by AI (think Ukrainian drones currently turning the tide of the war against Russia) and new biological weapons designed by AI are some of the existential risks mankind may be facing. Can we control these threats?

QUESTION 3: If we are no longer the most intelligent “beings” on earth, then what can we do that is meaningful? Creation of anything will be worthless beyond the satisfaction we obtain for our own well being. People who have no purpose (think of lottery winners) often see their lives implode. Although many people will find meaning in a life with no purpose, many will not, and will require a structure to life. Will we be free to do good?

QUESTION 4: Does AI-generated content threaten human truth and authenticity? Deepfakes, synthetic voices, and AI-written text can deceive at scale. Does flooding the information ecosystem with artificial content undermine democratic discourse, erode trust, and ultimately devalue genuine human expression and creativity?

QUESTION 5: Will AI cause huge structural changes to our civilisation? We might be particularly concerned about the risks posed by AI to our economies.

QUESTION 6: Can we stop the development of AI, would it be desirable to stop AI, or is it in any case inevitable? Also, what about the positives of AI, such as the development of medicine.

PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN QUESTIONS FOR GROUP DISCUSSION.