Artificial Intelligence is having a seriously dangerous impact on society in 2023, and it is only going to get worse.
As is evident in our poll compilation on the public’s opinion on Artificial Intelligence, most people are well aware of the negative impacts that AI has on our society – but do they know why?
In this article, I will cover 5 major reasons why AI is bad for society, for humanity, and for our future.
The most important part about not abdicating to a technology set on destroying the very core of humanity is to simply stay knowledgeable.
Let’s get into it.
#1 Widespread Job Devastation
The first and most obvious negative that comes as a result of Artificial Intelligence is the devastating effect on the job market across the world.
Not only does McKinsey expect up to 800 million jobs to be lost to Artificial Intelligence by 2030, but since automation is expected to take up to 30 percent of all hours currently being worked in the US, lower socio-economic classes are going to suffer the most as a result.
We are inevitably going to see a massive unemployment rise in the coming years, as these soulless AI robots become smarter and more sophisticated.
And just to counter the argument before you even think it; yes, AI will also create new jobs as well. However, whereas 800 million jobs will be lost, only 97 million new jobs will be created — and these jobs are only for those who are lucky and privileged enough to get an education in the field.
As usual, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
If you’re curious whether your job will be affected, you can look at my articles covering AI’s job disruption when it comes to translators, copywriters, computer scientists, bankers, and various white-collar jobs.
Job loss is why AI is bad for society.
#2 Social Manipulation Turns AI Into A Tool For Mind Control
As more and more politicians, corporations, and even entire governments rely on algorithms fueled by artificial intelligence to spread their viewpoints, social manipulation is turning into an all-time dangerous epidemic.
TikTok, as an example, completely relies on advanced AI algorithms that fill users’ pages with content related to whatever media it believes they will enjoy the most.
This is especially dangerous when young susceptible minds are led down alt-right rabbit holes they are not capable of understanding.
As a result, a widespread infestation of fake news and misinformation is turning the minds of those unable to differentiate between what is real and what is not – and this is a powerful weapon for anyone who can harness it right.
Just to test out the algorithm for myself, I downloaded TikTok and scrolled for just under an hour, purposefully only lingering on videos that tended to lean right, and it did not take me long to end up with almost exclusively extreme alt-right videos telling me that women don’t deserve rights and immigrants need to leave the country.
For the record, I am not even American.
Of course, weaponizing these algorithms is common practice. It’s used for both marketing for big corporations, but also political campaigns. Famously the 2016 US election was notorious for its spread of fake news, but as late as the 2022 Philippines election saw Ferdinand Marcos using a TikTok army to gain the votes of young and easily influenced Filipinos.
Reality is that because of Artificial Intelligence, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between what is real and what is not – especially as deepfakes and AI-generated images and videos become more and more advanced.
Social manipulation is why AI is bad for society.
#3 A Complete Lack of Data Privacy Policies
If you’re using pretty much any form of technology in 2023, which you clearly are because you’re reading this, then your data is being collected by Artificial Intelligence.
This data is then used to train AIs and leads to an infinite feedback loop of privacy intrusions that governments are simply not protecting.
If you’re curious about just how badly your privacy is being invaded as a result of Artificial Intelligence, you can read all about it here.
Lack of data privacy is why AI is bad for society.
#4 An Increase of Greed and Decrease of Integrity
In addition the the negative ethical effects of social manipulation turning the younger generation numb to basic human empathy, we’re also losing sight of what makes us human.
Artificial Intelligence doesn’t have basic emotional intelligence or empathy, meaning that the results that come out of it don’t actually necessarily benefit humanity.
In fact, it is the job of people like me to show you just how much AI is actively hurting humanity.
The reality is that although people are aware of the negative consequences AI is posing, there seems to be no stopping it. Essentially, our greed is going to let AI win.
To most corporations and governments it doesn’t matter if hundreds of millions of people suffer it means that they can make more money, and that is exactly the trend that we are seeing today.
Quality of content is going down, people’s jobs are being lost, and we are losing more and more young minds to extremism and poverty – yet the richest people in the world are becoming even richer, so it’s okay.
We are starting to completely let go of our basic humanity and revert to this technological barbarism that will inevitably lead to our downfall.
To simply watch AI take over the world is the kind of apathy that will eventually ruin our most basic concept of empathy.
In a sense, Artificial Intelligence is taking over our Emotional Intelligence.
Humans will always naturally direct themselves to the path of least resistance, and that is essentially what AI is giving us.
I’m not saying it’s just the big guys at the top taking advantage of this either; the rapid rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT showed that most students are happy to cheat their way through college if it means less work.
Lack of academic integrity and greed is why AI is bad for society.
#5 Artificial Intelligence is Stripping Away Our Humanity
A major concept that is easy to forget in this post-COVID world is that humans are pack animals. We are social creatures that rely on the nearness, empathy, and influence of others to have a good and healthy life.
This is being stripped away by Artificial Intelligence.
Not only are chatbots like the Snapchat AI turning children into robot-dwelling introverts but more and more content online is being written by Artificial Intelligence.
This means that a lot of the content you consume is literally produced by a dead entity that cannot ever comprehend the basic impact of emotional intelligence and empathy.
It is this particular reason that made us create these No-AI Badges that you can put on your site to show that everything on your page, website, or business is 100% human-made. Not only does this prevent the dangers of AI’s influence on humans, but it directly increases the value of the content.
Using generative AI for anything creative is diminishing the human creativity and emotional expression that has made us who we are, and we aim to change that.
Not to mention the reliance we’ve started to put on Artificial Intelligence contains a slippery slope into significantly more serious topics – such as AI in healthcare. Having a machine that doesn’t understand emotions or human nuance and reasoning take charge of decisions that directly impact lives is incredibly dangerous.
Loss of human influence is why AI is bad for society
The End of Humanity is Why AI Is Bad For Society
We need to reassess our relationship with artificial intelligence and prioritize human creativity, empathy, and influence over technological convenience.
It’s seriously time we recognize the detrimental effects of unchecked AI integration, from privacy invasions, and social manipulation to the erosion of our emotional intelligence.
To ensure the future of our society, we need to start taking action to prevent AI from completely wreaking havoc on the very basis of what it means to be human.
Do everything you can to educate yourself on AI, consume human-made content, and don’t fall into the easy trap of apathy when it comes to the future of not just our current society – but our future generations.
Say NO to AI.
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN WITHOUT THE ASSISTANCE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
