10 - Module 4 Journal Entry

There is one ethical question that arises whenever AI is involved, and it's one that I have a strong opinion on. That is, is it ethical to continue the development of AI, or should there be restrictions on AI to prevent it from displacing jobs? Truthfully, when I envision a future with AI, I don't like what I imagine. Regardless of how powerful it becomes, there's a quaintness of this world that we've lost in the past two decades, and it's clear we'll never return to it. Despite this opinion, however, I don't believe in halting human progress for the sake of jobs. There have been countless moments in history where technology has displaced jobs but opened up newer opportunities in the process. Examples of this include weavers and the loom, human computers and the calculator, and most recently, tellers and self-checkout counters. Soon, we may even have robots that stock store shelves themselves, and grocery stores can operate with very little staff. But is this a bad thing? Is it really a bad thing for human labor to be phased out of society? To me, it can only be a bad thing if we don't believe in our society enough to adapt and care for its people and to understand that a "0% unemployment rate" will no longer be achievable in the years to come. My answer to the question of "is it okay for AI to replace human labor" is yes, because the technological revolution has always been about reducing human labor, and isn't 0% labor the ultimate reduction?

While my topic isn't focused on AI, it is important to realize that it is the contentious subject matter of my research. While comparing the advent of AI to the likes of the search engine, I must understand that I do not know where the future is headed, but I can stand to learn a lot by comparing the outcry against AI to the outcry against the search engine. With a little research, for example, according to kqed.org, "a study by A 2008 study commissioned by the British Library found that young people go through information online very quickly without evaluating it for accuracy."

[1] https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/43662/how-has-google-affected-the-way-students-learn