The biggest negative reactions (to AI) are amongst those who personally experience or have friends who have experienced the impact of job problems due to AI.
The illustration in figure 2 shows the adaptations AI must make for society. The alignment problem is how to make sure that AI has a human perspective and doesn’t lead to the end of humanity.
To do this, a Spec (specification) is created, and technology is being developed to ensure that the AI conforms to the Spec. But who creates the Spec? Right now, it is short-term profit-driven
companies crafting the Spec. Are they capable of being the responsible guardians of society as a whole? This leads to questions about what is in the training material used to create AIs. Again,
chosen by companies with a profit and sometimes other agendas. This has led to concerns about Nazi material, propaganda, pornography, and sexually abusive materials coming out of AI’s. How should
society’s broader needs be represented?
The question that confronts us is what these adaptations have to be and how to accomplish them. Public policy is needed to help do that.
The current situation is unprecedented. That means that there is no model/recipe for what or how public policy can meet the challenge. This means that innovation is called for.
AI Adaptation Challenges Driving Negative AI Sentiment
The general public is not calling for adaptation. Rather, they are reacting to the
actual
and
perceived threats from AI. The biggest negative reactions are amongst those who
personally experience or have friends who have experienced AI job problems. Most severely, the generation that is in, or has recently graduated from, college. Then, the more established people
who have been laid off in the early rounds of AI layoffs, and the ones who are afraid they are next. Those struggling with inflation who see AI data centers raising the cost of electricity and
fearing water rationing. Others cast it as an environmental problem.
These people’s first reaction is to just stop AI. But for most of the world, AI is unstoppable. In a few highly authoritarian countries, some supported by religions, there is a chance to stop it.
For the rest, the economic imperatives are too strong
What is lurking in the background is the sense that a few people who are the AI insiders will gain a lot of power and wealth. The rest of us will struggle in increasingly challenging times.
There are those who have made bets on AI making them better off. Some of those people realize that if their neighbor’s house is on fire, theirs is in danger of catching fire too. Others want to
hold onto their advantage.
Others say this is the equivalent of a war. That “our” side has to win the AI race or “else”… Definition of “our” and “else” depends on who is talking.
