How to quit smoking - an A.I. Story
It was a process. There was not "is a new morning when suddenly everything went away" moment, no sudden decision of bravery marked with a big personal moment.... It was slowly accepting that the pleasure brought to my nervous system is only temporary and not lucrative on the long run. And a change needed to be done.
What makes me "qualified" to talk about smoking, you might ask? Well for more than 10 years I was a smoker; and not the easy going one. Some have the ability to diminish number of cigarettes in a day. That was not the case for me. I always said, either do it properly or not do it at all. That translated into 1-2 packs a day at the age of 25 with a possible extension if some casual drinking was involved.So what possible connection might that have with A.I?
Let me explain my identified 5 phases of smoking and maybe you can notice the parallels:
1. The luring phase - come try one , it won't hurt
2. The Interesting phase - socializing has never been better
3. The I can stop at any time if I wish so - illusion of control
4. The pleasure of having a cigarette - the vice is complete
5. The long and certain way to Death / Life
Ok but still what is the connection with A.I. Let's take it step by step.
The luring phase; Technology is fascinating. You are able to control from your pocket big parts of your life. Your TV, your heat system, your music central, maybe order something online if you are hungry. In almost all aspects in our live an AI will be in place to support your every need: ordering faster for you , provide suggestions based on your profile, help getting through the maze of documents or assistant support for an application.
Sounds incredible and very efficient , so why would this be a concern?
2. The interesting phase; The more you accept the AI into your life , the easier your life will get in certain aspects. You simply would not need to think about some things getting done, an example being the "boring and repetitive" tasks. You will have your assistant taking care of them for you. Just give the order; and it will happen. You will get the possibility to upgrade it , to support more tasks and you will have time to do everything you ever wanted. (are you using the extra time for something useful? maybe something for another day:) )
3. The "I can stop at any time if I wish so"; For sure you don't have a problem doing things for yourself. I mean an AI is just a "dumb" Algorithm that does everything that you say while you do the shopping, look online for other things you need or watch content which another AI carefully sort for you. if I want I just won't open any other webpage or application on internet; and go detox mode..hmm..I will do it for 2 weeks just to show myself that it is within my power; After 2 weeks Success, I have done what I set for myself. It was also easy to do it. In the beginning a bit tricky but I replaced it with going outside, walks in the park, reading. It was great actually. Now let me catch up with everything....Jesus Christ so much has happened in the last weeks. Maybe I go some extra nights to get to speed and then then resume my normal program.
4. The pleasure of having a cigarette; Ahh...well my favorite shows are already suggested in the app together with some new ones that match my interest. Oh, also my shopping suggestions are actual and I can start right away. my ISP noticed that I was away and has a new internet package offer to give me. Life is good again....
5. The long and certain way to Death / Life . Life is becoming easier and easier. I just don't need to do pretty much anything anymore. Just relax and enjoy. AI will take care of what you need, what you desire, what your finances look like. Why invest for yourself when an AI can check the markets and; in less than a second take the decision for you. Life is beautiful and easy. And the unexpected strikes: you are in need of a organ transplant which needs to be approved. Filing for the required forms is easy but who do you talk to , in order to get that feeling that it will be alright? Maybe call the hotline to ask...a friendly AI responds to every question but none regarding when, who can support. "We are there for you, please be patient, we will get in contact with you as soon as possible". That does not sound right, not what you need.
You are checking your finances but for getting to your savings, you need to wait 10 years. They were invested properly from an AI to maximize profit, but not to assume that something will happen to you.
What can you do? You try to contact someone to speak to, get a little comfort, which you are using to with human interaction but instead you get standard updates. It is almost like they are say you simply need to wait. For an automated system you are not a person who suffers...you are a number in the system that needs to wait. no other option...no other discussion. The code is not programmed to have empathy....Oh God
Am I against development of AI ? Maybe in the rows above someone might get this feeling but it is not the case. We can improve our society through automation providing a bright future for us and our children in places which currently are out of our reach. We could travel worlds, solve the most complicated problems of our time and make a better place for everyone regardless of their social status or place where they are borned.
What I am trying to emphasize is that like smoking there are the initial phases which are great, alluring, comfortable and send us always a kick of endorphin when a small improvement is done. You get to love it, then you get addicted to it without even noticing while thinking the control belongs to you. The need for nicotine is dangerous as it does not feel like a need , just like automated systems. You THINK the control is there until suddenly you lost it.
Getting to the last point, The long and certain way to Death / Life, I believe we must decide before it is to late what and how we want to proceed. Just like smoking , the process of quitting must be gradual and well planned. Is silly to think that once we start a full automation in all aspects of our life we can just stop it like a switch. Consider all the technology advancements what we had in the last 30 years and answer the question:Can I switch it off just because I want now? Of course not.How many cases do you know , where once an AI or automated system was set into place which did not meet customer expectation, a change was done and human support was reinstated? That's right...maybe a few?
With careful planning and regulation AI might bring us the bright future which everyone wants to have on Earth\Distant planet(s) - Life Nevertheless, going full AI , without caring on the consequences or overshadow them due to financial reasons can bring us to a dystopian future - Death
For having a society which can prosper we need not to forget what brought us to this technological sprint...the human part which we MUST NOT lose in the process.
Until then, live long and prosper my friends! TFG