Is AI the Next Internet?
The World Wide Web flipped society on its head. Very few predicted the impact that it ultimately had. The information ecosystem continues to evolve, fueling globalization at faster and faster speeds and ushering society into this new era whether it’s ready or not. Could AI be the next technology of this magnitude? Could it flip us back on our head just as we’re beginning to grasp the implications of an online society? These early AI models are just getting started and already evolving at an alarming and exciting rate. There are people casting predictions for the various outcomes of these new technologies. Some say we’re doomed if we don’t exercise extreme caution, pumping the brakes on something that the human race might not be ready to handle. Other’s push forward with zeal, confident that AI is our greatest possible solution to massive improvements in the global conditions of mankind. Just as the internet has opposing forces for good and evil, I have no doubt that AI will pose its own benefits and risks. How great is the reward and how grave the risk? It could serve as a launch pad for the greatest humanitarian blossom we’ve ever known or it could be the end of civilization as we know it. Could studying the trajectory of other technologies like the internet help us understand where AI is headed or will it forge its own path like we’ve never seen before? To be informed is to be prepared and to be prepared is to be aware of the implications that new technologies pose, the good and the bad.