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Intro to AI: Should We or Shouldn't We? It seems a bit ridiculous to ask of any area of scientific research whether or not it "should" be done. The paradigm of scientific research has always been that innovation is good, or perhaps rather that innovation is inevitable and cannot be stopped. This argument has been used to justify almost every technological artifact that has had a negative impact on the world. The atomic bomb had to be built because "if America doesn't, Germany will." Cloning research must continue because "if it is not done by those with good intentions, it will done by those with evil intentions." And so on. Nevertheless, while AI is still in its infancy, we have a chance to define its goals now and make those goals ethically good. To that end, this section will question of AI and whether it is ethical for AI researchers to accept defense grants to further AI's capabilities. In addition, it will address the question Opponents of AI have long worried that AI systems would, by replacing human jobs, destroy people's ability to earn money, because they will be "replaced by a computer." |
