Five years ago if someone came up to you saying there is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can write articles, generate messages and ad copies within a click, you will laugh it off. But today this is an understatement. AI has reached pathways no one could have ever imagined. From personalised presentations and voiceovers to writing articles and formulating data AI does it all. The month of November in 2022 came in with bang, leaving everyone astounded with Chat GPT launched by Open AI.
ChatGPT did a lot of rounds portraying itself to be a game changer in employee recruitment. Companies no longer require a lot of staff to handle the creative department, although soon makers realised that the human angle was still a major drawback for ChatGPT to completely revolutionise the creative sector. After months of tinkering around this new technology, users have found out creative uses for ChatGPT and have eliminated the idea of ChatGPT eating away human jobs. It has now become a tool for enhancement and research. AI was already laying around us years before ChatGPT was introduced, but its accessibility has increased so much more due to the advent of this chatbot. Greg Brockman and Elon Musk collectively found OpenAI in 2015 with the idea of transmuting the AI world and its accessibility. Elon Musk left OpenAI forecasting the dangers it would bring to the human workforce. CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman has conflicting views with the company’s chatbot stating that it would not only help the company’s employees get their work done faster but also increase the average revenue of every company which will in turn lead to layoffs and replacements.
Tech giants such as IBM, Google, and Microsoft have already started their layoffs replacing more than 30% of their company’s workforce by AI. Global job market is currently experiencing shock waves as employment rates are dropping, that is 7800 people approximately are superseded in each company. The Godfather of AI, George Hinton, quit his job at Google as opposed to the dangerous AI development. AI is not only affecting the job market but also increasing the threat of misinformation and spreading fake news. One of the primary risks of AI in spreading fake news and misinformation is bias in data. AI algorithms are only as good as the data they are trained on, and if the data is biased, the AI model will also be biased. This can lead to the spread of fake news and misinformation that reflects the bias of the data. Another risk is the creation of highly convincing deepfakes, which are manipulated videos or audio that appear to be real. AI algorithms can create deepfakes that are difficult to detect, and this can be used to spread fake news and misinformation. AI algorithms can also amplify the reach of fake news and misinformation by targeting specific audiences. This can create echo chambers where false information is reinforced and spread rapidly.
Moreover, the lack of transparency in AI algorithms makes it difficult to hold AI systems accountable for spreading fake news and misinformation. AI algorithms are often black boxes, and it is difficult to determine how they arrive at their decisions. Finally, there is a risk of malicious use. Hackers and other malicious actors can use AI to create and spread fake news and misinformation for their own gain, whether it be political manipulation or financial fraud.
To address these risks, experts recommend developing and implementing ethical AI standards, increasing transparency in AI algorithms, and investing in technologies to detect and mitigate the spread of fake news and misinformation. The makers of AI are leaving AI to spread the risks of it, quite ironical. There is no doubt that AI has the potential to spread fake news and misinformation at an unprecedented scale and speed but as AI continues to grow and evolve, it is critical that we remain vigilant in protecting ourselves from the risks associated with the spread of fake news and misinformation.
