On 30 October 2023, the Biden Administration issued an executive order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence [AI]. The executive order directs actions on AI safety and security to protect Americans’ privacy.
Less than two months later, European Union policymakers agreed to the new law to regulate artificial intelligence; this is one of the world’s first comprehensive attempts to limit the use of a rapidly evolving technology with wide-ranging societal and economic implications.
Why are governments keen to regulate the surge in AI? Is the rapid development of AI in recent years a boon or bane to our society? These are some questions we need to ask ourselves. We have experienced an AI Winter phase, which featured hype about the potential capabilities of the new technology. Still, practical results were not always promising and often did not meet high expectations, leading to disappointment.
Many driving forces push AI today. For example, massive improvements in hardware CPUs are now replaced with GPUs, and every system, right from mobile devices to your refrigerators, generates a ton of data. Infrastructure scalability, AI processing and training enhancements are other driving factors.
The purpose of AI is to handle many challenging and complex jobs with accuracy, which humans cannot do because of limited computational power. In the healthcare industry, AI algorithms analyze medical images and detect patterns to assist in the early diagnosis of diseases, which is helping millions, and this is a boost for humankind. The latest generation of intelligent AI programs can perform various daily tasks, e.g., data reconstitution and classification.
AI also has gained attention due to its ability to compose text, record music and create digital art. This can lead to legal and ethical gray areas. As a result, it is easier for an increasing number of stakeholders to understand the impact of intelligent machine learning on businesses and society with adequate context to help them make sense of this.
Although AI brings significant benefits, there are legitimate concerns and arguments against its deployment and reasons for why governments are considering AI regulations. Among them are loss of jobs, ethical challenges, security risk, overdependence resulting from the loss of human skills, economic imbalances, and unintended consequences that cannot be foreseen.
The challenges posed by the surge in AI must be addressed with responsible AI development, eliminating or at least reducing negative consequences, and striking a balance between AI and human capabilities to preserve essential human qualities.
Editor’s note:For further insights on this topic, read Jagdish Mohite’s recent Journal article, “The Recent Surge in AI Development: Boon or Bane?,” ISACA Journal, volume 1, 2024.
