Age of AI

     I recently watched a video called In the Age of the AI and it explained how far AI technology has grown. For example, at the beginning of the documentary to set the tone they showed an AI program playing against the world champion of Go. While watching this there was no way I would have thought the AI would win. This was a surprise to me because the video explained how the program did moves humans would have never thought of which is terrifying. Think about a computer being able to think of things you cannot, and that was just the opener of the video. 

    Throughout my lifetime computer and AI, programs have always been present, but recently they have become a part of daily life. They are now able to perform jobs, think, and learn by just being programmed to do so. Most importantly most AI software is programmed to store data about us, and while doing this adapts to us. For example, anything we do on a computer causes it to store data, because of its program. That is why on social media when we search for certain things we begin to see ads about them. These AI sell our data to big corporations so they can target us. Also, the government watches us using these programs. The video explained how the U.S. and China are the most advanced in tech. China's citizens are already under extreme surveillance, with cameras that can tell you several details about somebody just by looking at their face. That means the technology already exists to perform these invasions of privacy. Glimpses of this technology have surfaced in western countries too. For example, Google is known to track us because we use their search browser. The same company that tracks us is selling voice assistance in homes. Along with Amazon. 

    The downside of these findings is that we are being watched, but being aware of it can limit the information they receive. Also, there are laws being passed to prevent the surveillance they have on us. It is just alarming to know that the technology already exists. It could be being used to watch us from our homes. The only positive side of AI learning about us is that the online world is unique to us. We do not have to put a lot of effort to find things of interest to us. This can also be a downside too because we could become addicted to our computers and other technology. This would open the doors up to be watched more. We would just have to be observant of everything we do online. 

Sources: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ_lvDgevk