Johansson, who famously portrayed an AI in “Her,” is fuming after the company mysteriously pulled the plug on “Sky” just after she declined their offer. The good news is the company has pulled off, but the question arises: Is” Sky” the limit, or are we on the cusp of something far more unsettling?

While AI, when used appropriately, can be a powerful tool, it also presents a host of challenges, including deepfake, security, privacy, biases, and fairness. However, the true peril lies in its potential for misuse, which could disrupt vital sectors such as healthcare, financial services, education, and justice systems, if left unaddressed.

All the big techs, especially the Western ones, are competing with each other to be the first to lock in the end user’s use of AI as a single product to solve all human tech needs. The blind race to dominate the market is hampering AI’s ability to do good for all.

The recent products announced by Google and Microsoft have the full potential to revolunitize machine and human relations but sadly most of it would be at the cost of our privacy. Feature like “Recall” on Microsoft PCs boast photographic memory by constantly taking screenshots of the desktop! 

Because of its fast rollout and easy access, AI’s impact is making it hard for even tech giants to understand the danger it presents to the public. Industries are racing to implement AI tools but most of the time need to be more knowledgeable about AI ethics. Everyone is focusing on the supply side of AI and wants to win the race but in the process they are ignoring the challenges like data biases, fairness and in some instances using synthetic data to build a AI model which in the implementation stage can be fatal.

AI holds immense promise and is being harnessed by brilliant minds for our benefit. The recent influx of funds into AI is staggering, yet it’s disheartening to see most of it being directed towards commercial applications, rather than investing in task forces to comprehensively understand the potential risks associated with unchecked AI progress. 

For instance, every time a prompt is given to an AI tool, we indirectly affect Climate. The breakneck pace of Generative AI (Gen-AI) is throwing data centers into a power-guzzling frenzy. This insatiable hunger for electricity threatens to derail our net-zero ambitions and stretches data center construction and supply chains to the breaking point. Even with advancements in efficiency, data center energy consumption is on track to explode by 2026, potentially outpacing our ability to generate enough clean power. Experts are worried the actual impact might be even worse, considering the chip shortage and the sluggish pace of data center construction.

Some experts suggest, and rightly so, that the current race among tech companies to launch AI products is not necessarily needed, and neither solving some threat to humankind but contrapositive the advent of AI is leading to new warfare where technologies like facial recognition can start making targeted killing which can be used by mobs and military of rogues nations.

This is the time for policymakers to take positive steps to address the challenges posed by unchecked AI development. The only need is to put forward regulatory frameworks to make AI is more ethical and responsible and at same time making sure that regulations do not stifle the development of AI for all for good.

One solution to address the issues of uncharted AI development is to create an AI Ethics governance framework for companies that make AI tools and software. Setting up AI ethics and compliance bodies to advise and evaluate their performance is vital for Responsible AI.

AI as a tool, at least for now (we might have an AGI), has no virtue of its own; the problem is we humans! It’s imperative that we make mistakes and hopefully learn from them, but this time, actually, the stakes are very high, as unchecked AI development has the potential to change the course of human civilization.