I am very late but I have many opinions about this so better late than never! I agree with everyone's responses too, they've been really interesting to read. @Poinsettia, that is terrifying that a newspaper is already replacing journalists with AI. Hopefully...it won't be as widespread?

AI replacing jobs is one of my main fears about it; even physical labor jobs that no one enjoys, because there are so many people who NEED those jobs and will be unemployed and unable to make a living if the career disappears. Everyone needs to be able to support themselves and that's not going to be possible if robots are replacing all the jobs while AI tech company people are just getting richer and richer.

It especially freaks me out for art and writing--those are the things that I think make humans the most human; no robot could ever replicate the thought, emotion, and years of pain and hard work that go into creating a single brilliant piece of artwork. I know that, and I know that y'all know that and everyone who appreciates art knows that, but I'm afraid that the majority of the population just wants something *aesthetic* and maybe don't care if it wasn't created with actual love. But maybe that's just me being pessimistic and people will realize that it's wrong.

I think Scuttles said this too, but the fact that AI art programs just blithely steal the work of real artists makes me so mad. Shouldn't there be a law preventing that? If humans are taught not to plagiarize, why are computers allowed to do it? A few artists that I follow on social media have posted about finding AI art generators that are SPECIFICALLY tailored to copy their personal art style. This is extremely messed up...they probably spent years developing their style, and all of a sudden people can get custom art without paying the original artist at all?? To be fair, most of that kind of AI art isn't that good...but it's still infuriating. 

I probably have more things but this is already way longer than I anticipated so I'll just end it here xD

As someone who literally just gave a fifteen minute original speech about AI yesterday, I have done a fair amount of research on the topic. The more I researched it, the more interesting it became. The privatization vs democratization debate (which is what the speech was about), the rapid growth, AI bias, etc. I know that it can seem really freaky at first, especially looking at things like Chat GPT-4, but AI is essentially just data that is trained by humans. They aren't capable of thinking for themselves, all they are able to do is within the confines of the data we give them. They are doing a lot of good in the world (medical stuff, etc) and some bad things (stealing artists work ew), but overall I believe that it's impact is overwhelmingly good. AI is in a lot of things we don't really realize, including GPS, Netflix, social media, etc. It does a LOT of work behind the scenes in our everyday life, but it's so natural/normal that we don't really realize that it's there and only get to talking when something big like Chat GPT comes out.

The majority of the issues we have with AI- such as what it is or isn't able to take from the internet, like art, is because of governance. Basically, there are few to no laws about how AI is supposed to be used or what restrictions it should have, mainly due to the fact that most AIs are under the domain of private companies. If we set up governance, then there will be control.

My philosophy with AI has always been: If we use it in the right way (and with the right controls), it can be massively beneficial. 

I totally agree with everyone who has posted before. AI can be extremely benificial if used properly. For example, a company called Zipline uses autonomous drones to navigate to and from hospitals up to 150 miles away in order to deliver life-saving medical supplies like blood transfusions in Rwanda. In fact, this is also the same with GPS; it uses AI to navigate.

Also, Siri can be very helpful, so can Chat-GPT4. OpenAI researchers have been making sure ChatGPT does not provide any harmful or incorrect information. I definitely think that it can very safe if used properly.

That said, there are instances where AI can be used for harm. For example, many robots are used in the military. Also, when programmed incorrectly, there can be devastating results: Just read the first  House of Robots book! (In the book, E goes wild at the beginning [E is the robot in the book]). But that is just the tip of the iceberg. I don't think AI will take over the world; it is only as good as the information it is fed.

Did you know that they made a robot, called Sophia, that got a real job at the United Nations and became the first robot citizen? She is a citizen of Saudi Arabia.