We need to have a conversation on AI

Will Arvelo

For the last several years, those of us not hiding under rocks have had some encounter with artificial intelligence. The fact is that what started in the 2010s as a concern about what artificial intelligence might mean for the future of mankind in earnest and deep conversations quickly evolved into a race that gave us ChatGPT in November of 2022.

Since then, numerous companies beyond the pioneers, like DeepMind (now owned by Google), OpenAI and Anthropic, have joined the wild west of the artificial intelligence revolution. It would be an understatement to say that generative AI will become the most transformative technology the world has ever seen. It will impact every aspect of our lives, how we see ourselves and how we progress as a species.

As I have become informed about what it may mean to our future, my mind wonders at the potential benefits to ourselves and our blue planet. How will birth, rearing, education, health, travel, ecology, culture, equity and justice, to name a few, be improved for 8+ billion people on Earth?

What scares me the most, despite the potential for positive human evolution with the use of this new technology, is that the founders and creators of AI and the small number of people throughout the world who are key stakeholders, researchers and investors have little to no clue where AI will lead humankind. They have admitted to this concern repeatedly.

Once AI reaches superintelligence — at the point where machine learning will overtake human intelligence — what happens? Will machines still need humans, and might this mean the end of us? Speak to any scientist or futurist, and you will get different answers, but the bottom line is that they don’t know. We’ve never had technology that we might lose control of to itself. As companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and their global counterparts compete for their share of this highly lucrative market and its products, few of its leaders, researchers and investors are calling for regulation or a pause to better understand where we are heading.

Within all this chaos and uncertainty exist the Black, Brown and marginalized communities that have yet to fully understand (can probably say this about most of us) how they are being used and impacted by the rapid development and deployment of this immensely powerful technology. What does this mean for them?

It could mean better access to education, as tools are developed to ensure educational efficiency and equity across communities, regardless of income and resources. Health care outcomes could improve as the pipeline for health research and medicine is ramped up and compressed, leading to more and better products, resulting in better health outcomes in our Black and Brown communities.

If you have an idea as a Black or Brown innovator, your cost of access to information and tools for getting into business may decrease while meeting with entrepreneurial success may increase.

Finally, as Black and Brown communities continue to fight for more structural accountability within social and justice systems, AI’s data sets may more easily and readily highlight discrimination in housing, education, policing and sentencing, as well as health services. Analytic, diagnostic and predictive AI tools may help Black and Brown communities understand some of their most common life-threatening ailments such as hypertension, cancer, asthma and diabetes.

On the negative side, we must understand that AI is a flawed technology, because large language model trainers are fed historical information that is often biased and discriminatory toward Black and Brown communities. This can’t be overemphasized enough.

In many cases, AI uses bad data or makes up stuff on its own. From criminal activity to health outcomes, our communities have been historically, structurally and from a policy perspective cast and twisted in so many negative ways. Already, AI tools have been developed to police marginalized communities in more intensive and repetitious ways than communities that have access to more and better resources. Large language models already highlight one major flaw in their misidentification of Black and Brown people involved in criminal activity when they have not been involved in such activity.

We’ve all seen the prognostication about how AI will transform the labor market. Every sector of the economy will suffer job losses, but what worries me is that Black and Brown communities will be disproportionately impacted. Manufacturing and middle- to low-skills repetitive jobs, three areas where AI will have a huge impact, are already seeing losses. These include clerical, customer service, bookkeeping, food service, retail services, security and warehouse jobs to name a few. In all these areas, Black and Brown people are disproportionately represented.

Now, AI development and deployment are entering a new phase in the building of large, resource-intensive data centers that will power AI 2.0. Since the rich don’t want these monstrosities in their neighborhoods, guess where they will be placed? You may soon see them coming to poor communities throughout the United States and the world, where these centers will place a heavy burden on water and electricity resources.

We are in the midst of what could be the most consequential transformation in human society with the development of AI. What direction it takes will be up to us.

The creators of this technology are struggling to define a direction and, exponentially more worrisome, they do not know how it will ultimately impact humanity, either over the next 10 years or in the longer term.

If Black, Brown and marginalized communities do not engage with this technology as researchers, business owners, investors, policy formulators, regulators and regular folks who are being impacted, we will miss the opportunity to share in the biggest wealth creator in history and will be left behind.

We must have a place at the table so that we may impact the ethical use of AI through policy formulation and regulation that lead to finding ways to positively impact Black and Brown communities. Otherwise, we will be used by this transformation in so many negative ways without reaping the immense benefits.

If there ever was an obligation to get engaged, it is now. We have an obligation to inform ourselves and ask relevant questions about not just what it means to us now and how we can employ it to our benefit, but what it will mean to our futures.

As we approach the mid-term elections, let’s ask our elected officials where they stand on AI and how they see it evolving. What are their concerns? What policy formulations are they pursuing? How will they support the transition of the labor market? Do they have thoughts on upskilling those who will be displaced? The last one being the most critical question.

Most of us, even the experts, do not know where this is all heading. The more reason for the average person to be curious, ask questions and get engaged as the rapid evolution of AI and transformation of our world and our lives continues unabated. There is no more important task ahead of us: for the sake of humanity and the many species that can’t speak for themselves.