Artificial intelligence has moved beyond the realm of science fiction into our daily lives. This powerful technology promises an era of exceptional efficiency and innovation. However, for every headline praising AI’s progress, another screams alarm. AI is not just controversial, but it has also become one of the most heated issues of our day. Why? The concerns are no longer merely theoretical. They concern the most pressing issues of human nature, such as our livelihoods and our ability to perceive reality.
Despite these improvements, current AI systems still make many basic mistakes. Generative AI, in particular, is prone to hallucination, with the tendency to express unambiguous statements as if they were true, sometimes generating non-existent sources to support the unrealistic facts. Such error occurs not only in creative tasks but also increasingly in mission-critical applications, such as the occasional incorrect answers to questions provided by AI search summaries, resulting in widespread condemnation and scepticism about the output’s reliability.
In fact, the increasing integration of AI into schools and workplaces has brought along serious ethical dilemmas in light of integrity and authenticity. There has been growing use of AI in various applications, including summarising text, writing emails and essays and even solving code bugs. Such usage has raised concerns about the prospect of students using AI to cheat on assignments without learning through the process. Similarly, concerns that employees might introduce AI tools into their work processes raise questions about intellectual ownership of results and accountability for the final work product.
The axiom “everything that can be automated will be automated” is no longer a dark prophecy – it’s happening. This has aroused the public fear of job displacement, as AI is already replacing routine and repetitive tasks. Furthermore, with generative AI, white-collar jobs once thought safe, such as content creation, legal research and coding, are now in the crosshairs. While some counter with the belief that AI will create new and higher-skilled jobs, millions could see their skills become suddenly antiquated, the result being mass unemployment and social upheaval on a large scale. This change also exacerbates economic inequality, and the vast wealth generated by AI will likely be concentrated in the hands of a few tech companies and their investors, which widens the gap between those who own the machines and those whose labour is replaced by them. This situation is a recipe for social and political instability.
An important ecological concern is the enormous processing power needed to operate complex AI models. The making of powerful computer chips necessary for AI requires enormous amounts of energy and water. Besides, the sudden explosion in demand for generative AI services has triggered a rapid proliferation of data centers— those huge facilities housing thousands of computer servers. These data centres consume enormous amounts of energy and water to cool their equipment, generating concerns among experts and advocates that AI’s expansion would aggravate existing water supplies and environmental issues.
The widespread uproar and fear about AI is not a rejection of progress but rather a prudent measure of caution and self-preservation. We are left with one chilling question: will AI engender a golden age of limitless human possibility, or will we wake up one day only to realise that we have become the last and most complicated invention of a technology that is now charting its course? The unnerving reality is that the next chapter in human history will be written not just by the innovators but by every person forced to decide how much of their world they will surrender to a machine they cannot truly hold accountable.
