AI.. is neither artificial nor intelligent

A thoughtful piece of article that I had the pleasure of reading. The article reveals the nuances of AI that we seldom hear about. The fact that it is written by Kate Crawford, the AI researcher of Microsoft, gives this piece of article much weight. I must say, for Microsoft, in all of its power and dominance, to actually create a department to study the implications of their AI innovations speaks volume of their character. They recognize that as leaders in the industry, they have a huge role to play in leading the way.

In summary, Kate wanted to drive home the point that AI is neither artificial nor intelligent. There were four things that stood out for me in this article.

Firstly, Kate highlighted that to fulfil every Alexa command, e.g. to purchase toilet rolls, there are many who made it happened. Ranging from lowly paid laborer in manufacturing factories to the people who packed items in the warehouse. One can argue that the robot can automate some of these processes. However, if you were to think about it, these factories are likely located in developing country where the costs are much cheaper as compared to buying sophisticated machines from profit-driven companies. Moreover, these jobs provide a source of income.

Secondly, the technology that allows AI to make decisions based on patterns are flawed. For AI to make decisions, the system has to be "fed" with patterns and images. Both of which may be skewed by the prejudices of the information available and the programmer themselves. Kate shared the horrifying fact of how pictures of people were being matched to words like kleptomaniac, alcoholic, bad person, closet queen etc.

Thirdly, AI's ability to recognize emotions through facial expressions is equally flawed. It is developed with the assumption that our emotions can be mapped directly to our facial expressions. According to Kate, recent word shows there is no reliable relationship between expressions on our face with what we are actually feeling.

Lastly, Kate emphasizes the need to discuss the power of AI when placed in the hands of the already powerful, although ethics are necessary. Fundamentally, who benefits from AI and who is at a disadvantage?

EU has started to draw up guidelines to regulate the use of AI. However, as with pollution and vaccines, unless the world collaborates and make good their promises, AI may only benefit those who can afford it.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jun/06/microsofts-kate-crawford-ai-is-neither-artificial-nor-intelligent?CMP=fb_a-technology_b-gdntech