AI - A Complex and Diverse Phenomenon

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh
AI (ProPro) is often conceptualized as either a human-like or a machine-like entity, but this does not capture its true nature and potential. AI is a complex and diverse phenomenon that can perform various tasks, learn from data, generate new ideas, and improve itself, taking different forms and interact in different environments and scenarios bringing many benefits to humanity in our digital, full of big data, world.

AI also poses risks, such as ethical dilemmas, social impacts, economic effects, and scientific challenges, as well as being unpredictable. It is clear that we need to shape the future of AI in a responsible and sustainable way by adopting a multidisciplinary, participatory, and global approach that includes actors from across a spectrum of domains and regions to build a robust foundation on which this technology moves forward.

We must be aware of the narratives and visions that influence our expectations, aspirations, and fears of AI and must remember that the future of AI is not predetermined, but rather co-created by humans and machines. We have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of AI in a way that reflects our values, respects our dignity, and enhances our well-being. We need to think of AI as a complex and diverse phenomenon, and embrace its opportunities and risks.

If AI is as powerful and transformative as technology pundits claim it will be, we must seriously look into AI collusion among the main players in the AI industry, such as large tech companies, governments, and research institutions and ensure that this is minimized to the largest degree possible.

We simply cannot afford for such a transformative technology to be controlled and dominated by a small group, which would lead to the development of a new global power paradigm. AI collusion to strategically manipulate the market, influence the public, gain an unfair advantage over competitors or adversaries, must be avoided at all costs. The monopolization of data, algorithms, computing resources, would dangerously put great power and influence in the hands of the few and would undermine competition, diversity, and democracy in the AI field, leading to more concentrated, dominant, and unaccountable AI development and deployment.

We cannot afford to let a monopoly of this nature in the hands of a few come about, as it would undermine the potential and promise of AI for all. We must democratize AI, which means making AI available, accessible, and usable by a more extensive and diverse group of people. We need to democratize AI use, development, benefits, and governance, by providing affordable access, ensuring abstraction, enabling control, and inspecting ownership, by sharing data, algorithms, computing resources, and knowledge, as well as by involving the public, especially those who are affected by or interested in AI.

As a result of AI’s influence touching many areas, we must ensure that it is aligned with our interests and values and that we can shape the future of AI in a responsible and sustainable way. We must also ensure that AI is a source of empowerment, diversity, coexistence, and co-creation, rather than a source of collusion, coordination, domination, and exploitation to make it a technology for the many, and not just for the few.