By Bennett Marcus
Now Is the Time for AI to Save The World
News about AI – artificial intelligence – is everywhere these days. Fear Mongering is a major part of the AI discussion, conjecturing about the possibility that AI will be writing our books and magazines, driving our cars, buses, and trains, manning our factories – basically removing human activity from many aspects of civilization – and eliminating our jobs as well.
Part of the agreement ending the recent Hollywood writers’ strike was that AI would not be deployed in the creation of entertainment media like movies, television shows and podcasts. Hollywood’s actors’ unions remained on strike as this article went to press, with similar demands for keeping people rather than technology in the roles of acting and speaking in voice overs, animation, and other broadcast mediums.
You will be relieved to learn that as AI becomes more prominent in our world, there are people and organizations working to rein it in, creating policies and systems to reap the benefits of this emerging technology while stemming its negative effects on society.
Using AI to create a sustainable future for the planet
Mark Minevich, one of the foremost experts leading the fight to regulate the use of AI for good, has just published a book on the topic: “Our Planet Powered by AI: How We Use Artificial Intelligence to Create a Sustainable Future for Humanity.”
The book is a compilation of Minevich’s work in understanding where AI is moving and how corporations and governments could leverage AI to better humanity.
“I feel AI could be a tool that could solve some of the greatest problems and challenges that the world has,” says Minevich, a distinguished advisor for venture capital, enterprises and governments across the world on the future of work and social innovation. AI can be utilized beneficially in areas like climate change, healthcare, infrastructure, and energy, he says, realms that corporations do not typically get involved with. “But I want corporations to make this their leading priority. Right now, 95% of AI is focused on enterprise solutions and so-called efficiency. It is not focused on all-inclusiveness and sustainability, and that’s the narrative of the book.”
AI in perspective
AI has been around since the early 1960s, primarily the focus of research scientists in solving complex theories, rarely noticed by the general populace. More recently, venture capitalists realized it could be a profitable investment to boost efficiency and improve forecasting. Then, in November 2022, ChatGPT came out from OpenAI, which changed the equation. “Now you have more interest in artificial intelligence than ever before. And at the same time, we’re facing existential threats from climate, flood, fire, which are discussed by the United Nations constantly,” says Minevich, who is a Co-Chair of AI for the Planet Alliance with leading UN Agencies, sits on several UN committees and is a columnist for Forbes and other publications. “We’re at a very interesting inflection point, a historical moment.”
Minevich is the chair of the executive committee of AI for Good Foundation, which is setting standards and ethical boundaries, looking at social inclusion, smart cities and use cases. “So I take the international governance perspective of AI, and I take the commercial route, I take the investment eye, and I take the media-centric world,” he explained. “I have a very privileged position where I could see the world from 360 degrees.”
Now is the time for AI to save the world.
The time is now for AI to save the world, Minevich declares. The world is in peril, and AI is not being looked at as a savior but as something malicious, potentially taking away jobs and getting into the wrong hands. “Certainly, a lot of this is true, but it’s up to us, humanity, to gear AI,” he says. “I always say AI is like a child, and we have to raise our kids with good values and high quality and intentional education. AI is constantly training. AI would not exist if it’s not constantly trainable.”
We, the public, need to understand what AI is and what it isn’t. “Today, AI is not a replacement for a human being, as much as we want to fantasize. It is really a bunch of mathematics and software to teach computers how to understand, how to reason and synthesize like humans.”
We are in the beginning stages, and Minevich and his colleagues want to establish some sort of governing body to analyze and come out with standards on what AI can and cannot do. “AI is a progress that we cannot stop, but at the same time, we have to make sure that we protect the rights of humans. We have to protect the planet, and we have to protect privacy, and we have to make sure that AI doesn’t only have one voice. AI has to focus on all-inclusiveness, gender diversity, race diversity, and religious diversity. All of those voices must be heard to create a bigger, more comprehensive picture.”
AI is created by people, and it needs to be controlled by people like any other technology.
