UNIT 10: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
My name‿ is Tom. I use‿ artificial‿ intelligence daily in my work,│ and‿ I have ceased to be astonished by it‿ an(d) begun to be specific‿ about what‿ it may an(d) may not be trusted to perform.
The productivity gain‿ is genuine. It drafts,│ translates‿ an(d) summarises,│ an(d) never tires‿ of repetitive material. The failures‿ are‿ equally consistent:│ it‿ is mos(t) confident│ when‿ it‿ is mistaken,│ which‿ is the mos(t) hazardous property any instrumen(t) can possess,│ and‿ it reproduces the bias‿ inherent‿ in‿ its training data rather than correcting‿ it. It‿ also generates plausible prose that‿ is factually vacant,│ an(d) plausibility is precisely what persuades‿ a reader│ who is verifying nothing. I now scrutinise‿ every line│ an(d) never rely upon‿ it for figures. What startled me was how swiftly the reliance became‿ invisible;│ when the system was‿ unavailable for‿ a day,│ I discovered that Ithad I had forgotten how to commence‿ a report‿ unaided.
The employmen(t) question‿ is habitually argued badly. Automation displaces tasks│ before‿ it displaces people,│ an(d) those most‿ exposed‿ are workers│ whose tasks‿ are routine‿ and│ whose training‿ is cheapes(t) to curtail. Accountability is the missing component:│ where‿ an‿ algorithm refuses‿ a loan‿ or‿ influences‿ a diagnosis,│ the person‿ affected has no means‿ of‿ asking why,│ and‿ a system that cannot be interrogated cannot be hel(d) responsible. Transparency is not‿ a luxury in that contex(t) but the precondition‿ of trusting the output‿ at alladall,│ and‿ it‿ is the reason regulation will have tohafta originate‿ outside the industry that profits from‿ obscurity.