No need to fear AI, says Merkel

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned of the risks of the so-called “transparent citizen” in the uncontrolled use of artificial intelligence, saying that humans must keep the upper hand.

“What we do has to serve the people,” Merkel said yesterday in a discussion with students at Tokyo’s elite Keio University.

“One day we will certainly be able to read people’s thoughts,” Merkel said.

That could help people who cannot speak, “but if all thoughts can be read by all people, one must ask oneself the question: ‘Do we want that? What does that mean for social interaction?’”

“We will also have to talk about the question of how long we keep our human personality, Merkel said. With a prosthetic leg or organ transplantation, you are still the same person.

“But if I get a chip in my brain so that I can think faster or think better, am I then the same person? Where does my humanity end?” the chancellor asked. “These are questions that I think we will have to deal with.”

It is true that one should “not be so afraid” that artificial intelligence will make humans “completely superfluous,” Merkel said.

She advised that the technology should be “demystified”. It would also create new jobs.

The most important thing, however, is that humans define “the ethical guidelines” for the use of artificial intelligence.

Merkel later argued at a GermanJapanese economic forum in Tokyo for an international approach to the protection of large amounts of data, as feature in artificial intelligence for example.

“These are things that we can ultimately only advance together internationally,” Merkel said.

“If everyone cooks their own soup, that will ruin us,” the chancellor said, using a German idiom for everyone going their own way.

There are great opportunities for co-operation between Japan and Germany in this area, she said, adding that data ethics and data protection are of interest to both countries. | dpa