AI holds immense potential for all of us

“The Age of AI And Our Human Future.” This is the title of a new book on artificial intelligence. It was written by three authors who have each been extraordinarily successful in their respective careers. They are Eric Schmidt, who helped build Google into a tech powerhouse; Daniel Huttenlocher, the inaugural dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing; and 1973 Nobel Peace laureate Henry A. Kissinger, with a lifetime in global security and intelligence. The book is not overly complex and technical. Yet it tackles the profound and fundamental changes AI holds for all of us.

Artificial intelligence has already begun to transform how we experience reality and how humans navigate the world.

The book’s logical presentation moves from the early years of the development of artificial intelligence to the present and on to what we can expect in the future. It also enumerates AI’s present successes and ongoing potential.

Not since the Enlightenment — the Age of Reason — have we begun so sweepingly to change our approaches to science, economics, civil order, and security. AI is making advances in areas such as education and medicine. Two examples of its capacity and success are Alpha Zero, a chess-playing machine, and halicin, an AI-generated antibiotic.

AI is already much smarter than we are. The world’s fastest supercomputer is capable of performing 415 quadrillion calculations every second. Of course AI systems need to have humans organize and clean up the masses of data and input the data.

The more use we make of AI, the greater its potential for society.

Despite its great potential, we need to be concerned about the rise of artificial intelligence. Will it affect what it means to be human, productive and able to exercise free will?

We must make sure technology is consistent with our values.

Perry L. Weed, Annapolis

Perry L. Weed, is an attorney and founder/director of the Economic Club of Annapolis. His email is plweed@verizon. net .