A group of doctors and public health professionals have issued a warning about the peril of evolving artificial intelligence technologies, claiming that if they are not controlled, they would pose a "existential" threat to humanity.
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| Experts warn Artificial intelligence poses a threat to the health of millions |
AI has the ability to transform healthcare by enhancing disease detection, identifying better patient treatments, and expanding access to care.
However, health professionals from the UK, US, Australia, Costa Rica, and Malaysia concluded in a research published in BMJ Global Health that AI technologies also have the potential to have a negative impact on health.
What are the risks of artificial intelligence pointed out by experts?
- Risks related to medicine and the healthcare industry include the possibility that AI mistakes could endanger patients as well as problems with data privacy and security.
- One instance of harm is the usage of an AI-driven pulse oximeter, which in tests overestimated blood oxygen levels in patients with darker skin tones and handled their hypoxia incorrectly.
- Through the social determinants of health, such as the manipulation and control of individuals, the use of deadly autonomous weaponry, and the impacts of mass unemployment on mental health, AI-based systems have the potential to negatively impact the health of millions of people.
- Threats also stem from the estimated tens to hundreds of millions of job losses that will occur over the next 10 years as a result of the widespread use of AI technology.
- "We do not know how society will respond psychologically and emotionally to a world in which work is not available and the impact on the physical health of members of society," the expert committee stated.
- "With the exponential growth in research and development in the field of artificial intelligence, the window of opportunity to avoid serious and potentially existential harm is narrowing," the study claims.
- They issued a warning, saying that "effective regulation of artificial intelligence development and use is necessary to avoid harm."
- According to the British publication The Guardian, they emphasised that "the development of self-improving artificial general intelligence should be banned until such regulation is in place."