Stories about Artificial Intelligence are everywhere. They range from the promising, the possibility of curing cancer, to the terrifying, chatbots encouraging suicide. With few exceptions, there seems to be very little being written about how this technology should be regulated. Do we really want to leave such decisions in the hands of tech billionaires like Sam Altman and Elon Musk?
Human beings have always adapted to technological changes to the way we think and communicate; the printing press, radio, TV, the internet, and subsequent social media applications have all brought their own disruptions, but there is something different about this moment and about artificial intelligence. The scale and speed of what we are seeing with Artificial Intelligence are not comparable to what we have adapted to in the past.
Even the Pope has responded to the development of AI with his own fears of how this moment is different. His concerns go beyond algorithmic social media that “weaken[s] the capacity for listening and critical thinking and increase[s] social polarization.” His concern echoes my own observations as a High School teacher of my students who so easily outsourced their thinking to Chat-GPT. The Pope, too, warns about “avoiding the effort of one’s own thinking” because to do so diminishes “our cognitive, emotional, and communicative capacities.” We become over time “mere passive consumers of unthought thoughts, anonymous products, without authorship, without love — while the masterpieces of human genius in the fields of music, art, and literature are reduced to a mere training ground for machines.”
Beyond the existential concerns about our humanity, there are more tangible, disruptive effects that are imminent. Analysis by Goldman Sachs indicates that “two-thirds of jobs in the United States and Europe face some degree of AI automation potential, while approximately one-quarter of all tasks within those jobs could be performed entirely by AI.”McKinsey’s analysis suggests that by 2030, up to 12 million workers in the United States will need to change careers entirely, not just acquire new skills within their existing field. What happens to all those who are displaced? Not only does this mean increased need for unemployment insurance or universal basic income, but it also means a reduction of tax revenue to support government assistance. How are we planning for this?
A team at Cornell who looked at the environmental impact of AI published their findings in The Cornell Chronicle, reporting that “by 2030, the current rate of AI growth would annually put 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the emissions equivalent of adding 5 to 10 million cars to U.S. roadways. It would also drain 731 to 1,125 million cubic meters of water per year – equal to the annual household water usage of 6 to 10 million Americans.” Given that we have already set aside our commitment to combat climate change by withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement and eliminating support for and adoption of clean energy alternatives from the last administration, how can we hope to mitigate the looming disaster when adding to the problem at such an accelerated rate?
When it comes to National Security, there are myriad risks to be considered as the unregulated use of AI grows. A short list of these concerns includes: biological & chemical weapons proliferation; cyber attacks; disinformation, deepfakes, & psychological warfare; autonomous weapons; and espionage. Anthropic’s “Sabotage Risk Report” for Claude Opus 4.6, its latest model, said it had the potential to facilitate “efforts toward chemical weapon development and other heinous crimes” and that “the model demonstrated the capacity for covert sabotage and unauthorized behavior.” Will the terrifying prospects of all of this get the attention of lawmakers before human beings lose control over these systems entirely?
In a recent PEW poll, 50% of Americans said they were more worried about AI than excited by it. If you want to understand more about the potential benefits and threats AI could bring to American society, then I invite you to attend the Osher Summer Lecture Series: “How is Artificial Intelligence Transforming America?” For six Wednesday mornings, starting July 8th, Osher will bring in experts in the field to present their work on the impact of AI on a broad spectrum of areas, such as the economy, the environment, national security, science, and ethics. Please visit Osher’s Summer Lecture Series website (osher.dartmouth.edu) to get tickets to this timely and important series.
Deb Springhorn, of West Lebanon, is a member of the Osher Summer Lecture Series Committee.