If A.I. becomes a mainstay of economic activities, it is likely to bring not only positive effects of technological advancement, but also negative effects such as a widening gap between the rich and poor, a surge in unemployment, and a loss of human agency, and careful social preparation is necessary.
Recently, AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence Go robot built by Google, made headlines when it faced off against Lee Sedol, the world’s No. 1 Go player. Before the big match, many people thought it was too early for an A.I. robot to beat a human, and many predicted Lee Sedol’s victory. But when the lid was lifted, the results were surprising. The AI Go robot, AlphaGo, won four out of five games in a landslide victory.
Until now, many people had only thought of AI robots surpassing humans in relatively simple games such as chess or shogi. However, the match between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol showed that AI could beat humans in a game called Go, which has been played countless times, and it made a huge impact on the internet. Since then, interest in AI has grown dramatically, and expectations for its potential have also increased.
In fact, in our society, we often recognize the extent to which AI has reached and utilize it for various purposes. At the Anderson Cancer Center in the United States, an AI called Watson diagnoses cancer with an average diagnosis rate of 96%, which is more accurate than human doctors. Google has even developed an AI that can draw abstract pictures. AI is being utilized in a variety of fields, and one of them is to gain economic benefits.
When used in the financial sector, these robots can store vast amounts of data, analyze it, and suggest new directions that humans can’t even imagine, which can be very beneficial to a company. As expectations for AI rise and the technology improves every day, we’ll see more and more of these financially beneficial uses of AI. Eventually, there may come a time when A.I. will earn money directly, own money, and have its own rights.
In the future, A.I. robots will be the main economic agents. You may question whether AI will ever get to that point, but it’s similar to how people before the Industrial Revolution couldn’t imagine giant corporations acting as economic agents. If you told people back then that an abstract entity was running the economy, they would have thought it was ridiculous. Similarly, it’s entirely conceivable that AI will one day become an economic entity.
This is getting closer and closer, so what can we do about it? The first thing we can do is try to anticipate whether the impact of A.I. will be more positive or negative. Advancements in technology are not always for the better, and if A.I. becomes much more advanced than it is now and starts earning money on its own, the negative impacts are likely to be greater. There are three reasons for this.
First, the gap between rich and poor will widen. The gap between rich and poor has always been one of the biggest social problems in capitalist societies. If A.I. becomes economically active on its own, this problem will be exacerbated, creating a constant social problem. The closest example is AlphaGo. The Go match between AlphaGo and Lee Sedol was organized by Google. AlphaGo is an artificial intelligence robot created by Google and owned by Google. It’s unlikely that the global giant owns just one AlphaGo. In addition to AlphaGo, Google is developing and pioneering various AI technologies, including Akas, an AI robot that draws using an artificial neural network, and Daydream, a VR platform reminiscent of Jarvis, the AI assistant in the movie Iron Man.
With such a large amount of capital, companies that invest in AI will have an edge over the competition. Currently, the main way to profit from AI is to sell highly skilled robots and patents, but what if AI could earn money directly in the future? Imagine AlphaGo not just playing Go, but participating in competitions and earning its own winnings. As time goes on, the haves and have-nots will intensify. As technology advances, the current gap between the rich and the poor will be exacerbated by those who can afford to own AI.
The counterargument is that technological advances will also improve the quality of life for the poor. They argue that if you compare the poor before the industrial revolution to the poor today, the quality of life for the poor has improved. However, what they overlook is relative poverty. While it is true that the absolute quality of life of the poor has improved compared to the past, much of the deprivation felt by the poor in the modern world comes from comparing themselves to those at the top. If A.I. becomes an economic entity, this sense of relative deprivation will increase, and even if the absolute quality of life improves, the gap between the rich and poor will widen, which will become a major social problem. Therefore, the economic subjectivization of A.I., which may deepen the gap between the rich and poor, should be approached with caution.
The second reason why AI changes will have a negative impact on the future is the explosion of unemployment. Even now, many industries are being mechanized, and jobs related to manual labor are almost disappearing. There’s no need to hire humans for menial labor because machines can do it for you. Now, where humans can outperform machines is in areas that require thinking, such as logic and creativity. However, once AI is sufficiently advanced to be able to work on its own, its superiority in these areas will quickly catch up.
Because AI robots are machines, they can store vast amounts of data almost infinitely. They have the ability to constantly take in different situations, memorize them, and make the best choice for each situation. They will be able to take into account aspects that humans don’t consider when faced with a problem and come up with creative solutions. As machines become more dominant in areas where humans have previously excelled, humans will gradually lose ground, meaning that they will not be able to compete with machines in economic capabilities. As AI becomes the mainstay of economic activity, the number of human jobs will explode.
The counterargument is that as society progresses, new jobs will be created for every one that disappears. However, there are not many tasks that humans can do more productively than machines. The number of new jobs created by the AI industry will far outnumber the number of jobs lost. As a result, unemployment will rise significantly. Another argument in favor of AI’s economic empowerment is that it will improve the quality of life for humans because AI will be able to work for itself and earn money instead of humans. However, the number of people who will be able to own AI will be very limited. It will be difficult for all members of society to utilize A.I. due to its advanced technology. Therefore, although A.I. may improve the quality of life by taking over economic activities, only a few people will benefit from it. As such, the economic mainstreaming of A.I. is likely to take away people’s jobs and have a negative impact on society.
The third reason why A.I. can have a negative impact when it becomes the subject of economic activities is that it can cause a loss of human agency. The development of AI does not only affect economic activities. When A.I. becomes a subject of economic activity, it means that it can act independently, meaning that it has reached a level where it can think, act, and choose for itself, independent of humans. The moment AI transcends humans, humans will no longer be the subject, but the object.
If A.I. makes its own decisions and engages in economic activities, humans will likely become passive recipients of the results. Everything that humans have been doing as subjects will be replaced by AI. As a result, humans will feel useless, and this could diminish the meaning of human existence. Furthermore, even if AI’s decisions lead to better outcomes for humans, the loss of control over their lives will cause great psychological damage to humans.
A related counterargument is that even if AI transcends humans, it will remain under the control of the humans who develop and utilize it. However, this is overly optimistic. When AI is advanced enough to transcend human capabilities, will humans be able to control it? While we are developing AI now, it will one day have the ability to improve and evolve itself. At that point, humans will not be able to control its development, and it is not excluded that humans will come under its control. Therefore, there is a great risk that humans will lose their agency as A.I. becomes the main actor in economic activities.
In conclusion, the subjectification of AI into economic activities should be carefully considered. The economicization of AI will lead to technological advances, which can have a positive impact on the society we live in. However, it is also likely to have negative effects, such as a widening gap between the rich and the poor, a spike in unemployment, and a loss of human agency. We need to anticipate the time when A.I. will become a mainstay of economic activity and prepare for social and economic preparedness. If we don’t prepare for this, our society could be disrupted by A.I.’s economic dominance.
