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As a culture, as a society – and as individuals – we have a natural fear of “what’s new.” Of “what’s next” – especially as it relates to technological advances which could conceivably erode our security and our liberty. Certainly, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has generated fear across ideological and partisan divides given its vast potential for abuse – and worries that human intelligence could one day be supplanted.
In assessing AI from a broader perspective, though, if humankind is able to unlock its full potential – while guarding against its pitfalls – there is no limit to its applications.
AI could solve problems that have confounded generations of the brightest minds on the planet for generations: Curing cancer, eradicating poverty and creating and sustaining a wide array of renewable energy sources, to name just a few.
Carl Szabo is bullish on AI. He believes educating current and future generations about its use – and protecting against its abuse – is the key to unlocking its ability to create positive, transformative change for our world.
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Szabo is the vice president and general counsel for NetChoice, a group which exists to promote free expression – and free markets – on the internet. Dubbed a “Tech Titan” by Washingtonian, he teaches internet law at the Antonin Scalia school of law at George Mason.
Referencing the aforementioned challenges of cancer, world hunger and sustainable energy, Szabo noted “we have thrown billions if not trillions of dollars (and) the brightest and smartest scientists in human history at these three problems and have not been able to do it.”
“AI may be the thing that figures it out, ” Szabo said. “What it can do is it can test, analyze the results, adjust and retest in fractions of seconds.”
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“If you control AI, you can control speech.”
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Szabo also discussed the current governmental climate vis-à-vis AI – including recent efforts by the administration of Joe Biden to stringently regulate the technology under the guise of suppressing “disinformation” and “misinformation.”
“If you control AI, you can control speech,” Szabo said, blasting Biden’s recent executive order on AI as “government overreach.”
Szabo’s take is in keeping with views expressed by Jennifer Huddleston, technology policy research fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. Huddleston also opposes overreach, believing government should adopt a “light touch” when it comes to AI.
“Consumers and innovators, not government, are ultimately the best at deciding what applications of a new technology are the most beneficial to consumers,” Huddleston noted during her testimony before the U.S. Senate last fall. “Policymakers should build on the success of past light touch regulatory approaches that have made the US a leader in technological innovation and narrowly tailor necessary interventions to respond to otherwise unaddressed harms and specific uses or applications of the technology.”
Stay tuned to this media outlet as this ongoing debate advances …
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven (soon to be eight) children.
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