Artificial Intelligence is coming, good or bad

Young soldiers sometimes cite a particular military weapon and pose the question: Is that a defensive weapon or an offensive weapon? Almost invariably, the answer is: It depends on the intent of the user. Whether artificial intelligence is good or bad could be described the same way. Regardless, artificial intelligence is coming to us in an overwhelming way.

Computers can be programmed to “learn.” Because of their speed and vast information storage capacity, scientists believe that computer programs will make it possible to solve problems that would, otherwise, be beyond human ability. That might include ways to cure or prevent disease or discover energy systems that do not pollute the environment that sustains us.

This technology depends on state-of-the-art computer chips. Only one company makes a machine that can produce state-of-the-art chips. That company, ASML, is based in the Netherlands. Taiwan has one of those chip making machines. Taiwan makes the chips used in many of our computers and cell phones. That is one reason that the U.S. fears that a closer relationship between China and Taiwan could compromise American security.

The U.S. Government recently announced an $8 billion gift to the Intel Corporation and an $11 billion loan to help finance computer chip manufacturing facilities in the United States. That financial assist may also include a $100 billion tax relief for Intel. State-of-the-art computer chips are required for artificial intelligence. Major computer companies, government security agencies and foreign countries are all pursuing artificial intelligence. Saudi Arabia is contemplating establishment of a $40 billion investment in artificial intelligence. 

Artificial intelligence promises great benefits for humanity but it also has a downside. It can, for example, be used to produce a fake image and voice of a person that is indistinguishable from the real person. That process can be used to damage or destroy the reputation of a politician or a prominent person. Florida Governor DeSantis was, for a while, a candidate for a presidential nomination. A political advertisement promoting Governor DeSantis used a fake photo portraying former President Trump kissing Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

During the early stages of the Covid-19 disease, robotic internet messages circulated advocating behavior that was apparently intended to maximize adverse health impacts in the United States. It may have been the product of a foreign country exhibiting anti-American sentiments.

Computer chips are made with ultra-precision lasers that etch the chips. That process has reached its limits. However, a new process is receiving intense research and development — quantum computing. A quantum computer doesn’t use chips. Quantum computers manipulate electrons. The potential computation speed stagers the imagination. Google has indicated that their experimental quantum computer can solve a very complex mathematical problem in three and half minutes that our best supercomputer would need 10,000 years to solve.

It is anyone’s guess when quantum computing will become practical. But when it does, the learning capabilities of chip computers and the speed of quantum computers will be a wild ride.  

Jack Stevenson is a retired infantry officer, civil service and private corporation employee who now reads history, follows issues important to Americans, and writes commentary from his home in Pensacola, Florida.