Sam Altman is always excited about AI, what it is and will be capable of. From turning people into true geniuses, to colonizing space. After all, it is understandable: this is the person responsible for ChatGPT. The problem? That Although the businessman spends the day discussing the possibilities of this technology, his enthusiasm is not contagious.
At least this is what a new study shows. More than half of people are already more worried than excited about everything that has to do with artificial intelligence. Why is this really happening? What are the causes? Many attribute this to the warnings of numerous experts, who speak of fatal consequences. But is it the only reason?
Users don’t buy Sam Altman’s optimism
Every day artificial intelligence and tools like ChatGPT gain more and more prominence. Everywhere: the media, the Internet, but also from a professional point of view. Sam Altman should be happy. However, OpenAI has an important challenge ahead: convincing those who are suspicious of its proposal, who are not exactly few.
It is only necessary to take a look at current technology to be aware of it: AI divides everyone. One could almost speak of two sides. On the one hand, people like Bill Gates, Elon Musk or Altman himself, who foresee a more comfortable, freer world with more leisure time for everyone. Opposite, experts like Geoffrey Hinton even talk about the extinction of humanity.
These radically opposing positions do not exist only among specialists in the field. A new study shared by The Washington Post and carried out by Pew Research shows that the same thing happens with users. Approximately 50% of those surveyed, American adults, acknowledged being more worried than excited about artificial intelligence.
In this sense, there is a fact that draws a lot of attention. In 2022, when ChatGPT was released, the same survey revealed very different data: those who felt uncertainty towards AI barely reached 38%. Why this increase in distrust? Is this just poor communication on the part of OpenAI and similar companies or is there actually a deeper fear behind the whole thing?
Fear of AI, is it really founded?
To begin with, users do not trust AI very much. Another survey revealed that many people reject AI-generated search summaries (such as those offered by Google), doubting their accuracy and usefulness. And then there is the issue of employment, of course. People don’t buy so much that technology is going to happily retire them, and rather believe that they will end up unemployed because of it.
But according to experts, perhaps what causes the most discomfort of all is the feeling of «imposition.» Of feeling that AI invades everything little by little, without anyone asking for it. As if that were not enough, there are also those who think that AI will not only take people’s jobs, but even worse: it will also steal their identity. And those are big words.
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Tags: Artificial intelligence