AI: good or bad for society?

Artificial intelligence is having a fairly varied impact on our society, and its effect can be both positive and negative, depending on how we develop and use it. For one, AI can make many repetitive tasks much more efficient. By automating these jobs, people can focus on more creative and complex tasks, which, in turn, increases productivity in areas such as manufacturing, customer service, or logistics.

In health, thanks to its ability to analyze large amounts of data, it can help diagnose diseases more accurately, offer treatments tailored to each person, and anticipate health problems before they occur. It can also speed up scientific research by detecting patterns that might otherwise be overlooked, opening up new possibilities for treating diseases.

But, as with any technological advance, AI brings with it several challenges. One of the most worrying is the fear of job losses. Many jobs, especially those that rely on repetitive or routine tasks, could be replaced by machines. This generates a lot of uncertainty about the future of work and raises the urgent need to retrain people to acquire new skills.

Moreover, we cannot overlook the ethical implications that AI entails. Artificial intelligence systems can replicate biases that are already in the data they are trained on, which can lead to unfair decisions, such as in criminal justice or in personnel selection processes. There are also privacy concerns, as AI collects huge amounts of personal information. Therefore, it is key to establish clear rules that ensure that technology benefits everyone equitably, without sacrificing our rights.

To support my opinion here are some cases in which AI is being beneficial:

AI is revolutionizing the healthcare sector by assisting in the early diagnosis of diseases. For instance, AI systems like DeepMind, from Google, have been able to detect signs of cancer in medical images with accuracy comparable to that of radiologists. This can improve survival rates by detecting diseases like breast cancer in early stages.

Helps: In the education field, AI enables a more personalized learning experience. Platforms like Khan Academy and Duolingo use algorithms that adapt to each student's learning pace and style, improving content retention and comprehension.

On the other hand, I know other cases in which it is not:

AI often requires the collection of large amounts of personal data, which can violate user privacy. For example, facial recognition apps used by governments or private companies may be misused for mass surveillance without people's consent.

As AI systems become more autonomous, such as with military drones or AI-based decisions in the criminal justice system, concerns arise about a lack of human accountability in critical decisions. If an AI makes a mistake, who is responsible? This raises significant ethical dilemmas that are not yet fully resolved.