Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT recorded 100 million visitors within the first two months. The platform now generates 1 Billion users per month. Its exponential growth in a limited time frame has also spearheaded the conversation around the dangers of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the unregulated development of technology.
Despite the endless pros, an unmonitored pace of AI development today raises legitimate concerns of mass-produced biased information or misinformation, the threat to privacy, job displacement, lack of accountability and other significant dangers to humanity.
David Krueger, an assistant professor in Cambridge University’s Computational and Biological Learning Lab observes, “Look at how humans have reshaped the Earth and changed the environment leading to the extinction of many other species. If AI becomes a more significant re-shaper of the environment than humans have been, then it could make the environment of the world something that’s very difficult or impossible for humans to survive on“, reported IT Pro.
Speaking of AI’s threat to humanity, take a look at these instances from this year reminding us how unrestricted growth of AI can garner catastrophic consequences:
1. A mother in the US was almost scammed of $1 million when an ‘AI voice’ of her 15-year-old daughter called her crying cos she was kidnapped
A mother, hailing from Arizona, US, reportedly got a ‘scam’ call from an unknown number. She was horrified to hear her 15-year-old daughter on the other end, crying and saying, “Mom, I messed up.” Then, a man came on the line and told Jennifer DeStefano that he had her daughter. He asked DeStefano to pay $1 million and later reduced the sum to $50,000. Her husband, soon after, confirmed their daughter was safe and she realised it was acutally a scam call.
“It was completely her voice. It was her inflection. It was the way she would have cried. I never doubted for one second it was her” she told the local news station. “I literally just sat down and broke down crying,” she said. “They were tears for all of the what ifs. It all just seemed so real” she added.
2. There’s a website that can find every image of you that exists online
Apparently, a website called PimEyes can deep search the Internet and collect all photos of you available online, including your doppelgangers. All you need to do is upload a picture of yourself.
Helpful? Yes. Creepy? Hell, yes!
The website met with divided reactions. You can read about it: Apparently, There’s A Terrifying Website That Can Find Every Image Of You That Exists Online
3. Redditors recently got tricked into paying money for nudes of an AI-generated woman
A 19-year-old Claudia got Redditors enchanted with her after she posted nude photos of herself on different subreddits. However, the truth is that she’s an AI-generated woman created as a joke by two computer science students. They made the account after reading a Reddit post from a guy who earned $500 through catfishing users with pictures of women, according to a Rolling Stones report. Apparently, they earned about $100 by selling her lewd pictures.
4. There’s an app for ‘desperate single men’ which promises to get them ‘several dates a week by doing absolutely nothing’
By paying $15 a month, CupidBot can help desperate pitiable straight men get ‘quality’ matches with women without them doing anything. Basis an individual’s previous matches, the AI algorithm will swipe on ‘women of their type.’ The chatbot will do the talking until she says yes to a physical date.
“We focus on the dating lives of straight men because they suffer most from dating apps. It takes immense time for the average man to scrape together even one date a month,” said CupidBot spokesperson, reported Vice.
5. Fake AI images of Donald Trump getting arrested legit confused some people
AI images have been trending on the Internet for quite some time. While we’ve been marvelling at the hyper-realistic nature of those images, they have also raised alarming concerns about misinformation and harmful content.
Earlier this month, Midjourney CEO David Holz announced they’re ending free trials, citing “extraordinary demand” and “trial abuse.”
6. A notorious chatbot called ChaosGPT has been employed to destroy humankind
ChaosGPT, a modified version of OpenAI’s Auto-GPT, tasked to bring an end to humanity, runs in a continuous mode. It means the programme will keep running until the mission is completed.
This demonic AI has five goals: to destroy humanity, establish global dominance, bring chaos and destruction, control humanity through manipulation, and attain immortality.
Also Read: There’s An AI Chatbot Called ‘ChaosGPT’ & It Has Five Goals. The First One Is To Destroy Humanity
7. ChatGPT has already begun replacing humans
According to a Fortune report, 500 of 1000 US companies surveyed by a job advice platform, Resumebuilder.com, were already using ChatGPT for different reasons: writing code, content creation, summarising meetings, etc.
While the threats of AI are much more perceptible now, it has been impacting our lives for a long time. If you’ve watched the Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma (2020), you may recall how it was a mind-wrecking wake-up call about social media.
Far from entertainment, social networking sites possess AI algorithms designed to personalise content to cater to the psychology of an individual. These platforms keep monitoring our online interactions, activities, interests, likes, and dislikes, luring us into investing more and more of our time, energy, money, and emotions in them. Remember the last time you doom-scrolled for hours at a stretch?
Read more: 12 Things We Learned From Netflix’s ‘The Social Dilemma’ That Make Us Rethink Our Internet Usage
Top industry pioneers and AI experts are already calling for restricting the use of technology. Last month, an open letter, signed by more than 5,000 signatories (25,000 plus signatures now), including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak, urged for an immediate pause “for at least 6 months on the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.”
How far will this go on? Will AI be the death of us?