Ethical Challenges with AI: Moving Forward With What We Have

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a powerful technology that assists with various tasks, such as interacting with virtual assistants, quickly retrieving information, writing articles, and creating images. However, significant questions arise regarding how AI learns, or is trained, to perform these tasks.AI learns by training on vast amounts of data. This data often comes from publicly available sources on the internet, including books, images, and music. Unfortunately, this data is sometimes used without the permission of the original creators. This raises ethical concerns, as creators should have control over their work. Depending on the jurisdiction and local laws, the level of control creators have over their publicly available work is a complex issue that will take time to resolve through legal processes.

Focusing on the ethical issues of AI usage, many people rightfully question the fairness of AI training practices. They argue that incorporating original works into AI models without permission is, at the very least, unethical. This concern is valid, and there is a growing demand for better regulations that require AI companies to seek permission, provide proper credit, and offer compensation to creators.

Despite these challenges, AI is rapidly transforming the world in numerous ways. It is essential to educate ourselves about AI to understand how it works and how we can contribute to its improvement. This knowledge does not imply acceptance of its flaws, but rather enables us to use AI wisely and advocate for fair policies and regulations. AI adoption is accelerating faster than many anticipate, and its initial implementations will probably have significant shortcomings. It is crucial for people to recognize this and stay informed. Using and understanding how AI works is vital to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of this technology.

To learn about AI ethically, consider reputable sources such as Hugging Face (huggingface.co), which offers insightful articles and projects. A particularly informative article by DuskfallCrew (https://huggingface.co/blog/Duskfallcrew/honesty-ethics-ai) is an excellent starting point.

Understanding and using AI is essential. It helps us ensure its ethical application, leverage its benefits, and avoid being exploited as these systems evolve. Learning how AI tools function empowers us to contribute to the development of more ethical and equitable tools in the future. Increased awareness and education about AI will enable society to establish rules that protect creators and enhance AI’s safety and utility for everyone. By taking the initiative to learn now, we can help shape a future where Generative AI is used responsibly and creatively.

And full disclosure; This article and all images were written by 2 chatbots, an image generator, and supervised by a human.