Scientists Must Push AI Toward Responsible AI

Many members of the research community have found it more difficult to be optimistic about the consequences artificial intelligence.

As authoritarianism rises around the world, AI-generated slop suppresses legitimate media, while AI-generated slop deepfakes spread disinformation and repeating extremist messages. AI makes warfare more precise and deadly in the face of irreconcilable conflicts. AI companies exploit people in the global South who work as data labelers and profit from content creators around the world by exploiting their work without license or compensation. The industry is also influencing an already turbulent climate with its huge energy needs.

Meanwhile, especially in United Statesgovernment investment in science seems redirected And concentrated on AI at the expense of other disciplines. AND Big Tech Companies are consolidating their control over the artificial intelligence ecosystem. In these and other respects, AI seems to be making things worse.

This is not the whole story. We must not accept that AI is harming humanity. None of us should accept this as inevitable, especially those in a position to influence science, government and society. Scientists and engineers can nudge AI down useful paths. Here's how.

The Academy's View of AI

A Pew Research found in April that 56 percent of artificial intelligence experts (authors and speakers at conferences on artificial intelligence) predict that artificial intelligence will have a positive impact on society. But this optimism does not extend to the scientific community as a whole. 2023 survey of 232 scientists from the Center for Science, Technology and Environmental policy Research at Arizona State University found more anxiety than worry about using generative AI in everyday life – almost at a ratio of three to one.

We have repeatedly encountered this opinion. Our careers in diverse applied work have brought us into contact with many research communities: confidentiality, cybersecurityphysical sciences, drug discovery, public healthpublic interest technologies and democratic innovation. In all of these areas, we found strong negative sentiment about the impact of AI. This feeling is so palpable that we have often been asked to express the voice of an AI optimist, even though most of the time we write about the need to reform AI development structures.

We understand why this audience views AI as a disruptive force, but this negativity gives rise to another concern: those who have the potential to lead the development of AI and manage its impact on society will view it as a lost cause and sit on the sidelines of the process.

Elements of a Positive Vision for AI

Many have ArguEd What turning That tide Action to combat climate change requires a clear articulation of the path to achieving positive results. Likewise, while scientists and technologists must anticipate, prevent, and help mitigate the potential harms of AI, they must also highlight ways to use the technology for good, galvanizing public action to achieve those goals.

There are many ways to use and change AI to improve people's lives, distribute rather than concentrate power, and even strengthen democratic processes. There are many examples in the scientific community that are worth mentioning.

A few examples: AI is eliminating communication barriers between languages, including in resource-limited settings such as marginalized sign languages And African indigenous languages. It helps politicians consider the views of many voters using artificial intelligence. discussions And statutory obligation. Large language models can scale individual dialogs up to Adress climate–change skepticismdisseminating accurate information at a critical time. National laboratories create artificial intelligence foundation models speed up scientific research. And in all areas of medicine and biology, machine learning solves scientific problems, such as predicting protein structure, to aid drug discovery, which has been recognized by the award. Nobel Prize in 2024.

While each of these applications is nascent and certainly imperfect, they all demonstrate that AI can be used to advance public interests. Scientists should embrace, support, and expand such efforts.

Call to Action for Scientists

In our new book Reshaping Democracy: How AI Will Change Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship: How AI will change our politics, government and citizenshipWe outline four key actions for policymakers seeking to direct AI to benefit society.

This also applies to scientists. Researchers should work on reform make the AI ​​industry more ethical, fair and trustworthy. We must collectively develop ethical norms for research that advances and applies AI, and should utilize and highlight AI developers who adhere to these norms.

Secondly, we must resist Harmful Uses of AI, documenting negative uses of AI and shining a light on misuse.

Thirdly, we must use responsibly AI to make life better for society and people by using its power to help the communities it serves.

And finally, we must advocate repair institutions to prepare them for the impact of AI; universities, professional societies and democratic organizations are all vulnerable to shocks.

Scientists have a special privilege and responsibility: we are close to the technology itself and therefore well positioned to influence its trajectory. We must work to create the AI-filled world we want to live in. Melvin Kranzberg noted“is neither good nor bad, nor neutral.” Whether the AI ​​we create will be harmful or beneficial to society depends on the choices we make today. But we can't create a positive future without imagining what it will look like.