What is Artificial Intelligence and Why Does It Scare Us?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force in the contemporary technological landscape, but its existence and capabilities have always sparked a huge social debate and great concern. In this article, we will explain, in broad terms, what Artificial Intelligence is, how it works, and some of the reasons why it is feared.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

In simple terms, Artificial Intelligence refers to a machine’s ability to mimic human intelligence. This includes the ability to learn, reason, solve problems, understand natural language, and adapt. Like other computer programs, artificial intelligence is structured on algorithms and mathematical models that allow machines to process information, identify patterns, and make decisions. However, conventional programs are limited to following programmed instructions and cannot learn and improve with experience. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence, through machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), can improve its efficiency and performance over time and is capable of adapting to new environments and situations.

Where does Artificial Intelligence Come From?

Although the term “artificial intelligence” sounds very modern and disruptive, the truth is that it is almost 70 years old.

The first person to consider the idea of “artificial intelligence” (although he didn’t come up with this term) was Alan Turing in 1950. At that time, Turing published an essay titled “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” where he first brought up the question, “Can machines think?” Until then, this possibility had not occurred to anyone, but, with the advancing computing techniques of the time, it was a logical question (even though, at that time, it required a huge room and hundreds of thousands of dollars to operate a computer millions of times less powerful than our current phones).

It was not until 6 years later (1956) that the term artificial intelligence was first introduced at Dartmouth College, by computer scientist John McCarthy. The coining of the term led to deep considerations about the definition and applications of artificial intelligence and triggered studies in the field. Three years later, in 1959, the first “Artificial Intelligence” laboratory began to operate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.

Since then, artificial intelligence algorithms and the moral, ethical, and political considerations of this technology have always been present. However, until recently, these advances were made, above all, at a theoretical level. It has not been until now that the technological capabilities of hardware development have matched the potential of artificial intelligence. That is why the power, possibilities, and challenges that artificial intelligence poses have begun to become visible (and usable) to the general public.

al intelligence is allowing creators to generate a large volume of works in a very short time. Nowadays, distributing that music to streaming platforms is within everyone’s reach. As a consequence, platforms experience a significant increase in infrastructure costs to keep all those songs available.

Reasons to Fear  Artificial Intelligence:

It is the ability of AI to learn and evolve, and its enormous analytical and processing aptitudes, that worries many people about the repercussions it may have for human societies. Not without reason, great visionaries of science fiction have delved into the ethical and moral dilemmas of artificial intelligence and its possible repercussions for decades. The most common discussions involve aspects such as job loss, loss of human control over intelligent machines, or the impact on people’s privacy. But these topics have already been widely discussed, and we are all more or less familiar with them.

However, in this article, we will summarize other facts that more directly affect the entertainment industry, specifically the music industry, and in subsequent articles, we will delve into more detail on each of them.

• Saturation of the music distribution system: creative artificial intelligence is allowing creators to generate a large volume of works in a very short time. Nowadays, distributing that music to streaming platforms is within everyone’s reach. As a consequence, platforms experience a significant increase in infrastructure costs to keep all those songs available.

• Dilution of human-created works among the large number of works generated by artificial intelligence: YouTube has just incorporated a validation and labeling criterion so that content creators can mark whether content has been produced by artificial intelligence, or if artificial intelligence has assisted in its creation. However, this is a relatively recent measure, and it is not widespread. This makes it difficult to differentiate conventional music from music generated by artificial intelligence, which negatively affects the processes of discovering songs and bands.

• Absence of copyrights for content created by artificial intelligence: the royalties that compensate for the uses of musical compositions depend on the copyright laws of each country. In many countries, it is considered that all types of content originated by artificial intelligence have no copyright. As the quality of compositions and creations made by creative artificial intelligence increases, many uses of music that originally had to compensate artists (music synchronizations, background music, etc.) will cease to be obtained from conventional means, in order to avoid copyright-related costs, which will reduce the options for artists to monetize their work and sustain their artistic career at a professional level.

Conclusion:

Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool that can bring significant benefits to society, but it also poses ethical and social challenges. Technology and science have always advanced faster than laws and philosophy. It is easy to implement new technology when it is presented to us in the form of a ready-to-use product that offers endless potential, but understanding how this product affects society, and the way it interacts with our culture and values, is something much slower. Likewise, laws, which exist to protect us in these situations, are something much harder to change and evolve. 

Therefore, education about AI and the implementation of ethical regulations for its use and implementation are fundamental aspects. It is the responsibility of all of us to move towards a future in which AI becomes an ally rather than a threat. To do this, we need to understand in depth what artificial intelligence is, what potential it offers, and what implications it has for society. Only then will we be in a position to make appropriate decisions that allow us to extract all its potential without compromising our fundamental values and principles.