By Jess Schmidli
We all know that a significant number of jobs have decreased due to AI (Artificial Intelligence). However, there is so much more to the cons of AI than just jobs. What about social life and social structure? The way we interact with the world and others around us is significantly harmed by AI.
Almost everyone in the world, no matter their occupation, is constantly using AI daily, especially teens. Whether they use it deliberately on interactive AI, to cheat or to find advice, or even just to search something up on google, they still use it, which proves just how much AI has been integrated into our lives. There are a number of things it can help us with and has helped us with; however, it has also hurt us, both directly and indirectly. Social interaction and social intelligence have decreased significantly due to this, and it continues to get worse. How much money has been invested into AI and is it a good thing? If things are taken to a deeper level, how many people have died due to AI or AI users?
People are getting severely attached to AI and destroying their mental health and our society. Without socializing, we are becoming a doomed species, and that should spark the question; are we killing ourselves by using and advancing AI? Perhaps we quite literally are. There is more to AI than just simply destroying our social skills. It is also destroying our mental health in more ways than one. There have been 35 deaths across a little over 3 years due to AI. The website Almorality points out that 18 deaths were because of suicides, 17 were due to homicides. In each of these deaths, it has been found that the people who had killed themselves or killed others were AI users of interactive AI apps such as Character AI. The homicide cases have that interactive AI had reinforced the idea of homicide and assisted in planning it.
From a recent survey conducted by the Spirit with SUNY Niagara students, about 31% of people use AI every day or almost every day, about 37% use it often or occasionally, with 31.5% hardly ever using it. 82.5% of people find AI to be helpful and supportive, yet 25% would rather talk to AI than socialize with other people. With only 16 responses, it shows how people recognize AI as an important and useful tool. However, socialization is a key element to any human life. When speaking to others, we gain social intelligence by interacting with other humans. However, AI is threatening our way of life with its existence. As stated by the American Psychological Association website; “Character.AI has 20 million monthly users, and more than half of them are under the age of 24. It has been a norm for a while for Replika users to ‘marry’ their AI companion in virtual weddings…”
AI has reached about 2.6 trillion dollars in investment. From the website Value Add VC, it is shown that Amazon is the biggest investor with 190-210 billion. Google has invested between 175 and 205 billion with Microsoft right behind at 180-200 billion. And yet, those are only the top 3 companies. There are many other companies and even singular people who do not represent a company or corporation have invested in AI.
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