Artificial Intelligence: Dangers at Hand!!
This did not happen by chance. Rumors suddenly emerged warning of the dangers of artificial intelligence, particularly if left to act without guidance. The world was unprepared to receive these warnings, which are understood by scientists, mastered by experts, and managed by giant corporations and security agencies in major powers. The warning was exaggerated, and the hypothetical risks exceeded all expectations. It asks: What if the machine acted on its own? What could happen if coordinates intersected and algorithms conflicted, sending contradictory messages to airlines as they operated flights in the sky? Surely, we would witness a fierce battle between fleets of civilian aircraft in the air, akin to combat jets. Surely, a global chaos far more violent than any war on Earth would ensue. And surely, the entire world would stand with a bird on its head, beating five-sixths, trying to escape a bitter future but to no avail.
These disturbing messages unsettled U.S. President Donald Trump, who tasked a professional team of White House staff to intercept the contradictory messages broadcast by AI technologies and immediately ordered them contained. After a period of ominous silence, the American president emerged to reassure the world that artificial intelligence would propel humanity into rapid, brilliant progress without any risks, accidents, or misleading algorithms.
It is as if we are reading the future at the Bahrain Private University, where we organized a conference on doctoral studies in digital media. We then held a debate between mixed teams of scientists and specialized students. The question posed was: Are you for or against the use of artificial intelligence? In the end, the audience divided into three groups:
First: Strongly supports the use of AI in all aspects of life.
Second: Strongly opposes its use due to its risks, some of which manifest in the elimination of millions of jobs and the spread of unemployment, unless the world pays attention to developing its human resources and high-quality, digital sciences.
Third: Supports AI on the condition that:
- It is not left to act on behalf of humans.
- It does not make its own decisions.
- It is continuously guided, especially in specialized sciences and those related to arts, literature, general culture, journalism, media, medicine, aviation sciences, air traffic, and space, as well as other ultra-fast digital applications that require human oversight to produce hybrid goods between machine and human.
When the recent uproar over artificial intelligence occurred, I recalled how we at the Bahrain Private University were vigilant and ahead of others, capable of discussing the applications of the latest technological discoveries of the modern era. I also realized that caution is a duty, and that the excessive use of cognitive machines could lead to confrontations between humans and these machines, or even among humans themselves and among the machines themselves.
To avoid these risks, and according to what experts in ultra-fast cloud and cognitive technologies believe, this technology must be subject to strict, professional oversight and exceptional training cycles. This should be accompanied by continuous studies and applied research on specific breach cases and how to avoid them, as well as laboratory work and university labs where theories are "tested" and a scheduled approximation is created between pure sciences and their real-world applications.
The uproar over artificial intelligence reminds me of the era of the discovery of "dishes" or satellite dishes, which transmitted the world to us without controls through television screens in our homes. At that time, some declared it haram, and some conservative governments imposed restrictions on its import or use in public places. Over time, people became accustomed to it, and self-regulation became sufficient to filter prohibited content and retain only media materials that align with our customs, traditions, and morals.
From this, and through certain experience, fears may arise that could disturb senior officials around the world, and this discomfort may extend to the owners of the scientific patent rights for these immense technologies. However, it is certain that we will inevitably overcome this turbulent tunnel through the rational use of artificial intelligence, professional training on its algorithms and coordinates, and the fact that above every knowledgeable person is a more knowledgeable one.
