• Question: Can artificial intelligence be dangerous?

    Asked by free520keto on 18 Oct 2024. This question was also asked by push519doum, them519doum, hand520ryot.
    • Photo: Tim Chapman

      Tim Chapman answered on 18 Oct 2024:

      At the moment probably not, but AI models are learning at such a rate that unless we get control of the development and advancements of AI then we could be in a position where it could do things much quicker than a team of people and this could be for good or bad!

    • Photo: Mark Basham

      Mark Basham answered on 28 Oct 2024:

      I think it can be, but not directly. AI can do a very good job of making things that arn’t true seem like they might be true. So id say its not the AI which is dangerous, but the way people use it could be.

    • Photo: John Easton

      John Easton answered on 11 Nov 2024:

      I don’t think AI in itself is dangerous as long as the limitations on what it can do are understood. AI can give you “good” answers as well as “bad” ones and this is all down to how much care and effort has been put into training the models. If you train the model badly then it will give bad answers (or answers that are less good than they could be). If you train a model to do bad things then bad things may well happen if people follow the answers it gives blindly and without questioning them. So it’s not necessarily that AI is bad, but rather people either may be training it badly or training it to do bad things :-(. I think it’s important to know that AI has limits and to always question the answers that it gives you. Don’t take the answer at face value without questioning whether it sounds reasonable or not.

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 12 Dec 2024:

      The AI itself wouldn’t be dangerous but people with bad intentions can use it to do dangerous things. Like spreading the wrong information or creating fake images.
      Even if people don’t have bad intentions, if they rely on AI to do work that’s it’s not trained to do like program a safety system without checking the work – putting too much trust in an AI can have dangerous consequences.

    • Photo: Aurelia Brzezowska

      Aurelia Brzezowska answered on 11 Mar 2025:

      From a cybersecurity aspect.. yes! But not for the reasons you may think. People often get excited about AI and decide to use it in their workplaces without research using models such as OpenAI. They don’t put limitations on it meaning all of their queries and data provided have now been made public to everyone! That can include your name, birthday, age, favourite colour, where you live and medical history. A hacker could query the AI to get this back and perform a cyber attack on you. Stay safe and never provide AI with more information than it needs.

    • Photo: Charlotte Slade

      Charlotte Slade answered on 17 Mar 2025: last edited 17 Mar 2025 13:03

      Can AI be dangerous? Oh, absolutely. But not in the sci-fi robot apocalypse way most people think! 🤖

      Potential Dangers:
      • Bias in algorithms that can perpetuate discrimination
      • Privacy invasion through data collection
      • Job displacement in certain industries
      • Potential misuse by bad actors
      • Decisions made without human ethical oversight

      The REAL risk isn’t that AI will take over – it’s that humans might become lazy and stop critically thinking.

      AI is a tool. Powerful, yes. But still just a tool.
      Think of it like a really smart calculator. Incredible at processing information, but totally dependent on the human asking the questions and setting the parameters.

      The most dangerous AI scenario? Humans who don’t understand the technology, blindly trusting its outputs without questioning or understanding them.

      My approach is to always ask:
      • Who programmed this?
      • What data was used?
      • What might be missing?
      • What are the potential unintended consequences?

      Science isn’t about fear. It’s about understanding, questioning, and responsible innovation.

      AI won’t destroy humanity. Humans might – by not being smart about how we develop and use AI.

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