Artificial intelligence: between progress, threat and social responsibility

AI at the turning point: between promise of salvation and social responsibility

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) undoubtedly has the potential to fundamentally transform our lives and our society. While many celebrate the technological breakthroughs, however, the critical voices that warn of the unintentional consequences of this revolution are also increasing. The AI ​​who originally advertised large -scale today are closely considered, and it becomes clear that we have to expect considerable social collateral damage.

The threat of traditional jobs

AI makes developers replacing: Who will be needed in the future - and who does not

The software development, once regarded as a safe career option, faces a fundamental change. Current studies show that AI already has a significant impact on the labor market for developers. Personnel advisors report drastic changes: "Five years ago everyone said: If you studied engineering or development, you have taken care of it. I would now revise that very drastically".

Development is worryingly concrete: While 70 percent of the positions occupied by personnel consultants used to be in the tech area, today it is only 20 percent, while 80 percent of demand on commercial areas is eliminated. Companies such as Shopify and Duolingo have already introduced new rules, according to which personnel inquiries are only approved if it can be proven that AI cannot do the task as well as a person.

Frontend developers are particularly affected because low code, no code and AI-based programming can increasingly automate their activities. The salaries in the tech area have already dropped by up to 30 percent, and every fifth company with more than 250 employees is already using AI against the shortage of skilled workers in IT.

The danger is not only in the direct replacement of jobs, but also in the qualitative change in work itself. Developers who rely too much on AI tools without understanding the underlying principles run the risk of losing their core skills. As an expert warns: "Anyone who only writes code without really understanding what they or he actually does in detail will be replaced by the AI".

The disruption of the media landscape

Who is still clicking? AI answers displace the classic search

The media industry faces an existential threat from AI-based search engines. Google's AI answers are already reducing the click rate on websites by more than a third. An analysis of Ahrefs shows that the click rate in the top position in the search results by Google's “Ai Overviews” has dropped by 34.5 percent.

For media houses that traditionally generate 30 to 60 percent of their range through Google searches, this means a dramatic threat to their business models. Studies from the United States show that publishers have to fear a loss of up to 75 percent of the search traffic by switching to AI search.

The Swiss media already report concrete effects: "It is a big problem that many readers no longer click on to the actual source". Around 60 percent of Google searches now end without any click on a link, and AI overviews reduce the click rate by 30 to 70 percent.

The development will continue to tighten, since Google is already testing an even more comprehensive redesign of the web search with the “AI Mode”, in which the focus instead of classic result lists is in the foreground dialogue-like interactions with AI answers. Openai even goes one step further with Chatgpt Search and integrates the search function directly into the AI ​​chatbot, which fundamentally threatens the traditional link-based web ecosystem.

AI as a progress trap: social collateral damage

The disappointment of programmed promises

The great promises of the AI ​​revolution-more prosperity, intelligent assistance and medical breakthroughs-are increasingly proving to be a progress trap. While the technology undoubtedly shows impressive skills, it becomes increasingly clear that it will not provide any answers to the urgent questions of our time. On the contrary: the unrealistic expectations lead to disappointments with potentially high social collateral damage.

The reality shows that AI often remains behind the expectations. Companies like Klarna are already rowing back after purely AI-based solutions have proven to be inadequate. The role of humans remains central, even if the technology industry is reluctant to admit this.

Does the AI ​​actually make us stupid?

One of the most worrying developments is the negative influence of AI on our cognitive skills. Several studies show that the intensive use of AI tools leads to a decline in critical thinking.

A co-study documented that the brain activity of Chatgpt users drastically decreases during the processing of academic tasks. The researchers found that 83 percent of those who used Chatgpt could no longer reproduce exactly what they had written themselves. The study interprets this as an indication of a declining cognitive depth of processing.

A further examination by the Swiss Business School with 666 participants confirmed that frequent AI use is associated with a lower ability to think of critical thinking. Younger people in particular show a higher dependence on AI tools and weaker cognitive skills. As a neuroscientist explains: "Clever people become smarter, stupid people become more stupid", since uneducated users rely more on AI instead of developing their own thinking skills.

The phenomenon of “cognitive offloading” means that we get used to outsourcing difficult questions to AI, and losing the exercise in independent thinking. Similar to the well-known “Google effect”-in which we remember less information because they are quickly available-the use of AI threatens to weaken our memory and problem-solving skills.

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The social effects of the AI ​​revolution

Reinforcement of social inequalities

The AI ​​development does not lead to an even distribution of advantages, but increasingly existing social inequalities. While large technology companies and well -trained users benefit, low -qualified workers and smaller companies are increasingly being left behind.

Automation no longer only affects manual activities, but also highly qualified “knowledge work”. Goldman Sachs estimates that up to 300 million jobs worldwide could be automated by AI, with industrialized nations being particularly affected.

The erosion of human skills

The increasing dependence on AI systems leads to an erosion of important human abilities. As studies on social effects show, AI systems can promote cooperation in certain areas, but they also affect established social norms and reciprocity between people.

The influence on children and adolescents who are increasingly oriented towards robots and AI systems is particularly problematic. This raises concerns about the use of social robots in vulnerable social groups.

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Medical breakthroughs: promise and reality

The potential and its limits

While AI shows impressive progress in medicine, the gap between promise and reality remains considerable. AI systems can achieve or exceed human experts in the diagnosis, but they raise new questions regarding responsibility, liability and patient safety.

A doctor warns: "Currently, AI is far from perfect. And during this transition period, in which we already have very good AI, which still makes mistakes, there is a risk that we rely too much on AI". The medical world emphasizes that AI must first prove itself and should be checked thoroughly before it is used in critical applications.

Commercial interests versus patient well

The dominance of commercial interests is a special problem. Large technology companies are pushing with disruptive business models into the healthcare system before reasonable standards and norms could be developed. AI-based business models are often based on lucrative segments, while less profitable but important areas such as basic care are neglected.

The intelligent assistance: between utopia and disillusionment

The dream of perfect assistant

The vision of intelligent assistance, which anticipates and fulfills all of our needs, is a central promise of the AI ​​revolution. Devices such as the “Ai Pin” by Humane and the “Rabbit R1” from Rabbit Inc. promise to be real personal assistants who quickly do complex inquiries and offer consistent use of use.

But reality shows that even established voice assistants such as Siri and Google Assistant are far from offering the promised efficiency. The new AI assistants may be more technologically advanced, but they face the same basic challenges in the interpretation of human needs and the execution of complex tasks in the real world.

The limits of automation

Although AI assistants can be very helpful in the automation of routine tasks, it can be seen that they quickly reach their limits with complex, context-dependent decisions. The risk is that users develop unrealistic expectations and rely too much on these systems.

Economic and structural challenges

The concentration pressure

AI development leads to a strong concentration of power and resources in a few large technology companies. These “big-tech groups” collect massive amounts of sensitive data and can therefore exercise “gatekeeper” functions that control access to information and services.

At the same time, high entry barriers are created for smaller companies and developers, since the development of advanced AI systems requires enormous resources. This increases the existing market concentrations and can lead to further polarization of the economy.

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Innovation versus collateral damage

The rapid development of AI often happens without adequate consideration of the social effects. As experts warn, there is a risk that innovative AI-based improvements will be hindered by exuberant regulation, but at the same time massive collateral damage threatens if the technology is used without adequate controls.

The way forward: realistic assessments instead of hype

The need for critical consideration

Instead of accepting technological determinism, we have to recognize that no technology is inevitable and progress does not represent a linear leader. The dominant story about AI as an unstoppable progress often serves the interests of technology companies and risk capital providers, while social costs are externalized.

Human -centered approaches

The future of the AI ​​should not be to replace people, but to support them. As experts emphasize, technology must serve people and not vice versa. This requires a conscious design of digital transformation, which puts social compatibility, inclusiveness and human -centered approaches in the foreground.

Education and media literacy

In view of the growing importance of AI, media literacy becomes a key qualification. People have to learn to critically assess AI systems, to understand their limits and to deal responsibly with them. Educational institutions should use AI tools in combination with exercises that promote critical thinking.

Between progress and responsibility

The AI ​​revolution will undoubtedly bring significant changes, but the great promises of more prosperity, intelligent assistance and medical breakthroughs are increasingly proving to be a progress trap. Reality shows that we have to expect considerable social collateral damage: job losses in traditional safe areas, the erosion of human skills, the destabilization of established business models and the strengthening of social inequalities.

Instead of letting us blind from the technological possibilities, we have to choose a critical and responsible approach to AI development. This does not mean demonizing the technology, but recognizing its limits, developing realistic expectations and ensuring that their development is in the service of humanity.

The urgent questions of our time - climate change, social inequality, demographic change - will not be solved by AI alone. Rather, we need human creativity, empathy and judgment to overcome these challenges. AI can be a useful tool, but it must not become an end in itself or prevent us from tackling the really important social tasks.

The future is not in the blind acceptance of technological developments, but in the conscious design of a society in which the technology serves human values ​​and needs. This is the only way we can avoid progress trap and create a really sustainable and decent future.

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Konrad Wolfenstein

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