AI: how will it affect our lives?
The advance of artificial intelligence (AI) into many existential areas of life is sparking heated debates and concern about the future. Regulatory legislation is still in the early stages. Commentators examine whether we should fear being replaced in the working world or whether art will lose its value.
What if machines start thinking for us?
Rastislav Boldocki, deputy editor of the weekly Plus 7 dní, fears a decline in human abilities in Új Szó:
“Since the industrial revolution, we in developed countries have gradually moved away from physical labour. And since the advent of the internet we no longer need to keep so much information in our heads. This is manifested in diseases of civilisation and a tendency towards superficiality. I don't even want to contemplate what will happen when machines start thinking for us.”
Humans will become even more creative
Artists' fears that the entertainment industry will soon be using AI-generated plots and animated doubles are short-sighted, writes cultural anthropologist Ivaylo Ditchev in the Bulgarian service of Deutsche Welle:
“When photography emerged in the 19th century, artists reacted differently. Gradually, the genres separated. Photography became an independent art, painting went in the direction of abstraction, fantasy and experiment. I wouldn't be surprised if something like that happened today: if synthetic art developed in its own direction, and inherently human art became even more creative.”
Bosses will keep on exploiting
It is not the quality of the work that robots deliver but capitalism that will decide the future, Gazete Duvar believes:
“Artificial intelligence will translate, write, edit, summarise. ... If people want it to develop in that direction it will improve day by day. Legal problems will arise which may or may not be resolved, but the labour force will continue to be exploited. ... We live in a system that neither loves nor values the human being. ... It is called capitalism. In this system, if bosses and employers see a job that a machine can do, they will give it to the machine, even if it the quality of the work is 'mediocre'.”