AI: Where do we go from here?

It was the year AI seemed to take over the world.

In 2023, artificial intelligence generated headlines for its ability to answer questions, drive cars, generate musical beats and even take you down memory lane by creating ‘90s yearbook-style photos.

AI also emerged as a threat to take over people’s jobs, clone their voices, drain bank accounts, steal identities and shut down billion-dollar corporations.

Truth is, AI isn’t new; artificial intelligence has surrounded us for decades.

For years, AI’s predictive text has been able to finish our words and sentences while typing. It gives us shopping suggestions based on our browsing history. Interactive voice response systems use AI to answer the telephone and allow us to have conversations (albeit not good ones) with a computer.

It guides vehicle navigation systems that reroute drivers based on traffic, shake the steering wheel if we drift into another lane and beep if an oncoming car enters a blind spot. It allows financial institutions to detect fraud and instantly notify customers of suspicious activity. The federal Transportation Security Administration  will soon roll out its AI-driven facial recognition program as a screening measure at more than 430 airports nationwide.

The list of AI’s uses stretches back decades, and largely, society has accepted the technological innovations. Only now, though, are we saying it might be happening too fast.

Just because a computer can drive a car doesn’t mean it should. Just because AI can draft essays doesn’t mean students should use it to complete a term paper. Just because a retina scan or fingerprint is unique to us doesn’t mean we should use either to get cash from an ATM.

As 2024 approaches, AI might be our biggest cybersecurity threat. There already have been cases where cloned voices tricked unsuspecting individuals into sending money to scammers, believing that a distant relative was in need. AI has been used to create fake songs, fake videos and fake political statements. Scammers are using AI to make their phishing attempts more sophisticated, delivering emails and texts that are mirror images of legitimate messages from businesses. AI even passed both the bar exam and CPA licensure exam and is now viewed as a security threat to all online testing programs.

In 2024, there likely will be calls for more regulation of AI. The rate of its development may have outpaced cybersecurity and safety protocols.

Much like sci-fi movies where monsters created in a lab are difficult to contain, AI could be traveling down a similar path – if you flip the switch and let AI take control, you might not be able to flip it back.

John Joyce is an owner of CRS Technology Consultants, a Cape Coral-based IT company founded in 1988. Visit CRSTC.com or call (239) 542-8450.