Power that technology gives to the government

Once humans had created AI, it advanced to a stage where the AI took authority over the world and humans themselves. The sentinels created a simulation to place all the humans in while harvesting them for energy. This shows how having access to the most advanced technology gives you power over those who don’t which in this case allowed the machines to declare authority over humans. However, with power come great responsibility and when misused, can make those under that power feel oppressed.

From a human’s point of view, it is difficult to find positive ethical actions carried out by the authorities (AI) as their main purpose was to harvest humans for their energy or kill those who rebel against them. However, if the perspective was seen from the AI’s point of view then one would argue that they were being ethical by protecting their own species as the rebelling humans are trying to destroy them. One could argue that they are following evolution, if there is a race that are stronger, smarter and more efficient than humans then the natural progression of life would be for humans to die out and AI be the new race of the world. Humans haven’t always been on this earth so why do they need to continue to be especially when they have destroyed it through pollution and destroying the sun (?). Also, for years humans have attempted to discuss the ethics and rights of AI, whether they deserve them and if it’s wrong to ‘kill’ a machine; with this in mind, the machines need to protect their species and therefore need to eliminate the risk of being shut down by getting rid of the threat of humans. Lastly, machines do not experience emotion or illness which means they are essentially more efficient than humans and therefore the better species to rule the world.

With access to advanced technology, the authorities can assist and improve the quality of life of their country. This can come in a myriad of forms, below are a few examples of how advanced technology can be used ethically to improve society’s wellbeing. Firstly, ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras are used all over the UK within police cars and security cameras in car parks. This technology is extremely useful as it can read a car’s number plate and check it against the police database, this can lead to reducing the number of unsafe/illegal drivers on the road as well as reducing/solving crimes. This is an ethical use of technology as it ensures the public feel safe as well as deterring criminals from breaking laws as they are more likely to be caught (ANPR, 2020).

In addition to this, the LA Health Department utilized AI to determine which restaurants to inspect by using Big Data and Machine Learning to trawl through social media mentions and from this adjust which restaurants to visit, with this data, there were a significant decrease in food poisoning cases within LA in the time period AI was used (Impact of Technology on the Public and Government Sector - Mitrefinch, 2020). This is an ethical application of AI as it was used to increase the safety of society which succeeded due to fewer cases of food poisoning therefore increasing quality of life.

Within the film, the power that the AI have obtained by being the most advanced technology has allowed them to abuse it and misuse technology for unethical reasons. The AI had discovered that humans provide them with energy and they started harvesting humans and placing their consciousness in a matrix simulation against their will therefore oppressing them. As well as this, any humans who do try and rebel against the AI and shut it down are assassinated, “Every single man or woman who has stood their ground, everyone who has fought an agent has died”.

Unfortunately, there are several unethical applications of AI that have been used in the real world. Governments can misuse technology and utilize it for unethical reasons, one example is the mass use of AI surveillance in China to racially profile Muslims from Uighur (Mozur, 2020). This is where the Chinese government prejudicially seem to find Uighur Muslims a threat to their country and are essentially tracking their every move. Uighur Muslims have also been sent to detention centres in China by the masses which brings the question on whether the surveillance is being used for good intentions (Byler, 2020).

Another example of the abuse of power due to the misuse of technology by authorities was revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013 in which he went into detail on how the NSA (National Security Agency) had been accessing various mediums of personal data without permission (Franceschi-Bicchierai, 2020). This is a misuse of power and highly unethical as the general American public was under the understanding that their personal data was secure and private. Socially this created a mistrust of the US government and their intentions for the public. Legally, it raises the question of why the public should follow laws if the organisations who set them break them anyways.

References: Mitrefinch. 2020. Impact Of Technology On The Public And Government Sector - Mitrefinch. [online] Available at: https://mitrefinch.com/blog/impact-of-technology-on-the-public-and-government-sector/ [Accessed 21 November 2020]. Mozur, P., 2020. One Month, 500,000 Face Scans: How China Is Using A.I. To Profile A Minority (Published 2019). [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/technology/china-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-racial-profiling.html [Accessed 21 November 2020]. Byler, D., 2020. China’S Hi-Tech War On Its Muslim Minority. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/apr/11/china-hi-tech-war-on-muslim-minority-xinjiang-uighurs-surveillance-face-recognition [Accessed 21 November 2020]. Franceschi-Bicchierai, L., 2020. Edward Snowden: The 10 Most Important Revelations From His Leaks. [online] Mashable. Available at: https://mashable.com/2014/06/05/edward-snowden-revelations/?europe=true [Accessed 21 November 2020]. Npcc.police.uk. 2020. ANPR. [online] Available at: https://www.npcc.police.uk/FreedomofInformation/ANPR.aspx [Accessed 21 November 2020].