Elites Are Driving the Masses into "Digital Concentration Camps": The Dark Side of Artificial Intelligence That Authorities Avoid Talking About
Where is artificial intelligence taking humanity? There are two possibilities. One is bright, and the other is terrible. Pavel Frolov, founder of a company that provides engineering and digital independence consulting services to governments, and a well-known programmer, explained these two possibilities in an interview with the newspaper Tsargrad.
Even Movie Stars May Lose Their Jobs
Tsargrad: Pavel, where is technological progress heading? Where will the development of artificial intelligence and robotics take us?
Pavel Frolov: These technologies could lead to unemployment for everyone except robot experts. In 2013, economist Carl Frey and engineer Michael Osborne predicted that robots and machines would replace human jobs: 47% of jobs in the United States and 59% in Europe would be automated. Now we are witnessing this prediction becoming reality rapidly.
Over the next 20 years, the development of automation and robotics will replace most jobs that involve performing routine tasks according to clear instructions. More and more professions are being algorithmized each year, meaning they are taken over by machines. This even includes creative jobs.
In the past, creating a great story film required $500,000 just for special effects, but now a neural network can do it for $50. If you set the parameters and plot, it can even shoot a movie and simulate the required actors. Therefore, actors are no longer necessary and will eventually join the ranks of the unemployed.
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In the past, a decent internet portal needed a development team to spend months building it, but now, with the help of neural networks, one person can complete it in three hours while sitting in a villa on a Saturday morning sipping juice.
Many neural networks have already gained programming capabilities. Just verbally explain what needs to be done, without pressing any buttons, and the neural network can generate a program product. I know some teams that had 70 programmers not long ago, but now only 2 remain! The application of artificial intelligence has increased the productivity of each remaining employee by 100 times!
You know what the typical startup company receiving the most investment in Silicon Valley today looks like? It's a company related to artificial intelligence, with only one employee — around 60 years old, who has successfully launched several projects before.
Pavel Frolov: "Humans have two paths to choose from."
Author's photo
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- You mentioned the 70 programmers, 68 of whom were forced to leave the team. Did they find new jobs?
- It's unknown. There are two possible futures.
One is a golden age for humanity, where all people around the world benefit from technological progress. Robots and artificial intelligence will take over all jobs, and people will receive enough basic income to live comfortably in their families and freely engage in creative activities.
The other possibility is much greater, that the beneficiaries of technological development will be a small group of oligarchs, currently led by Elon Musk.
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His company is already manufacturing humanoid robots, claiming a price of $15,000 (meaning such robots would cost 3 million rubles in Russia, including all tariffs).
Our factory owners are already asking where they can buy these robots. They say, "300 of these robots can solve all my problems." But the problem is, where will the 300 workers at this factory go? Perhaps they can work as delivery drivers for a while and live comfortably. However, there may also be new developments, as Moscow has already introduced delivery robots.
In this beautiful new world, why do oligarchs need these extra people who need to be supported? The number of unemployed people is increasing rapidly. For example, there are already 30 million unemployed in the United States. This is largely the root of the current economic and political crisis.
According to common sense, to prevent the people from hindering the tech oligarchs from enjoying the benefits of their automated farms and yachts, the oligarchs need to invest in world wars, pandemics, and everything that leads to population and birth rate decline.
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Copyright Collectors Rule the World
- This explains a lot, including the destruction of traditional families, feminism, and the "child-free" movement. But how can a few impose their will on the majority?
- The capitalist world is built on patents and proprietary technologies, with many important knowledge being kept secret, especially those related to technology. The patent system was originally established to help inventors earn a living.
But ultimately, in this world built on the idea of patents, a small group of copyright collectors control most of the technologies that the majority use daily and profit primarily from them.
Their companies block competitors from entering the market, setting prices that favor themselves. If you want to manufacture computers or phones, you must first purchase the patents of their components, even including the patents for designs and communication standards (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth).
Therefore, technological innovation is only accessible to a small privileged class. Modern patent laws hinder creativity. Today, each industry actually has no more than 10 participants — large technology companies.
- Why do you think all these well-known companies are hindering rather than accelerating progress?
- They restrict ordinary users' access to information and knowledge, making decisions solely for their own benefit. The monopoly of knowledge allows them to make excessive profits. For the shareholders of these companies, capital growth is far more important than the quality of products and services.
To accelerate capital growth, technological development is artificially hindered. Additionally, the bureaucracy, bloated internal monitoring structures, and endless reporting systems of these companies make them resist any change. In the past 30 years, all new information technologies have been born in small startups, then acquired by large companies.
To accelerate capital growth, technological development is artificially hindered.
Why India Will Become the World's Largest Economy
- What should humans do in this situation?
- The best solution is to abandon patent monopolies. How? By turning to open source technology (Open Source). In 1985, American programmer Richard Stallman proposed this solution. He invented open-source software — a software with open source code and public general license, which anyone can use to develop new programs. His supporters worldwide developed free software, available to everyone. Later, open-source "hardware" also emerged.
A recent study by Stanford University showed that open-source technology has contributed a total of $9 trillion to the global economy!
I firmly believe that any country that does not turn to open-source innovation is digging its own grave. In 20-30 years, such countries will become outsiders without competitiveness.
My view is that India has the greatest potential to become the world's largest economy in the near future. Because this country is currently betting on open-source technology. The "IT Mumbai" capability center at Mumbai University has been operating for over 10 years. This center has 350 engineers who use open-source code and open-source "hardware" to solve a large number of tasks assigned by the government.
They have developed comprehensive industrial automation solutions for various sectors of the national economy and made them public — shared with all of humanity. I believe that Russia should establish similar capability centers in its universities.
If the universities of the BRICS countries cooperate, Gates and Zuckerberg will be helpless.
- So, we shouldn't isolate ourselves but open up to the world?
- We must collaborate with the top universities of the BRICS countries to develop and apply open-source innovation. If we commit seriously, we will achieve amazing results in a few years — developing standard solutions applicable to various scenarios. At that time, any Western commercial IT giant producing closed products will be unable to surpass us.
"Pray Our People Win"
- Then why haven't countries and users switched to open-source on a large scale, and instead continue to rely on the products of patent IT giants?
- Because free software and hardware have appeared relatively recently. Traditional economies are not flexible enough to respond to changes, so the old and familiar models still dominate. Laws and business models have not yet adapted to open-source.
Most importantly, because open-source innovation can save the world from the capitalist crisis, which its creators are fighting against.
But there are also opposite examples. Currently, a large number of AI system developers refuse to work for companies. Hundreds of people working on closed AI solutions have resigned and joined open-source projects.
- It's still unclear who will win in the end?
- It's unclear. Let's pray our people win. Otherwise, digital concentration camps will appear on Earth, and most people will be treated as useless, while the rest will serve the oligarchs and their robots.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7536930865956307475/
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