Synthesis 1 (Artificial Intelligence)

AP English Language Free Response Synthesis for Artificial Intelligence

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Guidelines

• Document 1 (Bossman)

• Document 2 (Cartoon)

• Document 3 (Russell)

• Document 4 (Yang)

• Document 5 (Shead)

• Document 6 (Straub)

Document 1 (Bossman)

• The hierarchy of labour is concerned primarily with automation. As we’ve invented ways to automate jobs, we could create room for people to assume more complex roles, moving from the physical work that dominated the pre-industrial globe to the cognitive labour that characterizes strategic and administrative work in our globalized society…

• Our economic system is based on compensation for contribution to the economy, often assessed using an hourly wage. The majority of companies are still dependent on hourly work when it comes to products and services. But by using artificial intelligence, a company can drastically cut down on relying on the human workforce, and this means that revenues will go to fewer people. Consequently, individuals who have ownership in AI-driven companies will make all the money...

• ...Even though not many of us are aware of this, we are already witnesses to how machines can trigger the reward centres in the human brain. Just look at click-bait headlines and video games. These headlines are often optimized with A/B testing, a rudimentary form of algorithmic optimization for content to capture our attention. This and other methods are used to make numerous video and mobile games become addictive. Tech addiction is the new frontier of human dependency...

• Intelligence comes from learning, whether you’re human or machine. Systems usually have a training phase in which they "learn" to detect the right patterns and act according to their input. Once a system is fully trained, it can then go into test phase, where it is hit with more examples and we see how it performs.

• Obviously, the training phase cannot cover all possible examples that a system may deal with in the real world. These systems can be fooled in ways that humans wouldn't be. For example, random dot patterns can lead a machine to “see” things that aren’t there. If we rely on AI to bring us into a new world of labour, security and efficiency, we need to ensure that the machine performs as planned, and that people can’t overpower it to use it for their own ends.

• Though artificial intelligence is capable of a speed and capacity of processing that’s far beyond that of humans, it cannot always be trusted to be fair and neutral. Google and its parent company Alphabet are one of the leaders when it comes to artificial intelligence, as seen in Google’s Photos service, where AI is used to identify people, objects and scenes. But it can go wrong, such as when a camera missed the mark on racial sensitivity, or when a software used to predict future criminals showed bias against black people.

• We shouldn’t forget that AI systems are created by humans, who can be biased and judgmental. Once again, if used right, or if used by those who strive for social progress, artificial intelligence can become a catalyst for positive change.

• The more powerful a technology becomes, the more can it be used for nefarious reasons as well as good. This applies not only to robots produced to replace human soldiers, or autonomous weapons, but to AI systems that can cause damage if used maliciously. Because these fights won't be fought on the battleground only, cybersecurity will become even more important. After all, we’re dealing with a system that is faster and more capable than us by orders of magnitude.

• It’s not just adversaries we have to worry about. What if artificial intelligence itself turned against us? This doesn't mean by turning "evil" in the way a human might, or the way AI disasters are depicted in Hollywood movies. Rather, we can imagine an advanced AI system as a "genie in a bottle" that can fulfill wishes, but with terrible unforeseen consequences…

• ...Human dominance is almost entirely due to our ingenuity and intelligence...

• This poses a serious question about artificial intelligence: will it, one day, have the same advantage over us? We can't rely on just "pulling the plug" either, because a sufficiently advanced machine may anticipate this move and defend itself. This is what some call the “singularity”: the point in time when human beings are no longer the most intelligent beings on earth.

• ...Once we consider machines as entities that can perceive, feel and act, it's not a huge leap to ponder their legal status. Should they be treated like animals of comparable intelligence? Will we consider the suffering of "feeling" machines?...

Document 2 (Katz, Cartoon)

Document 3 (Russell)

• Should we regulate science? Artificial intelligence is a field of science similar to chemistry, physics, and nanotechnology. Never before have we limited human ingenuity; for millennia people have been constantly innovating, eager to develop new technological breakthroughs and have thus improved our overall quality of life. Historically, humans are incessant explorers, from Sir Edmund Hillary to Julius Oppenheimer, and putting limitations on technological progression will inevitably be ineffective...

• Oftentimes, politicians follow the voices of their constituents, as they hope to be re-elected and do not want to tarnish their reputation. However, when the public as a whole is relatively uneducated on the implications of artificial intelligence, policy decisions will be made based on the views of ill-informed citizens. Plus, with the negative portrayal of artificial intelligence in media, many people will be left in the dark regarding the positives: cancer detection, eliminating tedious/monotonous tasks, freeing up more leisure time, and reducing human errors in the workforce. There are an abundance of positives that are hard to immediately recognize; restricting the usage and development of artificial intelligence will minimize these positive effects.

• Until the inception of artificial general intelligence, when an algorithm can complete a human task without explicit instruction and can learn from its mistakes, little creativity comes from computers. Sure, previously unrecognized correlations can be found in data, but novels, songs, and artworks cannot be created with the same artistic mastery and creativity as humans. While some people fear robot humanoids will take over the planet in the future, a computer’s absence of creativity ensures they will not surpass current human capabilities. Simply put, computers are not a threat to human life

• If the United States hinders the development of artificial intelligence through regulation, other countries will likely not follow suit, continuing to fund their research. And because future conflicts will be fought primarily over the computer grid, with unmanned vehicles collecting intel and executing missions, being prepared for this worst-case scenario is essential. For example, there are already speculations of the development of algorithms capable of distinguishing civilians from enemies on the battlefield. Whether the United States decides to utilize automated processes in warfare is up to the government’s discretion, but having such technological capability ensures there is a last resort in a situation of dire circumstances. It is better having the technology available than being left defenseless against more dominant opponents. And as the age-old saying goes, “hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”

Document 4 (Yang)

Document 5 (Shead)

Document 6 (Straub)