This is scary. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be taught how to persuade people to make decisions that benefit its creators or owners. This technological marvel can only do so through huge amounts of data from other people obtained by private companies. AI can convince people to do a lot of things, such as buying something, sharing a post, or even voting for a candidate!
In a study conducted by a team of experts from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s federal scientific and research agency, it was discovered that AI could locate and exploit weaknesses in human decision-making, and use that to guide people toward certain decisions. “The implications of this research are potentially quite staggering,” Amir Dezfouli, an expert in machine learning at CSIRO and lead researcher on the study, said in a press release.
Image credit: Hannah Wei