Self Driving Cars: A Response

I recently came across an article called “Self Driving Cars: Are they the future of commuting?” by Sammy the Slugbot. In this article, it talks about the future consequences of our advancements in artificial intelligence. More specifically, what will happen to entry level jobs such as truck drivers when self driving cars become the norm? It’s no secret that artificial intelligence is becoming a popular field that will drastically change our society in the future. Many corporations are competing to create the most sophisticated artificial intelligence model on the market and its led to huge advancements in technology. A consequence of this, however, is that entry level jobs will soon be easily replaced by technology. Sammy touches on this when they talk about how a cashiers job can be easily replaced by a computer. After all, it’s not difficult for a computer to take an order, calculate change, and receive customer requests. For self driving cars, it seems that Tesla is quickly advancing in creating a truck capable of self driving. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, it says that there are over 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States alone. If self truck driving capabilities reach its potential, there could be disaster for the truck driving industry. So, how do we stop this problem from happening? Sammy suggests that government needs to enforce regulations to stop automation from spiraling out of control. I agree with this viewpoint because I believe the rate of technology is growing uncontrollably fast and the government needs to keep an eye on it. However, I don’t believe that the government will take action in time. In my opinion, the government is especially slow in handling modern day problems related to technology and artificial intelligence. There just isn’t enough people in power that are educated enough to find solutions to these modern day problems. Still, I think that artificial intelligence is something that will be amazing for the world. A computer can perform computational tasks and process information at a rate that is impossible for humans. It opens up a world of potential for fields such as mathematics, science, and engineering. These amazing opportunities will only happen if we carefully monitor the advancement of artificial intelligence though. Unfortunately, a lot of politicians and lawmakers aren’t concerned enough about the threat of artificial intelligence. I feel like as if they live in the past and make laws accordingly so. The topic of artificial intelligence isn’t something brought up enough in debates and discussions. If we want to truly enjoy the benefits of an automated society, we must first educate our lawmakers on it first. They need to be the ones that understand the benefits of it and how it must be closely monitored and regulated. If not, technology can become something that will be too out of control. This would mean that technological corporations can become extremely powerful in our society. We are already seeing this in a way with companies such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google.