Background:

The PBS Frontline film:In the Age of AI(Links to an external site.)coversfive stories on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing our world in a new age of great potential and prosperity, but also deeper inequality, challenging democracy and dividing the world into two AI superpowers.

Instructions:

First, watch the film, and pause as needed and where indicated. Select from Choice A or Choice B to complete the assignment

Choice A: focus on the questions from Part 1, Part 3, and Part 4

Choice B: focus on the questions from Part 2, Part 3, and Part 5

In addition, you have options in question 8 (Part 4) and question 9 (Part 5).

Part 1: China Has a Plan

Background:In 2017, the Chinese government announced that China will catch up with the U.S. in AI by 2025 and lead the world by 2030 with a special focus on the areas of the digital economy, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and quantum computing. Today China leads the world in e-Commerce with drones delivering to rural villages; a society that bypassed credit cards and now shops in stores without cashiers and where the currency is facial recognition.

Question 1

1) What has helped China in its dramatically rapid AI implementation? No other country has ever moved that fast. In 2 and a half years China's AI implementation went from minimal to 17-18 Unicorns (i.e., billion-dollar companies). In your answer focus on the role of entrepreneurs, the government helping with the infrastructure (highways and cities), the availability of a vast amount of data, and thesocial credit

Part 2: The Promise (starting at minute 21:30)

Questions 2-4

2) What are the main benefits and challenges of AI implementation as described in Part 2 of the film? Focus on driverless vehicles; the medical field (early cancer detection); and human development and growth in the context of the AI revolution: holding so much promise and reshaping every aspect of our economy.

3) Why was AI compared to being a little bit like electricity?

4) Explain what specific challenges and opportunities the Autonomous/Driverless Truck model represents from both perspectives: engineers and CEOs on the one hand vs. veteran truck drivers, sociologists, and labor union representatives on the other.

Part 3: The Future of Work (starting at minute 42)

Questions 5-7

5) Based on the interviews with Nicholas Thompson, chief editor of the magazine "Wired", and Kai-Fu Lee, Sinovation Ventures CEO, explain the different emerging views on how AI is expected to change the labor force. Elaborate on major labor force disruptions, the types of jobs that might be replaced more quickly, and why. In addition, focus on how the AI revolution, known as theFourth Revolution, is different from the three preceding major technological changes: the steam engine, electricity, and the computer revolutions?

Background:As highlighted in the film, the graph below provides a background on how income inequality has changed in the U.S. since 1980.

The top 1% of earners, represented by the red line, owned a relatively small portion (under 12%) of the country's wealth. Middle and low earners, represented by the blue line, had the largest share. Notice the opposite trends and the growing inequality since the mid-1990s.

6) How might AI affect income inequality and standards of living in the U.S. and the rising socio-economic and health problems for not only those who have lost their jobs but also their children? Focus on thecities left behind(such as Saginaw, Michigan), and the interviews with economists and sociologists. Is automation a driver of income inequality? While there are many factors driving income inequality in the U.S., do you think that AI might have indirectly contributed to exacerbating it?

7) In your opinion, and from the information in the film, who will be able to get the new jobs that will be created in the U.S. in the decades ahead due to a wider implementation of AI?

Part 4: The Surveillance Capitalists

Question 8 (10 points)

What do you think and/or feel about the following three concerns expressed in Part 4 of the film? You may focus onone of them or all.Do you agree or disagree with these concerns? Why?

1. Private corporations, like Google and Facebook, have builtcorporate surveillancewithout our awareness or permission (starting at 1 hr. 19 min), and the systems to make it happen are getting significantly better - IoT (Internet of Things), smart appliances, powered by the Alexa voice recognition system, or the Google home system. This is ethically questionable.
2. The AIs are tools serving the people who control them (starting at 1 hr. 25 min). If those people's interests go against democracy, then democracy is in danger.
3. AI has spread in health care, education, criminal justice, the experience of shopping, and all social institutions. It is important to make it more transparent and accountable.

Part 5: The Surveillance State (China)

Question 9

What are your thoughts and reflections on the information presented in Part 5 of the film? Choose to focus onat least twoof the topics below.

1. Starting with the Belt and Road Initiative, launched in 2013, and major investments in infrastructure projects in countries like Pakistan, Venezuela, Cambodia, Argentina, and Africa, 58 countries are plugging into China's vision of surveillance with a shared infrastructure. This has raised concerns that there will be a split into two sectors: the U.S. tech sector and the Chinese tech sector, almost like a new cold war.
2. Huawei, the Chinese telecom company, with headquarters in southern China, is supplying countries around the world with cell phones and is the world leader in 5G networks: the highspeed backbones in the age of AI. As Huawei provides the world with 5G networks, there are worries that the Chinese government can have a "back door" into their equipment (see a trailer of thePerson of Interestmovie on this subject, but focusing on the U.S., here:https://youtu.be/68xN_BNYhc4(Links to an external site.)
3. Nothing in China exists free and clear of the party state. A company like Huawei can say that it is a private company, but maybe not indefinitely.
4. Focusing on the trade wars between the U.S. and China, can technology be a better tool to use for authoritarian governments compared to democratic governments? Why?
5. Convergence vs. divergence in the age of AI: As stated in the film, if the U.S. and China will be diverging and heading into a world of antagonism in years to come, technology would be something to sequester in order to protect your own national interests. Alternatively, in a world where the two superpowers cooperate, if we do a good job, as Kai-Fu Lee states: "AI will be viewed as an age of enlightenment. Our children and grandchildren will see AI as serendipity: liberate us from routine jobs and push us to think what it is to be human." But what if humans/governments misuse the power of AI? While AI can be used in many ways that are beneficial to society (for example: see a trailer of thePerson of Interestmovie on this subject:https://youtu.be/68xN_BNYhc4(Links to an external site.)Prof. Yoshua Bengio thinks that "the current use of AI isn't necessarily aligned with the goals of building a better society, unfortunately, but we could change that. Democracy might be threatened by the progress of the AI tools unless we improve our social norms and increase the collective wisdom at the planet level to deal with that increased power".