AI: A-One or A-Con?

More mixed messages on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Michaela van der Schaar (Director of the Cambridge Centre for AI in Medicine at the University of Cambridge), as one would expect, enthuses about AI-powered personalised medicine. She argues that AI can't replace human professionals (debatable?) but it could transform the way they work. van der Schaar argues that AI can help deal with diagnosis and some of the complexities (subjects showing different responses to the same treatments) in clinical trials. AI could also help speed the complex bureucracy of large organisations, like the UK's National Health Service (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/26/ai-personalise-medicine-patient-lab-health-diagnosis-cambridge). James Wise (Trustee of the thinktank Demos), however, describes how AI created his virtual clone. The clone, using his precise accent, made an apparently enthusiastic sales pitch for a company Wise had never heard of. Wise worries that fraudsters are actually being given more sophisticated ways to trick us, into believing they are someone they are not. Our child urgently needing money? Our bank manager (if they still exist) contacting us about a problem with our account? The police wanting to talk to us? (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/30/money-ai-scam-fraud-fraudsters-trick). Such developments seem scary for many UK folk, as this country already has one of the highest incidences of 'cyber-crime'. It could be especially concerning for elderly citizens like myself, who are said to be uncatered for in the 'digital revolution' (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5803/ldselect/ldcomm/219/21902.htm). The real truth, however, is that AI is a technology. Technologies can be used for good or bad purposes. There is, of course, an urgent need to ensure that disadvantaged cohorts are not overwhelmed by the speed of developments.