We ask Birmingham: Should we fear the rise of artificial intelligence?

The evolution of Artificial Intelligence technology over the past year or so has been unprecedented, with many people unsure of what the future now holds. I’m here on the streets of Birmingham to find out their concerns about AI - is humanity truly prepared for what’s to come?

Ben says: “Well a curious thing is happening about AI, I think it seems like the robots are doing the painting and the poetry, and the people are doing the manual work that we built the robots for. That was the future that we envisioned - that we’d have time off - more leisure time. And it seems somehow the opposite of that has happened.

“So it’s interesting to see that happen. It’s very interesting to see who asks what questions of the chatbots. But I think it’s a terrible situation to have the robots themselves,having the leisure time, having the fun, having the arty time off, and the people still doing the work. That’s not good.”

Mike says: “I have concerns about how it may be used. But then again, I’m also quite positive about how it can be used. So there’s a bit of both. There was a report this morning, for example, saying that two years is now the current deadline for it to become risky.

“Will we impose regulations in two years? Probably not, you know, because it’s too big a system for all that. And other countries, including ourselves probably won’t necessarily follow those regulations, or even know what regulations to impose yet. And that’s going to take a while.”

Jacob says: “I guess it is a bit scary, because you never know how out of control it could get. And, you know, you see films and sci fi kind of project it as thought it could be the end of days, there’s gonna be Skynet, Terminator coming.

“But I think we’re getting taught how to use it slowly. And like the people who are making them recognise dangers as well. So I think hopefully, it’ll be tempered enough, that it won’t be too dangerous. That’s my point.”​​

Sharon says: “I think it’s a difficult question. I only know a little bit about artificial intelligence, I think there could be some benefit in it. I think, as a parent, one of the scary things for me, though - on Snapchat - where you can actually have a conversation and the artificial intelligence will respond back to you.

“And I think that’s worrying for kids. Because I think if you’re a child that’s kind of inward anyway, it kind of encourages you not to speak to people, but just to be more inward. And it is quite worrying. I mean, because human contact, human Interaction, I think it’s important, it’s important for the generations to come.”