Maroc - EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 17/12/2025 23:58

AI Pioneers Have A Responsibility To Humankind – OpEd

By Mohamed Chebaro Two telling tales about the impact of the emerging artificial intelligence realm on human life emerged from a pair of end-of-year announcements over the last week. One was the word “slop” being named word of the year for 2025 by the editors of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Merriam-Webster defines slop as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” This sums up the fact that AI has been churning out content that some people find annoying or even bordering on the ridiculous. The second tale relates to the announcement of the Time person of the year: the architects of AI. One wonders if we ought to celebrate or simply admit the fact that we have stepped into the unknown — that the super-powerful machine and its operating algorithm have come to dominate human life. It is not yet known how far this trend will impact the role of the individual as a free-willed creature in the future. At the same time, the Financial Times named Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as its person of the year due to his role in providing the tech industry with its single most important component: chips. For a long time, chips were overlooked in favor of the devices and screens they powered. But accompanying the surge of computing power and the race for artificial general intelligence, Nvidia, headed by Huang, is seen as the component producer behind the mania sweeping through the tech, financial and business worlds. And for that, Huang has been credited as being at the center of the biggest investment program ever seen in the private sector. Many agree that 2025 has been dominated by AI and US President Donald Trump, as both dotted the information landscape with facts, hype and an incessant stream of information. With certainty eroding and new frontiers being celebrated, the age of AI tools and the thinking machine is upon us. So, it is not strange that Time would name the architects of AI its 2025 person of the year. As the magazine stated, “this was the year when artificial intelligence’s full potential roared into view, and when it became clear that there will be no turning back or opting out.” Since 1927, Time has named a person of the year who, “for better or for worse … has done the most to influence the events of the year.” It recognized Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, alongside life-changing concepts such as the endangered Earth in 1988 and the personal computer in 1982. Yet, the naming of the individuals who imagined, built and are driving the AI project as person of the year should be of concern to everyone. Through this, we are recognizing and celebrating the technological breakthrough despite its uncertain limits and impacts and the potential adversities it may bring. We should all celebrate the breakthroughs new machines and software offer to human advancement and their solutions to many current and future challenges. But AI and artificial general intelligence, its offspring, being pursued at breakneck speed — costing the planet and its environment undetermined sums without any accountability or transparency — has sent shivers down the spines of those who worry that a neo-empire is dawning on us that will likely to change all the anchors of human history and experience so far. With every technological breakthrough, there are some adversities factored in and others simply emerge as we go along. In celebrating the architects of AI and those pumping money, science and computing power into developing tools that we all agree are aimed at providing human and business benefits, one would imagine that protections from the dangerous use of AI are built in. So far, those guardrails are not guaranteed. The users of AI are grappling with its errors and its damage to society as a result of its recycling of toxic, fake and fabricated content, which can be used to spread disinformation and misinformation. There are often discriminatory or hurtful outcomes, but the creators and their distributors are not being held accountable. AI-powered tools of war is another dangerous field that needs a separate discussion. Among the pack of frontier companies racing to optimize AI — alongside OpenAI, Google DeepMind, xAI, Meta and the Chinese rivals led by DeepSeek — Anthropic has been the most vocal in warning about the decisions these developers are due to make regarding the level of autonomy they will allow their machines to have. There are also the repercussions that an AI explosion could have, possibly leading to humans losing control of the machine. Anthropic’s chief scientist and co-owner Jared Kaplan warned recently that if recursive self-improvement was allowed in an uncontrolled way, humanity could face two risks. He said: “One is, do you lose control over it? Do you even know what the AIs are doing? The main question there is: are the AIs good for humanity? … Are they going to allow people to continue to have agency over their lives and over the world?” The second risk is related to security, where self-taught AI could in the next few years exceed human capabilities in scientific research and technological development. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, it could lead to misuse and even help a political power-grab. The architects, designers and makers of AI should rightly be celebrated. However, as securing the future is also in their hands at this stage, one hopes that their creation’s excellence will not overtake their ability to control it. One would hope that, surely, the good of humanity and society is a paramount consideration in the work of these pioneers, because if the machine stops serving the human interest, it could render their endeavors meaningless. Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy.