Does AI make us more humane?

Hamburg News:  "We are in the middle of an AI evolution. Many experts believe and predict major changes, especially in professional fields. Do you agree?"

Professor Frank Steinicke: "Yes, I think we can expect enormous disruption in wide-ranging professional fields. Simple tasks will increasingly be taken over by AI, e.g., in the IT sector or research in law and medicine. Although AI will not replace top computer scientists or lawyers in the foreseeable future, top doctors who use AI will replace those who do not."

Hamburg News: That sounds bleak for employees who are not the top league.

Frank Steinicke: "Yes, we'll have to decide as a society how to deal with the new situation and the technology itself. The plan is to use AI to help people. The AI Act is a good way of doing this, but we must be careful not to slow down innovation. Honestly, deducing the risks of using AI is by no means easy. Let's take an example from the university. The AI Act is all about using AI to recognise emotions in schools etc. But as a professor, it would be helpful if the AI told me when students are making excessive demands just by looking at their body language. I think we need more sandbox approaches, i.e., AI real-world laboratories in which innovation can be tested in realistic scenarios and under real conditions."

Hamburg News: Should everything that can be developed actually be developed? During this year's Online Marketing Rockstars Festival, Nicholas Turley, Head of Product at ChatGPT, said "absolutely".

Frank Steinicke: "I beg to differ. We need human-centred development that always keeps people's well-being in mind. But we've also got the dual-use problem: what we develop can be used for good or for bad. Thus, we have to weigh up the respective risks during the development stage and, if necessary, decide not to develop or to warn against development."

Hamburg News: OpenAI is planning shopping sprees with product selection and purchase buttons in ChatGPT. How does shopping work in the GenAI sphere?

Frank Steinicke: "It's becoming increasingly personalised. Shopping experiences are being customised for each person, taking into account things like their marital status or hobbies. This kind of personalisation opens up huge opportunities for marketing, but it can also make purchases more tempting. We need to be aware of that.

Hamburg News: So, AI can also lead to manipulation?.

Frank Steinicke: "It's about being more aware of how we use technology. Let's take, for instance, 'anthropomorphic robots' that are given a human face. Users might place too much trust in human looking robots. But the robot can be really handy in therapy or homes for the elderly. This is especially true, if they've been trained to show empathy or even love. Clearly, the technology simulates feelings. But they're not real."

Hamburg News: China is pushing ahead with humanoid robotics on a huge scale, and if these robots go on sale, their prices will come down. What opportunities might this open up?

Frank Steinicke: "There's a chance that companies might start moving back to countries where the cost of labour is lower. You could achieve that with low-cost production robots. But that'll take years, or even decades."

Hamburg News:  We'll probably see support from AI agents much sooner. But, what can these systems do?

Frank Steinicke: "AI agents are a kind of anthropomorphic representation of AI. We talk to the technology quite naturally, give it orders and even thank it for any work done. In this way, the computer is transformed from a tool into an assistant. And in future, it may even become a partner that challenges and inspires us intellectually with its wealth of knowledge. But it remains an assistant like a trainee, who we tell what to do and whose results we have to check repeatedly. However, if we were to link our existing tools such as location recognition in our mobile phones, traffic data, appointment calendars and contacts, AI agents would be able to spot when our schedule is in danger and automatically re-schedule follow-up appointments."

Hamburg News: Could we also be dealing with a destructive AI agent?

Frank Steinicke: "We are already seeing tens of thousands of automated attacks on critical infrastructure in Germany every day. There are also attacks on the German economy, which are costing many companies dearly. But the bigger problem at the moment is the 'pollution of the internet' by AI agents and chatbots. They are flooding the web with (false) information and it is impossible to recognise whether bots or humans are sharing messages. That forces us to   scrutinise information constantly and look for other sources."

Hamburg News: How creative is AI at present?

Frank Steinicke: "We distinguish between 'Little C' and 'Big C', i.e., little or extraordinary creativity. AI can reproduce very well and create something new from it, even gradually. But Big C, like a new Mozart or Goethe, is unlikely to emerge in the foreseeable future. However, AI can accelerate ideas. If you're creative, you could ask your AI agent to come up with ten suggestions about any random topic and get them in seconds. None of these suggestions are going to be entirely new, but the seventh one might encourage you to adopt a new approach. The AI agent has done the hard work, so to speak, and incredibly swiftly."

Hamburg News: Finally, in which direction is the pendulum swinging? Is AI saving or destroying the world?

Frank Steinicke: "I'm a technology realist and I'm convinced that AI can make our world a better place. But we do need to make sure that AI is available all over the world. This 'better' thing is often just more convenient and quicker, really. When AI takes over routine tasks, it frees up more time for doctors to focus on patients as people. Thus, the technology makes us more humane."

Hamburg News: Thank you very much for the interesting conversation.

Interview by Yvonne Scheller