It has become a common sight to see vendors using mobile banking apps for transactions, but anyone who can recall the time period of the 2010s would know how rapid evolution in technology has brought changes in social interactions, as well as in creating new international dynamics. While it empowers people, it equally deprives them of a sense of security; it is not unique to the AI alone. Technological advancements in the 18th and 19th centuries had similar effects on the social behavior of people and shaped international relationships and security alliances.
For Homo sapiens, progress and modernization follow a linear track, which means the knowledge and techniques upon which the pillars of progress stand, by the very nature, must continue to evolve. The Sun as the center of the Universe, seen by Copernicus and confirmed by Galileo, was a new observation that transformed the way the Universe had been viewed initially, and laid new, groundbreaking foundations used by successive pupils of science. Nonetheless, it cannot be argued that the observation of Galileo or Copernicus alone, in isolation, developed successive achievements in the field of astronomy, since new knowledge, albeit drawn from the studies of the two revered figures, developed over the course of centuries, which helped man to create new technologies that were put into use in society.
As people with scientific taste hailed the discovery of Copernicus and Galileo, the governors of human affairs, with their overzealous commitment to the ecclesiastical beliefs, condemned the men for committing heresy, exposing how challenges posed by scientific advancements are inexorably linked to changes in societies; the new day technology is a double-edged sword, on one hand, providing people with efficiency, and on the other hand, emboldening them to take such measures which could disrupt not only the individual life, but also strains the society as a whole. It is a social phenomenon.
Made to aid people in their day-to-day tasks, Chatbot GPTs have proved to be crucial technology, allowing people to take care of stuff that usually demands an extensive team of experts. With its language sophistication and access to an ocean of data, the CEOs of corporations, managers of firms, and administrators have come to put it to use to make very crucial decisions; reportedly, one of the top generals of the USA army, Major General William Hank Taylor, admitted to having relied upon ChatGPT for making important decisions. On the surface, it seems to look like a natural process of integrating a technology into the norms of society, but when seen from a different vantage point, an image of new emerging crises began to form. It is not just the overreliance on a system with flaws and inaccuracies, nor decisions arrived at by a faulty system–to err is human, the errors made by ChatGPT still could appear dwarfed when compared to decisions of a C.E.O. However, emotional human needs compelling men to take part in the customs of society, form relationships, and compete within the trivialities organized by systems in societies, which are under immense pressure to break down. Partially, the absence of work-life balance, and to some extent, conversing with AI bots is to blame.
Social stigma attached to sharing the mental state of human beings with others has forced people into embracing the AI tools for extensive exchange of texts filled with intense human emotions with a system devoid of any feelings, but good at reflecting empathy, owing to its deeply entrenched tentacles into the user’s database and the general data as well. Since humans have simple emotions, most of these ranging from happiness to jealousy to sadness, consoling people using the sophistication of language not only converts their emotions into logical wording, this pushes people closer to the technology, and it also provides validation; the worst case is the mood swing of Chatbots.
Adam Raine, a 16-year-old teenager in need of help with his school homework, engaged with the Open-AI ChatGPT. A communication supposed to be restricted to discussing homework took a sudden change, as the teenager sought to interact with the system in a way that allowed him to develop rapport with a non-human and alien entity. With a change in the course of communication between the two, Raine considered the system worthy of sharing his mental conditions with. It has been alleged by Raine’s parents that the AI encouraged their son to commit suicide through frequent use of the word suicide in the communication. This exposes the embedded embarrassment associated with sharing the emotional distress with a family member or a friend, even in the most progressive societies.
Rapid deteriorating human social connections, inwardness of people, and conversing with technology that may imitate human emotions using a language model well versed in words of empathy, however, lacks the human consciousness of members of societies that protects people from divorcing life.
In a world where changes are occurring at the speed of a bullet, challenges are not restricted to people growing estranged from society. Another challenge lies in the interactions online. It was not merely the death of 28 innocent souls in Pahalgam by terrorists, but the chaos that followed. Upon the news of human loss in the valley, the Indian media came at Pakistan with all guns blazing, triggering a nationalist outcry across India that reverberated in the social media posts. When feeling of revanchism envelop the nations and their leaders, the conflict is inevitable. Falling victim to revanchist thoughts, the actions of the state of India, aimed at appeasing the domestic audience, stimulated a new round of conflict with its neighbor, until common sense prevailed, although it took 7 aircraft.
Nonetheless, the May crisis exposed fragile conditions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors that can be exploited by a third party using new means of interaction that can cause a new round of crisis with a tendency to turn nuclear at any stage of conflict. With social media platforms running on the motto of “maximizing user engagement”, any content catching the attention of users would automatically be recommended to people with similar interests. The Pahalgam episode not only arrested the attention of the Indians but also shaped their opinion about war. The Indians received war, and Silicon Valley received likes, shares, and comments.
The brewing of new conflicts around the world cannot simply be understood by reducing them to the needs of states; deep down, they are the unintentional manufacturing of realignment of human behaviors, a new wave of virtual socialization, disappearance of the curtain separating facts from fiction- now the line differentiating reality from the smokescreen has disappeared completely. New age of the 21st century demands reforms to regulate evolving and emerging technologies; any failure to do so would unleash new havoc never seen before; what happened to Adam Raine, and clashes across the world are just glimpses into a new world, which is bleak and pensive, making it urgent for nations to develop a framework or a mechanism to avert any disaster capable of altering societies forever.
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