[Viewpoint] Appoint AI Experts in Next Year's General Election

"When Steve Jobs launched the iPhone, he hoped to capture a 1% market share. Even Jobs did not anticipate that smartphones would dominate our lives, cast shadows over human relationships, and become indispensable external organs of ours. Technologies that shake the world drastically always come with unpredictable consequences."

Jenny Kleeman, a British documentary filmmaker, poured out stories of the near future in her book titled The Future of Instinct in the AI Era. Kleeman warned that artificial intelligence (AI) will directly affect humanity’s primal instincts such as birth and death, appetite, and sexual desire.

Yuval Harari, a professor of history at Hebrew University, wrote the foreword for the 10th anniversary special edition of his bestseller Sapiens last October using AI. Harari said, "I was so shocked while reading the text that I couldn’t close my mouth," and questioned, "Did AI really write this?" He added, "It made me reconsider humanity’s unique ability to create imagined orders and dominant structures by returning to the starting point." He also noted, "When I wrote Sapiens in 2010, I had no interest in AI. Now, ten years later, the AI revolution is sweeping through, signaling the end of human history as we knew it."

The currently spotlighted ChatGPT is just the starting signal that the AI era has begun. The prevailing view is that AI will change everything about humanity. It will affect what we eat, how we work, communication between people, dating, childbirth and parenting, education, housing, and even the birth and death of life. The political and social changes AI will bring, as well as the collapse and confusion of existing values we will face, could surpass imagination.

Kleeman asks, "If we could have babies without pregnancy, eat meat without killing animals, have ideal sexual relationships, and die perfectly without pain, how would human nature change?" We must prepare to answer this question.

In Europe, legislative discussions to regulate AI are active. Some members of the European Parliament stated on the 17th regarding the enactment of the AI Act, "Political attention must be paid to rapidly developing powerful AI," and "The AI Act will serve as a blueprint applicable to various regulatory practices and environments worldwide." They emphasized, "We could lose control over our civilization due to AI," and "Through regulation, humanity can enjoy the benefits of AI and avoid more pessimistic future scenarios."

Our National Assembly is also refining AI legislation. Some worry that focusing solely on AI industry development could lead to side effects such as product safety deficiencies, personal information leaks, and human rights violations. However, enacting AI legislation is only the first step; it will require multiple revisions going forward. Establishing the principle of ‘permission first, regulation later’ for AI technology is appropriate. This seems to be based on the judgment that it is difficult to regulate in advance by predicting the future and that we must not fall behind in global competition.

Another challenge for the political sphere is the need for talent who can face the new era and take national action swiftly. A group of experts capable of responding to AI must also be formed. Is our politics ready for the AI era? The answer to this question begins with sufficiently appointing AI experts in next year’s general election nominations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.