Artificial Intelligence: The Fine Line Between Societal Assistance and Dependence?

Technology is built to accommodate human inconvenience, but when does this assistance turn into dependence? AI is arguably the most innovative tech in the modern day, there’s no doubt everyone believes its furtherment is essential for mankind’s optimal future. However, as we delve deeper into AI we have to discern whether we’re allowing it to replace the essentials we already have in place such as critical thinking and other independent skills.
AIi has opened and closed many doors for people in the realm of business. Reducing the effects of human error and all the while allowing people to do work equivalent to higher more profitable businesses at a lower cost with fewer people.
“Embrace the fact that you can do three book projects at once now where before you couldn’t do one. Embrace the fact that you can take your thing and extrapolate it, you can create a world of assistants” the words of Steve McDonald illustrator and AI art instructor when speaking with CNN.
This expresses the vast efficiency AI can provide yet it also highlights the fact that humans could become interchangeable replacing what could be a world of assistants with AI not only be detrimental to those assistants but also to the person doing the replacing. For example, his friend Steve Mcdonald here using AI to further his work could make him the passive party to his work as AI takes the forefront.
AI too often is taking the wheel figuratively and literally.
Here are statistics of the number of self-driving accidents for each month from July 2021 to December 2024 given to us by NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

Interestingly enough this chart is left skewed indicating we’re receiving more accidents as we should be progressing technologically. We all know no automotive company with its best interest in mind riding this trending self-driving wave of the present would release a less efficient self-driving car so why the increase?
Well, publisher Martin Placek states ” In 2019, there were some 31 million cars with at least some level of automation in operation worldwide. It is expected that their number will surpass 54 million in 2024.” This means the increase in the use of self-driving cars is correlated to the increase in self-driving crashes.
We are growing more and more accustomed to letting AI take the wheel of our business cars and our lives. If nothing is done we will end up losing our progression and simply be the sideshow of AI’s evolution. Yet it is foolish to discard tools for innovation so what, what are we to do?
Well, it’s a simple but sad truth there’s peace in control, leaving so many people to their own devices with such a double-edged sword. Leaves too much room for uncertainty that is for the progression of their lives individually and so for the progression of the world as a whole.
Collectively there must be more regulations for the usage of AI, the normalization of it should be a lengthy and stringent one, and what that may look like is unbeknownst to me. But one that should be thought of by us sooner rather than later.