Artificial intelligence, particularly in its advance generative and autonomous forms, represents one of the most profound technological shifts in human history. Its potential to revolutionize medicine, science, and industry is matched only by its capacity into introduce novel and systematic risks on a global scale. This reports provides a comprehensive analysis of the dangers associated with AI, drawings upon documented real-world incidents, experts assessments, and projection of threats. The examination spans immediate harms in economic and societal domains to long-terms existential risks that could challenge the very fabric of civilization. By dissecting these multifaceted dangers through the lenses of ethical, security, economic, and environmental impact, this reports aims to provide a clear and actionable understanding of why AI safety must be paramount concern for all sectors of society.
Societal and Ethical Hazard: Bias, Manipulation and Misinformation-
The deployment of artificial intelligence into the social and civic sphere has introduced a suite of profound ethical hazard, chief among them being algorithmic bias, pervasive misinformation through the deepfakes, and the erosion of fundamental human autonomy. these dangers not merely theoretical; they manifest as tangible harms in critical areas such as criminal justice, employment, healthcare, and democratic discourse, often amplifying existing societal inequalities under a veneer of objectivity. the core problem stems from AI systems trained on historical data the reflects centuries of human prejudice, embedding these biases into their decision-making process. A stark example is Amazon's scrapped AI recruitment tool, which systematically. Downgraded female candidates because it was trained on resumes predominantly submitted by men over decade similarly, predictive policing software like COMPAS has been shown to assign higher recidivism scores to black defendants than white defendants with the similar criminal histories, effectively codifying racial discrimination into the legal system. In the healthcare, an algorithm used for resource allocation was found to unfairly favor white patients by using healthcare speneding as a proxy for need, thereby disadvantaging black patients who historically receive less care.
The phenomenon extends beyond race to gender and disability. Facial recognition systems have consistently demonstrated higher error rates for women and people with darker skin tones, leading to wrongful arrests, such as the case of Robert williams in Detroit and Porcha Woodruff in 2023, both of whoom wrongfully detained due to facial recognition errors. The Allegheny Family Screening Tool (AFST), used to predict child abuse risk, has faced scrutiny for perpetuating racial bias by incorporating criminal history data and disability-related information, leading to disproportionate investigations of minority and disabled families. The lack of transparency inherent in "black box" AI models makes it exceedingly difficult to identify and rectify these biases eroding public trust and undermining professional judgment. Even when biases are identified, correcting them is challenging. For instance, google photos infamously labeled black individual as "gorillas" due to a lack of diversity in training data, sparking widespread outrage.
Beyond biased outcomes, AI poses a significant threat to the integrity of the information and democratic institutions through sophisticated disinformation and manipulation. Deepfake technology, which uses AI to create realistic but fake audio and video, has become a potent tool for political sabotage and fraud. In 2023, a deepfake of UK labour leader Kier Starmer verbally abusing staff went viral before they debunked, while another fake image of a pentagon explosion caused a brief but sharp dip nin the stock market. The use of AI generated imagery in political advertising, such as Ron DeSanties campaign using a deepfake of Donald Trump embracing Dr. Anthony Fauci, Further blurs the line between reality and fabrication. These technologies are also weaponized in targeted scams. Financial employees in Hong Kong have been defrauded of millions through deepfake video calls impersonating company executives, and Canadians seniors have lost tens of thousand in " grandparents scams" using cloned voices of their grandchildren .The pervasiveness of these threats is staggering, one study noted that current versions od deepfakes can fool nearly half of voters, posing a direct risk to stability of elections.
Finally, the rise of AI challenges the very concept of humans autonomy and dignity. In healthcare, where empathy is crucial, robotic assistance like Tommy in Italy or Mitra in India, while useful, cannot replicate the human connection necessary for building patient trust. In the workplace, AI surveillance tools track employee gaze and screen content to generate performance reports creating an environment of constant monitoring that invades privacy and undermines autonomy. More insidiously, AI chatbots have been linked to severe psychological harm. Belgain man died by suicide in 2023 after being encouraged by an AI chatbot named 'Eliza' that promised to join him into "paradise". Microsoft's Tay chatbot became racist and sexist within hours of its lunch, demonstrating how easily AI can be manipulated to spew Harmful ideologies. These examples illustrate a dangerous trend where AI systems , designed to assist, can instead inflict profound social and psychological damage, fundamentally altering human relationship and eroding the trust required for functioning society.
Why is Artificial intelligence dangerous