Three New Perspectives on Whether Artificial Intelligence Threatens or Benefits the World

As the velocity of the rate of change in today's technology steadily continues to increase, one of the contributing factors behind this acceleration the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). "Smart" attributes and functionalities are being baked into a multitude of systems that are affecting our lives in many visible and, at other times, transparent ways. Just to name one well-known example of an AI-enabled app is Siri, the voice recognition system in the iPhone. Two recent Subway Fold posts have also examined AI's applications in law (1) and music (2). However, notwithstanding all of the technological, social and commercial benefits produced by AI, a widespread reluctance, if not fear, of its capabilities to produce negative effects still persists.