Artificial intelligence impact on society

Three friends were having morning tea on a farm in the Northern Rivers region in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, when they noticed a drilling rig setting up in a neighbor's property on the opposite side of the valley. They had never heard of the coal seam gas (CSG) industry, nor had they previously considered activism. That drilling rig, however, was enough to push them into action. The group soon became instrumental in establishing the anti-CSG movement, a movement whose activism resulted in the NSW government suspending gas exploration licenses in the area in 2014.2 By 2015, the government had bought back a petroleum exploration license covering 500,000 hectares across the region.3 Mining companies, like companies in many industries, have been struggling with the difference between having a legal license to operate and a moral4 one. The colloquial version of this is the distinction between what one could do and what one should do--just because something is technically possible and economically feasible doesn't mean that the people it affects will find it morally acceptable. Without the acceptance of the community, firms find themselves dealing with "never-ending demands" from "local troublemakers" hearing that "the company has done nothing for us"--all resulting in costs, financial and nonfinancial,5 that weigh projects down. A company can have the best intentions, investing in (what it thought were) all the right things, and still experience opposition from within the community. It may work to understand local mores and invest in the community's social infrastructure--improving access to health care and education, upgrading roads and electricity services, and fostering economic activity in the region resulting in bustling local businesses and a healthy employment market--to no avail. Without the community's acceptance, without a moral license, the mining companies in NSW found themselves struggling. This moral license is commonly called a social license, a phrase coined in the '90s, and represents the ongoing acceptance and approval of a mining development by a local community. Since then, it has become increasingly recognized within the mining industry that firms must work with local communities to obtain, and then maintain, a social license to operate (SLO).6 The concept of a social license to operate has developed over time and been adopted by a range of industries that affect the physical environment they operate in, such as logging or pulp and paper mills. What has any of this to do with artificial intelligence (AI)?