AI's rise: Progress, power, and ethical peril

Is AI shaping our future or stealing our humanity? This global race for AI supremacy risks sidelining the very essence of what makes us human

- SRINATH SRIDHARAN

THE GLOBAL DISCOURSE surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) has largely been dominated by an obsession with technological achievement. Conversations brim with excitement about creating smarter systems, optimising computational efficiencies, and redefining innovation's boundaries. Yet, a troubling silence looms large—one that sidesteps the profound ethical and social questions AI raises. Are we, as a global society, so captivated by the "can we?" that we've lost sight of the equally important "should we?".

Science and technology have undeniably propelled humanity forward, yet the rise of AI poses challenges that transcend their domains. At its core, AI forces us to grapple with questions about trust, justice, and fairness. Can an algorithm genuinely understand morality, or does it simply simulate ethical reasoning through statistical models? After all, as human society with centuries of existence, we still have not understood morality as binary. These are not technical conundrums, for they are deeply human dilemmas. Yet, they are too often sidelined, overshadowed by metrics of policy optimisation and regulatory scale.