Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines

by Joy Buolamwini

The term “x-risk” is used as a shorthand for the hypothetical existential risk posed by AI. While my research supports why AI systems should not be integrated into weapons systems because of the lethal dangers, this isn’t because I believe AI systems by themselves pose an existential risk as superintelligent agents. AI systems falsely classifying individuals as criminal suspects, robots being used for policing, and self-driving cars with faulty pedestrian tracking systems can already put your life in danger. Sadly, we do not need AI systems to have superintelligence for them to have fatal outcomes on individual lives. Existing AI systems with demonstrated harms are more dangerous than hypothetical “sentient” AI systems because they are real. One problem with minimizing existing AI harms by saying hypothetical existential harms are more important is that it shifts the flow of valuable resources and legislative attention. Companies that claim to fear existential risk from AI could show a genuine commitment to safeguarding humanity by not releasing the AI tools they claim could end humanity. I am not opposed to preventing the creation of fatal AI systems. Governments concerned with lethal use of AI systems can adopt the protections long championed by the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots to ban lethal autonomous systems and digital dehumanization.[*3]