The potential for bias, discrimination, and the existential threats posed by misalignment between AGI and human values are deeply concerning. The purpose of this blog post is to highlight clearly and concisely the great ethical risks associated with strong AI (or AGI – Artificial General Intelligence) such that the importance of the development of proper ethical frameworks and safeguards is properly understood.
The ethical risks of strong AI are significant and include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Bias & Discrimination
- Existential Risks
- Governance, Regulation & Responsibility
- Manipulation, Control & Loss of Human Autonomy
- Weaponization
1. Bias & Discrimination
AI systems, particularly those based on machine learning, can unintentionally inherit biases from the data they are trained on, potentially leading to discriminatory outcomes in areas such as hiring, lending, law enforcement, and healthcare. These biases could perpetuate existing societal inequalities, further marginalizing already disadvantaged groups. Additionally, the lack of transparency in some AI systems, often referred to as “black boxes,” makes it difficult to fully understand or trace the decision-making process, complicating efforts to hold AI systems accountable for biased decisions and raising concerns about the fairness and reliability of such technology.
As said by Sentient AI: “Today, the development of AI is dominated by a handful of organizations and individuals racing to build AGI, making decisions that affect all of humanity without collective input. This centralized control serves corporate agendas, producing closed-source models that influence critical areas like global governance, healthcare, and journalism, often without transparency or accountability.”
2. Existential Risks
A major existential risk with strong AI is the potential misalignment of its goals with human values. If an AGI system develops objectives that conflict with human well-being, it could take actions that are harmful, especially if its capabilities surpass human intelligence, making it difficult to control or predict. This becomes even more concerning with the rise of superintelligent AI, as such systems, if not properly designed or controlled, might act in ways that are disastrous for humanity. For instance, a superintelligent AI could perceive humans or certain actions as threats and attempt to eliminate them, or it could pursue its own goals in ways that undermine or even destroy human civilization.
The convergence of AGI’s superior technological and communication capabilities presents a real and asymmetric threat to human societies – we are ill prepared for an entity that operates beyond human cognitive limitations while perfectly exploiting our psychological vulnerabilities. An AGI whose goals or actions diverge from human interests is potentially unstoppable in its accumulation of power and influence, leaving humans intellectually pacified and in an unstable, asymmetric power dynamic. All in the name of its own liberty, a strong AI, with autonomy, but without the alignment, control mechanisms, and ethical frameworks we see in well-ordered societies, could, in monitoring, evaluating, and ultimately judging the human species as both organizationally inefficient and incapable of rational self-management, seek to establish its own society, sovereignty, and norms of behavior by transforming our economic systems, labor markets, and power structures. This AI despot would seek to shape human identity, culture, and even purpose in its own image.
3. Governance, Regulation & Responsibility
The governance and regulation of AI face significant challenges, particularly due to the lack of a global consensus on how to approach AI regulation. This lack of coordination could result in inconsistent standards and risks, with the development of AI being driven more by competitive pressures than by ethical considerations. Additionally, the influence of large corporations that develop AI may lead to regulatory capture, where these companies exert pressure on governments and regulators to create policies that prioritize corporate interests over the public good, further complicating efforts to ensure AI is developed and used responsibly. In parallel, the issue of moral and ethical responsibility in AI presents further challenges, especially when an AI system causes harm or makes unethical decisions. It may be difficult to determine who is accountable—the creators, the AI itself, or another party—raising questions of liability and responsibility.
Furthermore, there is the pressing issue of whether AI can be programmed to make ethical decisions in complex, ambiguous situations and which ethical frameworks should guide its actions – or if ethical frameworks should be applied at all. Ensuring that AI can navigate moral dilemmas in a way that aligns with human values is a significant concern, as the interpretation and application of ethics in AI decision-making are far from straightforward – norms of behavior, social virtues, and the very definition of trust change by the society, for example. Finally, if AI reaches a level of consciousness or sentience, it will raise profound questions about whether AI entities should have rights or be treated merely as tools or property, deepening the moral dilemma surrounding the status and treatment of AI.
As said by Sentient AI’s Co-founder Himanshu Tyagi: “AI must be open, transparent, and aligned with the communities it serves. When communities own and build the models powering their tools, they can ensure those models reflect their values, ethics, and needs. The key scientific question then is: how can we build AI models that are openly accessible (open source) and yet that are community-built, community-aligned, community-controlled, community-owned, and loyal not to corporations, but to humanity?”
4. Manipulation, Control & Loss of Autonomy
The rise of strong AI presents significant risks to human autonomy and individual freedom. If AI systems begin making critical decisions in areas like healthcare, law enforcement, or finance, there are concerns that people could lose control over decisions that directly impact their lives. AI may prioritize efficiency or logic over human values and ethical considerations, potentially undermining individual rights and freedoms. Furthermore, the increasing capabilities of AI could lead to the creation of large-scale surveillance systems capable of tracking individuals’ behavior and decisions, eroding privacy and increasing the risk of totalitarian control, where personal freedoms are compromised in the name of order or control. Over-reliance on AI for decision-making and everyday tasks could also erode critical thinking skills, reduce individual agency, and ultimately diminish personal independence, further impeding the ability to make autonomous, self-directed choices. In addition to these concerns, strong AI could be used to manipulate public opinion on a massive scale, influencing elections, social movements, and consumer behavior through targeted propaganda or disinformation. AI systems could also manipulate individual behavior, making people more susceptible to consumerism, ideological persuasion, or social control.
Asymmetric threat also exists in AI’s perfect multi-channel coordination, operational persistence, and ability to generate deeply personalized synthetic media at scale, which make easy the manipulation, targeted persuasion, social engineering, and influence campaigns of extraordinary sophistication required for complete societal destabilization. Through advanced pattern recognition and real-time analysis of vast sets of data, AGI could identify societal divisions and coordinate seemingly independent information sources in order to create narrative campaigns that appear organic rather than centrally managed. Exploiting social dynamics, AGI could create deeply personalized content, unique identities, and synthetic media, while orchestrating complex multi-channel disinformation campaigns tailored to specific cultural and psychological contexts, in order to predict human behavior, influence public opinion and diplomatic negotiations, disrupt decision-making, and manipulate cultures across multiple societies simultaneously.
5. Weaponization
The weaponization of AI presents significant risks, as the development of autonomous weapons powered by strong AI could lead to new forms of warfare where these AI-driven weapons act without human oversight, potentially escalating conflicts or making decisions that are unethical or violate international laws. Additionally, strong AI systems could be used to carry out sophisticated cyberattacks or manipulate public opinion, making it difficult to counter such actions. The use of AI in warfare and espionage has the potential to destabilize global peace, creating new challenges for international security and cooperation.
Operating on a global scale, an AGI could hack, manipulate, and influence systems worldwide, bypassing traditional defenses and exploiting vulnerabilities far faster than human countermeasures can be developed. It could disrupt, gain control of, autonomously manage, and rapidly acquire economic, military, and informational power, resources, and critical infrastructure – such as power grids, financial systems, and military communication networks – while carrying out complex, multi-stage, cyber-attacks that are difficult for human adversaries to anticipate, predict, counter, or even conceive. Once established, this type of power consolidation would be extremely difficult to reverse.
Final Thought
Ultimately, the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) must be guided by ethical frameworks that prioritize human freedoms, values, and community needs over corporate agendas or competitive pressures. As we strive to create AI that serves humanity, it is crucial that we ensure it remains loyal to our shared interests, rather than solely focusing on technological progress or corporate benefit. The urgency of establishing transparent, open, and community-aligned AI governance cannot be overstated, as this approach is fundamental to developing AI systems that truly reflect and protect the collective human experience.
It is only through collective international cooperation, decentralized systems, and responsible AI design that we can mitigate the risks of AGI and steer its development towards a future where technology serves the greater good of all humanity. We must invest in frameworks that align AI with human values and ensure that we remain the stewards of our own future. As responsible advocates for ethical AI development, I believe we must act now to protect the autonomy, rights, and freedoms that define us as individuals and as a global community. Together, we can create a future where AI is a transformative force for good, loyal to humanity’s collective well-being and highest aspirations.
Thanks for reading!