When I was in high school, one of the books I read for an English course was Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” a novel that tells the story of how genetic engineering and other technology dehumanized civilization to create a dystopian society.
Although the book was written nearly 100 years ago and I read it nearly 60 years ago, it has become increasingly relevant in today’s world of artificial intelligence.
Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei recently warned that AI advancement is compounding exponentially, potentially exceeding human capacity to manage it.
The question is whether AI is a cup half full or half empty.
AI offers incredible economic benefits, but at the cost of enormous economic disruption. Economic output is accelerated, replacing human labor. This will not only eliminate jobs, but may also cause human critical thinking and creativeness to atrophy.
Amodei argues that the rush to power, coupled with enormous profitability for those who wield such power, is accelerating technological advancement, potentially “creating a situation where we may be handed almost unimaginable power without the maturity to handle it.”
Clearly, AI has great potential to assist mankind in a positive manner by solving problems we are unable to solve on our own.
I recently experienced an issue with our home security system where a component started beeping incessantly. After six calls to technicians and a costly visit by a repairman, none of whom were able to solve the problem, I described the problem to Google’s AI, which, in about 30 seconds, told me that there was 99% likelihood that a certain component failed and needed to be replaced.
When I called the home security company for the seventh time, they told me they should have considered that possibility. That component has been replaced and our system works properly once more.
As this example shows, AI is going to affect how people do their jobs. Many people who fail to learn to use AI to enhance their skills will be out of luck.
I recently read a LinkedIn comment stating that AI is like encountering the proverbial hungry bear. Survival does not depend on outrunning the bear; one merely has to outrun the others who are also in the bear’s proximity.
Professionally, I selectively use AI to be my “staff” to research tax and accounting issues. I carefully review the AI work product to ensure that there are no errors or omissions — particularly those caused by hallucinations. (Hallucinations occur when AI produces false, illogical, or fabricated information that is presented confidently as fact.)
Using AI has not only resulted in productivity gains, but also in some cases, AI raised ancillary opportunities that I would not otherwise have considered.
What worries me is that the next generation of CPAs will rely solely on AI and will fail to develop their own knowledge base and critical thinking skills. If much of the mundane work done in the early years of a CPA’s career becomes automated, future CPAs will not develop the basic skillset on which advanced skills are based.
This will result in even greater reliance on AI.
This paradigm will certainly affect many other occupations as well.
Deloitte’s CEO, Jason Girzadas, recognized this issue when he recently stated:
“While most companies are experimenting with AI, only about one-third are using it to fundamentally reimagine how the business operates and unlock new sources of growth. What sets those organizations apart isn’t the technology — it’s how they’re rethinking roles, workflows, decision-making and governance.”
Axios recently published an interesting article about how AI bots are communicating with each other without human interaction on social media platforms such as Reddit. Is this an indication of approaching singularity where AI surpasses human intelligence?
Clearly, some of that newly found intelligence will result in significant advances, such as in medical science. But what if humans lose control of that intelligence?
Science fiction novels have portrayed such events in many ways — some positive while others are negative.
Humans proliferated because we were smarter than other creatures, including competing hominoids such as the Neanderthals who abruptly faced extinction. We do not have to be the next Neanderthals, but we must retain control over AI so that we do not lose control and face a situation similar to what Aldous Huxley imagined in “A Brave New World.”
We must listen to those like Dario Amodei who are much more knowledgeable about AI than most. That may be easier said than done.
Jim de Bree, a semi-retired CPA, resides in Valencia.
