You’re coming home. Suddenly, the bottom seems to open up and a security drone appears, blocking your path to confirm your identity. This could appear far-fetched, but it is true based on existing technology – drone system made by AI company Sunflower Labs.
We recently “entered” as a part of a world project on the impact of artificial intelligence on cities. a brand new field of research called AI urban planning. This is different from the concept of a “smart city”. Smart cities collect information from technologies akin to sensor systems and use it to administer operations and deliver services more efficiently.
AI urbanism represents a brand new way of shaping and managing cities using artificial intelligence (AI). It differs fundamentally from contemporary models of city development and management. While closely monitoring this emerging area is critical, we should also ask ourselves whether we should involve AI so closely in city governance in the primary place.
The development of artificial intelligence is inextricably linked to the event of cities. Everything city dwellers do teaches AI something useful about our world. The way you drive a automotive or ride a motorbike helps train the synthetic intelligence of an autonomous vehicle within the functioning of urban transport systems.
What you eat and what you purchase informs AI systems about your preferences. Multiply these individual records by the billions of individuals living in cities and you will see how much data AI can collect from urban environments.
Predictive policing
Within the standard concept of smart cities, technology akin to the Internet of Things use connected sensors to watch and evaluate what is occurring. For example, smart buildings can calculate how much energy we use, and real-time technology can quantify how many individuals use the subway at anybody time. AI urbanism not only quantifies but tells stories, explaining why and the way certain events occur.
We’re not talking about complex narratives, but even a basic story can have vital consequences. Take, for instance, the AI system developed by the American company Palantir they already work in several citiesto predict where crimes will occur and who shall be involved.
Police officers can act on these predictions when it involves where to allocate resources. Overall, predicting policing is some of the controversial features that AI is gaining in AI-powered urban planning: the flexibility to find out what is nice and what’s bad and who’s “good” and who’s “bad” in a city .
This is an issue because as a recent ChatGPT example explainedAI can write an in depth description without understanding its meaning. It is an amoral intelligence within the sense that it is indifferent to issues of fine and evil.
And yet these are precisely the sorts of questions we increasingly delegate to artificial intelligence in city management. This may save our city managers a while, given the incredible speed of AI in analyzing large volumes of information, but the worth we pay for social justice is big.
A human problem
Recent research shows that decisions made by artificial intelligence penalize racial minorities in the sector of housing and real estate. It also exists the numerous environmental costs have to be borne in mind, because AI technology is energy-intensive. It is predicted to contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions from the technology sector in the approaching a long time, and the infrastructure needed to take care of it requires critical raw materials. It seems that A.I they promise quite a bit when it comes to sustainability), but if we have a look at its actual costs and concrete applications, the disadvantages can easily outweigh the positives.
It’s not that artificial intelligence is uncontrolled as we see in science fiction movies and browse in novels. On the contrary: we humans consciously make political decisions that put artificial intelligence ready to make decisions about city management. We willingly hand over some decision-making responsibilities to machines, and in various parts of the world we can already see the genesis of the creation of latest cities that were to be entirely operated by artificial intelligence.
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This trend an example is Neom, a colossal regional development project currently underway in Saudi Arabia. New urban spaces will appear in Neom, including the linear city The Line, managed by many AI systems, which is meant to develop into a model of sustainable urban development. These future cities will feature autonomous vehicles that transport people, robots that cook and serve food, and algorithms that predict your behavior to anticipate your needs.
These visions resonate with concept of an autonomous city which refers to urban spaces where artificial intelligence autonomously performs social and management functions and persons are outside the circulation.
We must remember that autonomy is a zero-sum game. As the autonomy of artificial intelligence increases, ours decreases, and the emergence of autonomous cities may seriously undermine our role in managing urban areas. A city run not by humans but by artificial intelligence would challenge the autonomy of stakeholders and would also challenge the well-being of many individuals.
Will you qualify for a house mortgage and have the option to buy a property to boost a family? Will you have the option to get life insurance? Is your name on the list of suspects the police will cope with? Today, artificial intelligence influences the answers to those questions. In the long run, if the autonomous city becomes the dominant reality, artificial intelligence may develop into the only arbiter.
Artificial intelligence needs cities that will absorb our data. As residents, it is time, as a part of a broader public debate, to thoroughly query the specter of the autonomous city and ask one quite simple query: do we really want artificial intelligence to make our cities sustainable?
