Here’s the Cost of Those AI-Generated Ghibli Images That No One is Talking About

Whether you think it’s the best thing after peak Google Search, or a scourge unleashed to gradually wipe out the essence of humanity, one thing is clear: Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. While it may have gained widespread popularity only in recent years, AI has been a path of interest to scientists since the 50s, so yeah, you’ll just have to put up with the cringe TikToks of preteens declaring their total dependence on ChatGPT for 250-word essays, because it is going nowhere.

Artificial Intelligence is not gaining grounds and winning hearts for nothing. Besides the all-too-important need for middle school term papers lacking in depth and generated in mere seconds, this stride in technology is making its mark in many ways. For one, AI is currently reported to be rapidly taking over business decisions, as over 40% of companies are considering incorporating it in their business, per IBM. Also, according to BusinessDasher, 99% of Fortune 500 companies are reported to have included AI into their operations. This is mostly due to

The Benefits of AI: Revolutionizing Industries

Automation of Tasks

AI takes away from the humdrum of routine tasks by automating them, thereby increasing efficiency and eliminating human errors. Although not being a pioneer of this method, what sets AI apart from traditional automation is its ability to learn from data, adapt and make analytical decisions through machine learning and natural language processing.

1. Cost-effectiveness

As a result, favouring AI in operations removes most of the human links, making it a more economically viable option in the long run for companies. This greatly increases the prospects of AI, as it fits into the primary aim of businesses, which is profit making.

2. AI in Special Frontiers

AI is proving itself in nearly every sector. For example, by analysing medical images (CT scans, MRIs, x-rays, etc) through machine learning, it could detect subtle patterns not easily visible to the human eye and therefore give more accurate diagnoses. This could in the long run accelerate medical research and break new grounds in the field. Also, the entire concept of self-driven cars is driven largely by AI. Delivery companies like Waymo have already begun to replace human drivers with autonomous vehicles.

In finance, AI can identify patterns in trading for optimal outcomes, as well as detect fraud, helping to make better financial decisions. It can also now read and analyse legal documents, making it possible to predict outcomes of undecided cases.

The area of emotional intelligence seems to be AI’s Achilles heel, but much progress has been made there too. AI has been famously criticised for being an upgraded version of “garbage in, garbage out,” so this can be said to be its most noteworthy stride. This feat can be seen mostly in emotion-aware virtual assistants and chatbots.

According to a McKinsey Global Survey, AI activities are projected to amass a worth of $13 trillion by 2030. This spells it out as an indispensable part of the future, generally and technology wise. But AI is not without its flaws. Since its introduction into the public space, it has been met with mixed reactions, most of which are valid. It could be said that AI straddles both positive and negative opinions almost equally, and while the pros have been highlighted, the cons cannot be ignored.

AI’s Potential Threats to Privacy and Society

A million accusatory fingers point to AI for a myriad of reasons. It promotes plagiarism. It hasn’t one original thought to its credit, putting a big question mark on the second half of its name. It will run us all out of the job market. It is single handedly contributing the most to making Gen Alpha students dumber. It is hastening the breakdown of society. The list is endless. But the most pressing and objectively worrying of all are the concerns over privacy.

Privacy Concerns in AI-Driven Systems

It has already been hinted above that AI does not have any innate intelligence that can be credited to it. AI-driven systems run on large sets of data fed into them and iterated upon for constant improvement. These data sets are derived from various sources, and not all of these sources can be properly accounted for.

The privacy concerns can be considered from the following categories:

1. Unauthorized Data Collection and Use

AI relies on vast amounts of data to run, and thanks largely to cloud computing and manually curated datasets this need is filled. But the collection of such huge amounts of data would surely hold some problematic potential. First off, it would be near impossible to source all this data in totally ethical ways. These data collection systems may also encroach on private aspects of the subjects, collecting sensitive information such as biometric data, financial records and/or health information, which should normally not be easily accessible. Recently, indignant French and Australian authors dragged tech giants Meta and OpenAI to court for copying the entireties of their books without permission, in order to train AI models. They were not deterred by the knowledge that the database used was a pirated one.

2. Breaches in Data Security and Privacy

AI systems are far from fireproof. In addition to concerns about how data sets are sourced, there is also the worry about how they are stored. Due to the vast amount of data they hold, AI systems easily become a target for cybercriminals. It may also not be beyond these firms to sell off these data sets, wholly or in part, to third parties for profit. Target and Amazon’s Alexa are two real world cases of AI systems providing sensitive data to third parties without the individual’s consent. Also, X (formerly called Twitter) in November 2024 began sharing user data to third-party platforms that may use such data to train their AI models.

3. Bias and Discrimination Pitfalls

An AI model is only as good as the data it was trained on. Therefore, if trained on biased data, it will regurgitate prejudiced views which could perpetuate stereotypes and affect the group being biased against, in real life. It has also been found that these biases are worsened when run through AI systems. This somewhat defeats the purpose of AI being a repository of information if such information is found to be tainted. Stable Diffusion, an AI image generator, has been exposed for presenting non-white and non-male groups in negative lights, taking racial and gender disparities to extremes.

Balancing AI Innovation and Privacy: Practical Solutions

In light of the above, it is clear that some measures have to come into play to stop the excesses of AI regarding privacy breaches. Firstly, the government has a huge job to do by putting laws in place that will actually deter offending companies. Many cases against corporations end up as civil suits, resolvable with a payout as directed by the courts. These amounts are usually a small drop in the ocean when viewed in context of the companies’ net worth, so it doesn’t really do much to stop them. Therefore, governments of countries and states should sanction companies in a way that will be felt by them.

On the part of corporations, they should consider the necessity of personal data, and where such need not apply, substitute with less vulnerable forms. To encourage this practice, the government can offer incentives to those who comply with this practice.

The general public should also be sensitized about the consequences of giving away their personal and private information so they can make well-informed decisions, as much as it is in their power to do so.

In conclusion, Artificial Intelligence has come to stay and will keep growing in relevance. However, it has excesses which may prove dangerous if not checked, especially in the area of privacy. The government, corporate bodies and individuals all have a part to play in making sure this does not happen while AI keeps being a net positive for everyone.