Technological Doomsday: Artificial Intelligence Threatens Humankind

By: Aulia Nurahman

Student of the Chemistry Education Study Programme

Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training

UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta

Artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential to bring drastic changes to human life, but it also carries risks that could become a threat to humanity in the future. The development of this technology has reached the point where people have begun to depend on AI and involve it in many aspects of life, because it can analyse and process the data we work with faster and more practically, unlike manual methods that take longer.

AI technology itself is a programme designed to think and take action like a human, such as learning, making decisions, and carrying out tasks or work as instructed quickly, and it is able to learn from experience, which makes AI keep developing rapidly every day. This is what led Tesla CEO Elon Musk to say that “AI is more dangerous than nuclear weapons”; he even predicted that AI could become smarter than humans.

How could it not be? Today the use of virtual assistants such as Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, Gemini, ChatGPT and others is widespread. They can help solve our problems, such as answering questions by providing relevant information that users can easily understand, helping with other tasks such as controlling smart devices at home, and even helping us with work in the office or education at school.

Data shows that AI is currently used mostly by people aged 18-25, who, judging by their age, are students or workers. Why is it said so? Because AI today has become something like a shortcut. For example, in education, Indonesia's education system has long emphasised that students understand and reason through a lesson rather than emphasising that students think critically. And that is why students tend to choose AI as their shortcut, because it can explain such understanding and reasoning accurately and quickly.

This can make students lazy and lose the motivation to learn and solve problems independently because of their dependence on AI, and it also lowers students' self-confidence because they trust AI more than themselves. If students are like this, what will the future of Indonesia be in their hands?

But that is not all: AI technology can also upset the world economy, and certainly the economy of our own country. Because in the worst case, AI can take over jobs that used to be done by humans with a machine that is more practical and no longer needs to pay wages like employees' monthly salaries.

A Goldman Sachs report shows that AI could replace 300 million jobs worldwide. This number represents 9.1% of all jobs in the world. In Indonesia alone, 85 million jobs could potentially be displaced by the division of labour between humans and machines. Just look around us: AI can already replace workers in customer service, and there are many places, especially in cities, that use machine-based payment systems instead of hiring workers. 

Even now, it is no longer surprising when a worker is laid off (PHK) because the job has been replaced by a machine, for example in factories. Have you ever thought about it? In one factory, how many workers are replaced by a machine? In your opinion, out of so many factories in this country, how many thousands or perhaps millions of people have had their jobs replaced by machines?

One source says that the change AI technology brings to the economic sector does not only remove old jobs but also creates many new ones. It is estimated that 100 million new jobs will be born from this change, but who will fill these jobs? Because in Indonesia only 19% of the workforce has the potential and ability to apply digital skills in their work.

According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the number of unemployed people in Indonesia in February 2024 reached 7.2 million. Can these 7.2 million people take over jobs that only 19% of the workforce can do? Or will today's students be able to take over the world of work in the future?

There was a viral case in which a seblak stall that only opened a vacancy for 20 people was suddenly swamped by more than 200 applicants. You can imagine that even for a seblak stall there was already such high competition for the position. This shows that many applicants and unemployed people cannot compete in the job market because of a lack of skills, especially in using AI technology, or because of their education.

The impact of AI technology does not stop here; it can also become a threat to our security and privacy. Nowadays fraud is rampant everywhere. There are now many AI tools such as deepfakes that can be used to manipulate video and audio, making individuals appear to do improper things. For example, in frequently occurring cases there are many scam calls from unknown numbers using it to change their voice so that it resembles someone around the victim. And there are many other cases such as personal data theft and other fraud schemes.

Have you ever thought about it? If everything on this earth is replaced by AI technology or artificial intelligence, what will happen to us? All jobs replaced by machines or, even worse, perhaps in the future robots will be created to replace humans, and this will surely trigger social inequality in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. 

The rich may live comfortably with this AI technology, such as being served by machines, having their work made easier and many other things. But what will happen to the lower middle class or the poor? They will lose their jobs, and this alone is already a big problem because where will they get money? Meanwhile, money is the resource or necessity that facilitates the exchange of goods in an economy. If so, how will they survive in the future? There are so many problems that will occur if we depend too much on AI technology.

The rapid advance of AI is indeed worrying. But once again, it comes down to ourselves: can we adapt to the changes AI brings now and in the future? Can we use AI wisely without depending on it constantly? To achieve this we should maintain a balance between using technology and preserving human creativity, by educating students, workers and the public about the basic skills needed without depending on AI technology. There must also be special training that teaches how to use AI or how to withstand AI technology now and in the future so that we are not controlled by AI and are not left behind by today's technological age.