Ask HN: How does artificial intelligence benefit the planet? - markrankin
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tlb
Why do we need need human intelligence? To solve problems. Many of the world's
problems need vast amounts of intelligence to solve, more than we can find
people to do. Existing software already helps, and AI has the potential to
help more.

Some big projects that are vital to the planet or society where AI is likely
to help are:

\- Getting carbon-free power. We need a lot of brainpower to scale up solar
panel and wind turbine manufacturing processes. There are many 1000s of
engineers working on this now, but it might take 10 or 100x more to solve all
the problems before the planet overheats. AI might help make breakthroughs in
other technologies, like fusion.

\- There are about 90,000 scientists worldwide working on cancer. We've found
partial cures for some, but lots of people still die. We need 10x or 100x the
rate of progress. AI drug discovery and cancer treatment planning have huge
potential. The same goes for most serious diseases.

Pretty much anything you've read in a science magazine of the form "Technology
X could improve Y, but it's not ready yet" is a candidate for how the world
could be better with AI.

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markrankin
I have researched and read a book about this topic. I still don't see any long
term benefit. It sounds like the costs outweigh the benefits.

Can you prove me wrong? Why do humans need artificial intelligence? And how
can artificial intelligence benefit society and the planet?

