Artificial intelligence is great. It helps us do so many things: make better decisions, drive cars, and even weed out bias from our hiring practices. But AI can also be used for malicious purposes, especially when it comes to the dark side of machine learning algorithms and neural networks. In this post, we'll discuss the various ways in which artificial intelligence can be weaponized against us—including how it might be used by governments and corporations alike—and some steps we're taking to combat this dangerous trend towards doomsday machine learning applications.

Dark AI Scenarios

The dark side of AI could be devastating for society as a whole. Imagine how much more efficient hackers can be in their attempts to steal your personal data, or how much easier it will be for them to manipulate public opinion through fake news and propaganda. Then there's the possibility that algorithms and machine learning might widen the gap between leaders and laggards, the rich and poor—and even further entrench existing power structures within society. You don't need to look far for examples of this already happening: algorithms can manipulate our buying habits and even affect our voting patterns; algorithms have been shown to have an adverse impact on poorer communities by making them more likely targets for predatory lending practices; Amazon's facial recognition software has been shown to disproportionately target minorities; autonomous vehicles are at a higher risk of being involved in accidents with pedestrians than human drivers because they lack common sense or intuition about what is safe behavior around human beings (which would come naturally if you were driving yourself); without careful oversight over these technologies' progressions towards full autonomy down the line—something that isn't guaranteed given recent events—we could end up creating problems where none existed before.

Malevolent AI Applications

AI is a powerful technology that can be used for good or ill. Just as the internet has been used for commercial fraud and cyber-terrorism, so AI can be harnessed for malicious purposes. Three areas of malicious use of AI include financial gain, political influence, and psychological manipulation.

Algorithmic trading programs have been developed to place large numbers of trades at high speed across many different markets in order to real time exploit price differences between them—a practice known as “high frequency trading” or HFT. The result is a constant stream of tiny profits which add up over time with no human intervention required once they are set up properly. HFT has been estimated by some researchers (but not all) to be responsible for half of all U.S. stock trades today—and this could well lead us into another global financial crisis when markets crash again due to unforeseen circumstances (like Brexit). As I've said many times before though - if you're going through hell then keep going; it's easier than turning back.

In 2016, a company called Cambridge Analytica (CA) was at the center of a political scandal that rocked the world. CA had harvested data from millions of Facebook users without their knowledge or permission and used this information to manipulate voters during the U.S. presidential election—a practice known as “psychographic targeting” or “psyops” for short. The fact that this was possible highlights an important issue: Facebook is a company, not a government. It’s not bound by the same rules and regulations as governments are—and so it can do things that governments can’t. In fact, Facebook has been accused of violating international laws in its approach to censorship, privacy rights and data protectionSo, what does this mean? It means that Facebook has a lot of power. It’s not just a social network—it’s a media company that controls how information is disseminated around the world..

Methods to Combat Dark AI

There are ways to help combat the dark side of AI. We don't want to let people use AI for evil purposes, but we also don't want to stop progress just because there's some chance that it could be misused. In fact, the best way to fight against the negative impacts of AI is by making sure it's used for good in the first place.

The first step is education: you need people who know how AI works and can recognize when someone is using it inappropriately or maliciously. If everyone knows what they're dealing with, then there will be fewer problems down the line when someone tries something dangerous with their code.

Another option would be regulation; this might make sense if there were some sort of national standard governing how companies use AIs they create internally (which seems unlikely). But perhaps more promisingly if less practically would be education again—specifically targeted at those writing these programs so that they know how important it is not just for them but for society as a whole that their creations are safe and ethical.

Conclusion

The dark side of AI is an important topic to address, as it could have serious implications for society. There are many initiatives taking place that are working towards preventing malicious AI applications from being developed in the first place. These include research into how humans can identify when machines may be acting against their interests or what kinds of interventions might prevent them from doing so in the future.