Top South African CEO says AI adds zero value to the world

Sygnia CEO Magda Wierzycka said she believes artificial intelligence (AI) adds zero value to the world and has significant potential to cause harm. 

Wierzycka has also described AI development as something that has gotten completely out of hand and needs to be reined in to prevent the worst excesses from becoming real. 

This has caused much controversy, with experts pushing back on Wierzycka’s claims, pointing to AI’s proven ability to discover new medical drugs, improve education outcomes, and enhance productivity. 

Wierzycka has explained her comments around AI and its potential impact on the world in more detail, saying that conversations at the World Economic Forum at Davos proved particularly revealing. 

“What I found interesting was all the conversations I got exposed to around AI, and everyone is so excited about it and its potential,” Wierzycka told Conversations with Lelethu. 

“I walked out of Davos saying, ‘Delete it. Someone press a delete button or regulate against it. It cannot be allowed and cannot be deployed.’ It is out of hand.”

Wierzycka said this was a kind of revelation for her, something she had not previously thought about until those conversations in Davos. 

The Sygnia CEO’s criticism goes beyond the potential impact of AI on jobs and mass unemployment that many have warned about in the four years since the technology has become a part of the daily lives of billions of people. 

“The impact it is having on the mental health of people who use it is significant. I sat and listened to panels with behavioural psychologists who are studying the impact on children, which is extremely negative,” Wierzycka said. 

“They are discovering that, in many cases, AI is replacing human relationships in the lives of children. It is now their best friend that is available 24/7 and telling you what you want to hear.” 

Wierzycka said this has the potential to have severe consequences for humanity in the future, with people becoming less empathetic and less intelligent. 

“There are two consequences – cognitive dissonance, and you become stupider. You can no longer separate the ‘real world’ from the computer, and you get used to answers just popping up,” Wierzycka said. 

“You do not learn, and you forget how to process problems and engage with them. You just type it in and get an answer.” 

“A third consequence is the loss of empathy. You no longer deal with real people and their emotions, but rather a machine that tells you what you want.” 

AI is creating value

Experts have pushed back on Wierzycka’s claims that AI has not created any value for society as yet, while admitting that it can have potentially damaging effects that need to be managed. 

“The accusation that AI has provided zero value is patently false. It has already discovered new science, new drugs, and powered schools to give better outcomes for learners,” Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg Steven Boykey Sidley told 702. 

“There are actually too many instances to list, but this has had fantastic positive benefits, albeit with some negative impacts too.” 

Sidley did admit that the main protagonists in rolling out AI, such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman, are exaggerating the technology’s impact in the medium term.

This is the classic case of people overestimating the impact of a new technology in the first six months while potentially underestimating its impact over the next decade. 

“I would say the proponents are singing AI’s praises beyond its real manifestation right now. But, at the same time, the doomsayers are also exaggerating the downsides of it,” Sidley said. 

“As with most things like this, a new and fast-growing technology, you are going to have good and bad outcomes. It will swing between optimism and pessimism many times.” 

The technology does have the potential to fundamentally disrupt the world we live in and the work humans do. There will be negative consequences, including significant economic shocks. 

Also, due to the technology being so new and powerful, it will be used by nefarious actors to spread misinformation, scam people, and gain access to personal information. 

“But, on the plus side of this. It is almost endless what is going on in the areas of research and the capabilities of the technology. It is ultimately about how people use the technology,” Sidley said. 

“The risks of the negative outcomes are worth taking to achieve the potential positive impacts of this technology.”

“If you take a single positive, which I think is almost guaranteed to happen, such as AI finding a cure for cancer. That is a certainty, and that single thing will be worth the money spent.”