Artificial intelligence is an existential threat to humanity according to 49 per cent of IT professionals polled in a new survey.
Artificial intelligence technology divides opinion with around half of IT professionals believing AI to be a threat and half considering AI as a positive enabler.
According to the survey by the Atlas VPN team, nearly three out of four (74 per cent) IT professionals think AI will automate tasks and enable more time to focus on strategic initiatives. About two-thirds (67 per cent) of IT professionals believe that AI will be a mission-critical element of their business strategy in the years to come.
In addition, three out of five (62 per cent) experts expect to work alongside intelligent robots or machines in the next 5 years. On the other hand, some professionals think that AI can also cause harm, as 55 per cent feel that AI will create major data privacy issues.
About half of IT experts believe that artificial intelligence will put IT jobs at risk and that innovation in AI presents an existential threat to humanity.
“The AI we have today can benefit businesses by making various tasks easier. However, that does not guarantee it is always positive,” said Atlas VPN Vilius Kardelis. “AI is a tool with potentially harmful consequences if used in the wrong hands. Despite this, it appears unlikely that it will pose an existential threat to humanity in the near future.”
Many businesses already utilise artificial intelligence for many different tasks. In the next 2 years, 45 per cent of IT professionals plan to use AI for data analytics. Furthermore, AI will be used to detect and deter security intrusions and fraud in 40 per cent of surveyed specialists companies in the upcoming years.
One out of three (34 per cent) IT experts plan to use AI for machine learning. Another third (31 per cent) of professionals believe their company will use AI for transferring and cross-referencing data. In addition, 29 per cent of experts see AI helping with web and social media analytics and natural language processing in the next 2 years.
The data is based on Spiceworks Ziff Davis’s The 2023 State of IT report on IT budgets and tech trends. The research surveyed more than 1,400 IT professionals representing companies in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America in June 2022 to gain visibility into how organizations plan to invest in technology.
