<img src="https://spectrum.ieee.org/media-library/colorful-illustration-of-an-ai-search-bar-with-a-multitude-of-flowers-blooming-out-of-it.jpg?id=61747230&width=1200&height=800&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0"/> For many in the research community, it’s gotten harder to be optimistic about the impacts of artificial intelligence.As authoritarianism is rising around the world, AI-generated “slop” is overwhelming legitimate media, while AI-generated <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/tag/deepfakes" target="_blank">deepfakes</a> are spreading <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/tag/misinformation" target="_blank">misinformation</a> and parroting extremist messages. AI is making warfare more precise and deadly amidst intransigent conflicts. AI companies are exploiting people in the global South who work as data labelers, and profiting from content creators worldwide by using their work without license or compensation. The industry is also affecting an already-roiling climate with its <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-energy-use" target="_blank">enormous energy demands</a>.Meanwhile, particularly in the United States, public investment in science seems to be <a href="https://www.aau.edu/newsroom/leading-research-universities-report/white-house-proposes-steep-cuts-science-and-education" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">redirected</a> and <a href="https://www.aip.org/fyi/trump-plan-highlights-ai-for-science" target="_blank">concentrated</a> on AI at the expense of other disciplines. And Big Tech companies are consolidating their control over the AI ecosystem. In these ways and others, AI seems to be making everything worse.This is not the whole story. We should not resign ourselves to AI being harmful to humanity. None of us should accept this as inevitable, especially those in a position to influence science, government, and society. Scientists and engineers can push AI towards a beneficial path. Here’s how.<h2>The Academy’s View of AI <a target="_blank"></a></h2>A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/03/how-the-us-public-and-ai-experts-view-artificial-intelligence/" target="_blank">Pew study</a> in April found that 56 percent of AI experts (authors and presenters of AI-related conference papers) predict that AI will have positive effects on society. But that optimism doesn’t extend to the scientific community at large. A 2023 <a href="https://sci-ops.org/survey/artificial-intelligence-survey-x/scientists-perceptions-and-personal-use/" target="_blank">survey</a> of 232 scientists by the Center for Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Studies at Arizona State University found more concern than excitement about the use of generative AI in daily life—by nearly a three to one ratio.We have encountered this sentiment repeatedly. Our careers of diverse applied work have brought us in contact with many research communities: privacy, cybersecurity, physical sciences, drug discovery, public health, public interest technology, and democratic innovation. In all of these fields, we’ve found strong negative sentiment about the impacts of AI. The feeling is so palpable that we’ve often been asked to represent the voice of the AI optimist, even though we spend most of our time writing about the need to reform the structures of AI development.We understand why these audiences see AI as a destructive force, but this negativity engenders a different concern: that those with the potential to guide the development of AI and steer its influence on society will view it as a lost cause and sit out that process.<h2>Elements of a Positive Vision for AI</h2><a href="https://www.islandinstitute.org/working-waterfront/hope-a-framework-for-climate-action/" target="_blank">Many</a> <a href="https://time.com/7178677/climate-scientist-optimist-refuse-to-give-up-hope/" target="_blank">have</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05977-w" target="_blank">a</a><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05977-w" target="_blank">rgu</a><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05977-w" target="_blank">ed</a> <a href="https://behavioralscientist.org/we-need-to-change-the-way-we-talk-about-climate-change/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">that</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2023/04/17/the-power-of-climate-optimists-flip-the-narrative-change-the-future/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">turn</a><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2023/04/17/the-power-of-climate-optimists-flip-the-narrative-change-the-future/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ing</a> the <a href="https://climate.mit.edu/podcasts/making-case-climate-optimism" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tide</a> of climate action requires clearly articulating a path towards positive outcomes. In the same way, while scientists and technologists should anticipate, warn against, and help mitigate the potential harms of AI, they should also highlight the ways the technology can be harnessed for good, galvanizing public action towards those ends.There are myriad ways to leverage and reshape AI to improve peoples’ lives, distribute rather than concentrate power, and even strengthen democratic processes. Many examples have arisen from the scientific community and deserve to be celebrated.Some examples: AI is eliminating communication barriers across languages, including under-resourced contexts like <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5230744" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">marginalized sign languages</a> and <a href="https://ojs.bilpub.com/index.php/card/article/view/517" target="_blank">indigenous African languages</a>. It is helping policymakers incorporate the viewpoints of many constituents through AI-assisted <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.adq2852" target="_blank">deliberations</a> and <a href="https://static.ie.edu/CGC/AI4D%20Paper%203%20Applications%20of%20Artificial%20Intelligence%20Tools%20to%20Engance%20Legislative%20Engagement.pdf" target="_blank">legislative engagement</a>. Large language models can scale individual dialogs to <a href="https://osf.io/mqcwj_v1/" target="_blank">a</a><a href="https://osf.io/mqcwj_v1/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ddress</a><a href="https://osf.io/mqcwj_v1/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> climate</a><a href="https://osf.io/mqcwj_v1/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">-</a><a href="https://osf.io/mqcwj_v1/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">change skepticism</a>, spreading accurate information at a critical moment. National labs are building AI <a href="https://www.anl.gov/cels/auroragpt-foundation-models-for-science" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">foundation models</a> to accelerate scientific research. And throughout the fields of medicine and biology, machine learning is solving scientific problems like the prediction of protein structure in aid of drug discovery, which was recognized with a <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2024/press-release/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nobel Prize</a> in 2024.While each of these applications is nascent and surely imperfect, they all demonstrate that AI can be wielded to advance the public interest. Scientists should embrace, champion, and expand on such efforts.<h2><a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>A Call to Action for Scientists</h2>In our new book, <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049948/rewiring-democracy/" target="_blank">Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship</a>, we describe four key actions for policymakers committed to steering AI toward the public good.These apply to scientists as well. Researchers should work to reform the AI industry to be more ethical, equitable, and trustworthy. We must collectively<a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/recommendation-ethics-artificial-intelligence" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/recommendation-ethics-artificial-intelligence" target="_blank">develop</a><a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407886121" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407886121" target="_blank">ethical</a><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-024-00493-8" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-024-00493-8" target="_blank">norms</a> for research that advance and applies AI, and should use and draw attention to AI developers who adhere to those norms. Second, we should resist harmful uses of AI by documenting the negative applications of AI and casting a light on inappropriate uses. Third, we should responsibly use AI to make society and peoples’ lives better, exploiting its capabilities to help the communities they serve. And finally, we must advocate for the renovation of institutions to prepare them for the impacts of AI; universities, professional societies, and democratic organizations are all vulnerable to disruption.Scientists have a special privilege and responsibility: We are close to the technology itself and therefore well positioned to influence its trajectory. We must work to create an AI-infused world that we want to live in. Technology, as the historian <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3105385" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Melvin Kranzberg observed</a>, “is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.” Whether the AI we build is detrimental or beneficial to society depends on the choices we make today. But we cannot create a positive future without a vision of what it looks like.

يعبر العلماء عن مخاوف متزايدة بشأن مستقبل الذكاء الاصطناعي، خاصة مع تصاعد الاستبداد في جميع أنحاء العالم وغمر المعلومات المضللة التي تنتجها الذكاء الاصطناعي للقنوات الإعلامية الشرعية. هذه الوضعية مقلقة لأنها تقوض الثقة في مصادر المعلومات وتزيد من تعقيد دور الذكاء الاصطناعي في المجتمع. يعتقد الباحثون أنه بدون رؤية إيجابية للذكاء الاصطناعي، قد يتم طمس فوائده المحتملة بسبب مخاطره، مما يجعل من الضروري مواجهة هذه التحديات بشكل مباشر.

Los científicos están expresando crecientes preocupaciones sobre el futuro de la inteligencia artificial, especialmente a medida que el autoritarismo aumenta en todo el mundo y la desinformación generada por IA inunda los canales de medios legítimos. Esta situación es preocupante porque socava la confianza en las fuentes de información y complica el papel de la IA en la sociedad. Los investigadores creen que, sin una visión positiva para la IA, sus beneficios potenciales pueden verse eclipsados por sus riesgos, lo que hace crucial abordar estos desafíos de manera directa.

Les scientifiques expriment de plus en plus d'inquiétudes concernant l'avenir de l'intelligence artificielle, notamment avec la montée de l'autoritarisme à l'échelle mondiale et l'inondation des médias légitimes par des informations erronées générées par l'IA. Cette situation est préoccupante car elle sape la confiance dans les sources d'information et complique le rôle de l'IA dans la société. Les chercheurs estiment que sans une vision positive pour l'IA, ses avantages potentiels pourraient être éclipsés par ses risques, rendant crucial de relever ces défis de front.

Scientists are expressing growing concerns about the future of artificial intelligence, particularly as authoritarianism rises globally and AI-generated misinformation floods legitimate media channels. This situation is troubling because it undermines trust in information sources and complicates the role of AI in society. Researchers believe that without a positive vision for AI, its potential benefits may be overshadowed by its risks, making it crucial to address these challenges head-on.