
      In Artificial Life and Intelligence in 2030 the authors discuss the current technologies made possible through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and their hopes for its progress in the future. They go one to offer a few recommendations for policy change and raise ethical questions to consider moving forward. One aspiration for future AI technology is its use in law and financial decision-making. The authors pose that AI technology would significantly reduce human biases in critical decision-making such as who is lent money or who is sent to jail. 
      I am reluctant to have as strong of faith in a machine to make such decisions for ethical reasons. I think there is a certain level of emotion and humanity involved in critical decision-making. For example, I had recently seen a video of a woman who had been issued five parking tickets and had incurred a hefty fine of $400. It was evident she was guilty of the charge, and they had been issued a few years ago and had remained unpaid. Based on these facts, it seemed apparent to penalize the woman for her misdemeanor. The judge asks her to explain why she did not handle the tickets in a timely manner. The woman goes on to explain she had been unexpectedly fired from her job and shortly after, her son had been murdered. Without much money saved and no income, she used most of what she had to pay for her sons funeral. Some of the parking tickets she had incurred had been in the pursuit of trying to find another job. The judge sympathized with the womans story and decidedly excused all her parking tickets. The decision was not motivated by logic, but the woman was incredibly grateful and the judge received much praise for his kindness. A computer would not be capable of making a decision such as this, or certainly not in the near future. In fact, in some circumstances human biases may be what we need to make the moral call. Perhaps even vital to who we are as humans. We are able to consider something deeper than a machine could, and for this reason I think we should be very reluctant to use AI technology for such matters.
      Additionally, it will be very difficult to synthesize a purely reasonable decision-making machine. The author mentions in order to propel AIs advantageous opportunities it will require significant funding  some from private sources. As we have too often seen, large corporations and individuals can use their resources to create circumstances which are ideal for them. There is already fear that biases have been created in our current AI technologies. For example, the author mentions the computers likelihood of selecting an African American as a criminal. Another note that surprised me was that speech recognition technologies do not work well for women and people with accents. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) begins to encompass more of our daily lives it is important to consider the initial motivations in creating it and what its consequences may be. Computers are not inherently biased, but are created by humans who have the potential to be. If we are to rely on these tools for critical decisionmaking we must ensure they are designed with good intent for everyone. 
	Artificial Intelligence if programmed correctly has the potential to be free of biases. If we are to use these tools in important decision-making scenarios, we must ensure the programs are not tainted with personal agendas.  Artificial Intelligence can be a catalyst for social change if used and created by those who strive for progression. 


