At present, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an important part of our lives. This technology makes our work easier, helps in new discoveries and makes everyday life convenient. But every coin has two sides. Along with the advantages of AI, it also has some serious disadvantages and dangers, especially when misused. Today we will discuss the misuse of AI, especially deep fake technology, and its negative effects.

ALSO READ: Misuse of AI Technology And The Growing Threat Of Deepfakes.

🔍 What is Misuse of AI?

Misuse of AI means using artificial intelligence technology in the wrong way. This includes actions that are morally wrong, violate the law, or harm society and individuals. There are many forms of misuse of AI, such as blackmailing people by creating deep fake videos, committing cyber crimes, or spreading false news. According to research, misuse of AI falls mainly into two categories: exploitation of AI capabilities and compromise of AI systems through hacking or jailbreaking 1.

ALSO READ: Mano KTK Leaked Video Viral, Misuse Of AI In Pakistan

❌ 5 Disadvantages of AI Technology

Job Losses

AI and automation are threatening millions of jobs worldwide. Experts estimate that by 2030, 3 to 14% of employees will have to learn new skills or change jobs. Low-skilled jobs, such as administrative work and construction, are most at risk 2.

Bias and Discrimination

AI algorithms are often human-made and may contain biases from developers. For example, an AI recruitment tool from Amazon discriminated against female candidates because it was trained on historical data that was male-dominated 2. Similarly, facial recognition systems are more likely to make errors in recognizing dark-skinned women 2.

Privacy Violations

AI systems can predict the behaviour of individuals by collecting data about them. Using data from location history, social contacts and online activities, AI can accurately track your movements, posing a serious threat to privacy 2.

Deepfakes and Misinformation

Deepfake videos or audio created with the help of AI can be used to spread misinformation, blackmail people or commit financial scams. For example, an employee of a company in Hong Kong was scammed of 25 million USD through an AI-generated video call 1. According to a study, 98% of deepfake videos are related to adult content, and 99% of these target women 1.

Cybersecurity Threats

AI enables hackers to carry out even more sophisticated cyber attacks. It can automatically generate and personalize phishing emails, viruses, and malware, thereby bypassing traditional security systems 3.

📚 How can AI be misused by students?

Concerns about misuse of AI in education are growing. According to a survey, 48% of students admitted they have used ChatGPT in homework or tests, and 53% have had essays written by it 10. This is increasing the problems of plagiarism and cheating, and affecting students’ ability to learn. However, plagiarism detection companies such as Turnitin say that the use of AI-generated content is not as widespread as thought—about 10% of assignments have been found to contain some AI content, and only 3% of assignments are mostly generated by AI 5. Still, many teachers are becoming more distrustful of students, and false positives from AI detection tools can harm students, especially non-native English speakers 58.

⚠️ Negative Effects of AI

Social Impact

AI can lead to increased social polarization. Social media platforms’ AI algorithms show users content that matches their existing opinions, creating echo chambers and deepening divisions in society 6.

Ethical Concerns

AI systems lack transparency, and many decisions are “black boxes” that are difficult to understand. For example, AI risk assessment tools (such as COMPAS) used in US courts may show racial or gender biases, but their decision-making process is not transparent 2.

Environmental Impact

Large AI models require an enormous amount of energy to train. According to one estimate, training a single AI model can produce 300,000 kg of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to 125 round-trip flights between New York and Beijing 2.

Impact on Human Connections

The overuse of AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can reduce human relationships and genuine communication 6. Some experts worry that AI can undermine the emotional and social abilities of humans.

Domination by Big Tech

AI technology and research are dominated by big companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. These companies are setting the direction of AI, which can have an impact on innovation and their business interests 6.

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With fears about the strength of consumer spending running high due to tariffs, inflation and other economic pressures, retailers are working hard to sustain revenue growth. While some retailers are leaning into worker-led personalized experiences for shoppers, other retailers are focusing more on leveraging artificial intelligence to optimize the shopping experience.

Walmart is one of those retailers, adding new “super agents” that aims to save time and effort for both workers and shoppers. At its recent Retail Rewired innovation event, Walmart highlighted the launch of four “super agents,” which include Marty for sellers and suppliers, Sparky for shoppers, the Associate Agent and the Developer Agent.

With agents performing capabilities in the realm of payroll, paid time off, merchandising and finding the right products for any event, Walmart is consolidating its powerful, time-saving tools for the sake of a streamlined experience for multiple points of interaction with the company.

“Having a plethora of different agents can very quickly become confusing,” Suresh Kumar, chief technology officer for Walmart Global, said at the event.

The Associate Agent, for example, is “a single point of entry where any associate can find access to all of the agents we’ve built on the back end,” explained David Glick, senior vice president for Enterprise Business Solutions at Walmart. “As you speak to it more, as you work with it more, it’ll know more about you.”

The evolution comes alongside a broader shift for retail, an industry actively seeking to counteract cost concerns from consumers and the government, and Walmart isn’t alone in its push toward all things AI. Amazon’s Prime Day event over four days in July saw generative AI use jump 3,300% year over year, according to TechCrunch. Meanwhile, Google Cloud AI partnered with body care retailer Lush to visually identify projects without packaging, ultimately reducing the expense of training new hires.

Making digital twins of Walmart stores

Walmart is also all-in on physical and spatial AI, specifically digital twins (a virtual copy of any physical object or space — in Walmart’s case, their stores and clubs). Using digital twin technology powered by spatial AI, Walmart can “detect, diagnose and remediate issues up to two weeks in advance,” Brandon Ballard, group director for real estate at Walmart US, said at Retail Rewired. Using this technology comes with big savings, according to Ballard. “Last year, we cut all of our emergency alerts by 30% and we reduced our maintenance spend in refrigeration by 19% across Walmart US,” he added.

“At its core, retail is a physical business,” said Alex de Vigan, CEO and founder of Nfinite, which generates large-scale visual data for training spatial and physical AI models. “We’ve seen retailers use digital twins to reduce setup time for new promotions, reallocate labor more efficiently, and improve robotic picking accuracy, small gains that add up quickly when margins are under stress,” he said.

While the impact of digital twins may not be outwardly visible to consumers in the same way, say, Walmart’s Sparky agent is, its effects will be real. “Better stock accuracy, faster site updates and fewer order issues mean a smoother retail experience, even in a tighter economy,” said de Vigan.

Another innovation on the back end is Walmart’s use of machine learning to better understand how long it will take to get a delivery order on a customer’s doorsteps, effectively managing expectations while increasing efficiency.

As for what consumers can see, Sparky is already helping shoppers generate baskets built on an intuitive understanding of their needs. Walmart is currently working on enabling the agent to take action on reordering products, ultimately reducing the mental load that shoppers deal with.

For retailers, AI is one way to combat any slowdown in consumer spending, but we’ve yet to see how a fully integrated AI shopping experience — both in person and online — will shape our relationship with retail moving forward.