AI and society
AI doesn't only change your homework or your job. It raises bigger questions. Is it fair? What happens to work? How much energy does it use? Who owns what it learned from? And what are the rules? Like the arrival of the car. Learn the big questions, and what we know so far.
First, what do you think?
Is an AI system automatically fair, because a computer has no opinions? Have a guess.
What does AI change in society?
The whole story in three sentences. AI is spreading through work, school and daily life. That raises big questions about fairness, jobs, energy and copyright. Governments are making rules, and researchers don't agree on everything.
Think of the arrival of the car. It changed how people worked and lived. It needed fuel. And it needed traffic rules, because a fast machine on the road affects everyone.
- Fairness. Commercial face systems often got the gender of darker-skinned women wrong. Up to 34.7% of the time. For lighter-skinned men, it was at most 0.8%.
- Work. The ILO says this about one in four workers. Generative AI touches part of their job. Office jobs are the most exposed.
- Energy. Data centres used about 1.5% of the world's electricity in 2024. The IEA expects that to more than double by 2030. AI is the main driver.
- Copyright. In the EU, makers of large AI models need a copyright policy. They must also document their models.
- Rules. The EU AI Act sorts AI into four risk levels. Some uses are banned, like giving people a social score.
What AI means for jobs is not settled.
- Jobs mostly change. The ILO thinks most jobs will change rather than disappear. AI takes over tasks, not whole jobs.
- Some lose out. The IMF says almost 40% of jobs are exposed to AI. About half may benefit, but for the other half demand may drop. In most scenarios, inequality grows.
What the predictor does
The predictor learns from data, and passes on what's in it. That's the rule.
If the training data has more of one group, it predicts better for that group. Google writes that models share the biases in their data. That's how the face systems ended up less accurate for some people.
Training also takes a lot of computing power. That's where the energy goes. And the training text was written by people, which raises the copyright question.
And the predictor doesn't decide what's fair. People do. That's why there are rules.
AI is like the car: useful, but it needs fuel and traffic rules. The predictor passes on what's in its data, so people stay responsible.
Try it yourself
Eight facts about AI and society. Which big question do they belong to?
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In practice
Three people meet AI in society.
Case 1The career choice
Amir (17) wants to work in an office. A friend says AI will take all office jobs.
Panic, or ignore it.
Office jobs are the most exposed, but experts disagree about the effect. The ILO expects most jobs to change rather than disappear.
Keep his plan. Learn to work with AI, and keep building his own skills.
He's ready for a job that changes, without panic.
Case 2The job applications
Sofie (34) works in HR. Her company wants to use AI to sort job applications.
Trust that a computer is neutral.
Models share the biases in their data. Face systems were far less accurate for some groups.
Ask how the system was tested for different groups. Make sure a person makes the final choice.
Applicants are judged on their skills, not on patterns in old data.
Case 3The customer service chat
Henk (66) chats with customer service. The answers are very fast. He wonders if it's a person.
Guess, and feel unsure.
Guessing is hard. Chatbots sound like people.
Look for a notice, or ask. Under the EU AI Act, people must be told when they talk to a chatbot.
He knows his rights, and knows whom he's talking to.
By situation
Talk about it in class. Is AI fair? Who should make the rules? There's no single right answer about jobs, but there are facts.
Does AI judge people at your work, like applicants or customers? Ask how it was tested, and who makes the final choice.
Talk about it at the dinner table. What do you use AI for? What do you think is fair? Which rules matter to you?
Myths and mistakes
| Claim | True? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A computer is always fair | No | Models share the biases in their data. |
| AI will take all jobs | Experts disagree | The ILO expects most jobs to change. The IMF warns that some will lose out. |
| AI uses hardly any energy | No | Data centres use about 1.5% of the world's electricity, and that's growing. |
| There are no rules for AI | No | The EU AI Act sorts AI by risk and bans some uses. |
Related topics
Read first
- AI at school and workthe rules where you learn and work.
Next
- Choosing a toolthe compass, to put it all into practice.
Related
- Training and the knowledge cutoffwhere the predictor's data comes from.
Sources
- researchBuolamwini en Gebru (2018). Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification.Commercial face systems got the gender of darker-skinned women wrong up to 34.7% of the time, and of lighter-skinned men at most 0.8%.
- explainerGoogle for Developers. LLMs: Fine-tuning, distillation, and prompt engineering.A base model is a platform, not a finished product; fine-tuning on examples for one task improves it. A prompt changes the output, not the model. Models share the biases in their data and cost a lot of computing power.
- researchGmyrek e.a. (ILO) (2025). Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure.One in four workers worldwide has a job with some exposure to generative AI. Office jobs are most exposed. Most likely, jobs change rather than disappear.
- organisationKristalina Georgieva (IMF). AI Will Transform the Global Economy. Let's Make Sure It Benefits Humanity..Almost 40% of jobs worldwide are exposed to AI, about 60% in rich countries. Roughly half may benefit; for the other half demand may drop. In most scenarios AI makes inequality worse.
- organisationInternational Energy Agency. Energy and AI: Executive summary.Data centres used about 1.5% of the world's electricity in 2024. That is set to more than double by 2030, with AI as the main driver.
- governmentEuropean Commission. The General-Purpose AI Code of Practice.Makers of large AI models must have a policy to follow EU copyright law and must document their models.
- governmentEuropean Commission. AI Act.The EU AI Act sorts AI into four risk levels. Some uses are banned, like social scoring. People must be told when they talk to a chatbot, and deepfakes must be labelled. AI literacy rules apply from 2 February 2025.
Test
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About the tools in this course. Every tool is described in the same way, in alphabetical order, without a recommendation. Names, prices and features change often: the maker's own site is always right. This site was built with the help of Claude, one of the tools described here.