Power Of Artificial Intelligence-Boon or Bane?

By now, I am sure, you are already aware of Artificial Intelligence, or AI as it is commonly abbreviated. You have heard about Chat GPT and have boasted to everyone about how easy it has made your life. Heck, for a lot of people, AI has reduced workloads and simplified a lot of processes. On the other hand, there are people who are afraid this technology will ultimately lead to our doom and end human civilization as we know it.

And if you are one of those people who have been living under a rock and have no idea what I am talking about, I would suggest you read further as chances are this article might give you some insight into the world of artificial intelligence.

I will try my best to analyze, understand, and give my humble opinion on this hotly contested topic. Instead of following an individualistic approach to this matter, I would like to see how this technology and its future enhancement will affect humanity as a whole. This is important as the future of human civilization is dependent on communal growth as one species a la Wakanda. I may sound like a hippie who is high on crack but I sincerely believe that the growth of all nations and communities together is the only way we can ensure that our species thrive.

So what exactly do you mean by Artificial Intelligence? Artificial Intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. What this means is that AI aims to do things "on its own" (through coding and machine learning) by effectively channeling human imagination.

PROS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

* The insane depth of AI

When you think of AI, is it an image of robots walking around the Earth with guns in their hand? If yes, you need to widen your imagination. Yes, AI does include robots. However, they can be used in different industries like Medicine, Defence, Warehousing, Supply Chain, Dentistry, Manufacturing, Aviation, Cybersecurity, and the list goes on. AI has now made its impact felt in all the aforementioned industries.

* Power of AI in Social Media

Whether you like it or not, social media controls our lives to a great extent. From teenagers trying the latest " challenge" in TikTok to millennials keeping track of their friends' life updates, to oldies using Whatsapp University and YouTube videos for the latest updates in medicinal breakthroughs, social media is omnipresent. And AI is making the experience more personal, more immersive, and more appealing to so many people around the world.

Wonder why you get those posts on people sweating it out in the gym and showing their enviable physiques just after you search in Google for "Gyms near me"? Social media companies are using AI to increase personalization and deliver relevant content based on your tastes and individual search history. Did you know that with just a few pictures, AI systems can give you a digital makeover? For example, it can reimagine how you would look in your childhood or your old age, or if you had been born in the 1300's. I mean wow! How fun is that?

* Power of AI in Business

AI has started to show its profound impact in the world of business where margins and profitability are the name of the game. How AI is integrated easily in the business world is through machine learning and more specifically, in business processes. In order to reach the full potential of a business, it needs to continuously update existing processes by identifying gaps and finding better ways of doing a task.

The final aim is to reduce wastage and make human hours more productive so that they can be better utilized towards other aspects of the business like customer centricity, and business generation. Finetuned AI does just that. According to a survey by McKinsey, it is estimated that approximately $ 13 trillion could be added to the global GDP by AI analytics by the year 2030. This goes on to prove that AI holds a lot of promise for the global economy and in the way organizations run their businesses.

* Power of AI in Medicine

A high number of patients during the peak COVID-19 years prompted pharmaceutical companies and healthcare establishments to invest more in AI in order to better understand the disease, find suitable cures, and curtail its spread. AI-supported technologies like algorithms designed to help monitor and screen patients and machine learning models that continuously monitor the vital signs of patients receiving critical care are being used by organizations and medical professionals. I

In order for AI to be effective in diagnostics, it needs to be fed with a lot of data sets and computational power. It has been observed that AI has been particularly effective in imaging-based algorithms by reading CT scans and X-ray reports. AI has been instrumental in successfully detecting cancerous cells which a physician will have to check for more closely in order to identify. Through faster diagnostic power and surgeries assisted by robots, AI is making its foray into the field of healthcare and holds a lot of promise for quality and accurate treatment in the future.

*Power of AI in Agriculture

Why do we work? I mean all of us have our own motivations for the same. But I would like to believe that at the root of our motivations, is the need to have a roof over our head and to have food in our stomach. This holds true for everyone unless you are an alien who feeds on sunshine. With the burgeoning population and global issues like climate change, labor, and land shortage, food scarcity is slowly becoming a reality across the world.

In order to combat this, we need to innovate and use our limited set of resources in the best way possible. Enter AI. By combining various technologies like sensors, drones, and satellites that continuously monitor variables like soil moisture, temperature, crop health, and nutrient levels, we can create a smart farming ecosystem. Robotic systems with the right software and arms can identify water requirements based on soil moisture levels and provide the right amounts of water through automated irrigation systems. They can also be used to harvest crops efficiently. AI-based systems can identify weeds and pests and take appropriate action to reduce the usage of chemicals. With AI, individual farmers and global agribusinesses no longer miss opportunities for a better and healthier crop yield.

CONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

* Unemployment

This seems to be the biggest hurdle in the advancement of AI; people are worried that AI will take over their jobs and leave them redundant. While it is not entirely untrue, we need to understand that AI is opening a plethora of opportunities across many sectors. If I may ask, how many years have Customer Service professionals been around? Did we not need them in the 1960s? We did but we didn't have the option. What I am trying to get at is that for any advancement, there needs to be change. And I mean "Change" not "Replacement". Computers can never replace humans. We all need that human touch in our daily lives and also when dealing with corporations. The human part will always be there.

* High Costs

It is not easy to build a machine or algorithm that can mimic human behavior or intelligence. Creating an AI system takes a lot of research and development, with a lot of data sets and analysis which in turn requires plenty of time and can be very expensive. Also, AI models need to be always updated with the latest hardware and software which makes it a costly affair.

* Lazy Humans

Ok, this may sound banal, but it requires attention. Take this quote by Bill Gates for instance; “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” Now imagine if this is applied on a mass scale. With everyone taking to technology for their problems and AI making lives easier in all facets of the human experience, people will undeniably become super lazy. They will lack motivation and might lose the will to do anything meaningful and actually use their brains. This might sound far-fetched but there is a possibility for it to happen.

*Privacy and Security

This is a big one. As AI is relatively new with its entire scope not mapped out, the rules governing this technology are not set per se. This has led to a lot of ambiguity in the legal accountability of companies creating it. Since AI uses vast amounts of data both personal and professional, the chances of the same being accessed by undesirable groups and being used for cyberbullying, identity theft, and hacking are high. Also, the use of facial recognition technologies gives law enforcement access to your every movement which might not be appreciated by everyone as it eliminates the privacy of the individual. All this mandates stricter legislature by international governments which can define and address cases of privacy violations against citizens by unscrupulous organizations.

CONCLUSION

Having detailed the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence, I would like to bring to your attention that there is one dimension where AI can never overpower human intelligence. And that is innovation. At the end of the day, computers can decipher and plan anything only based on human coding. However, the skill set of discovering something new, through experimentation and trial and error methods, is something that can only be done by humans. What this means is that AI will free us from doing repetitive and boring tasks which might be difficult for us humans but easy for computers effectively freeing us to do things that can be more rewarding like strategy and innovation.

As ironic as it may seem, I believe that Artificial Intelligence will make us more human and less robotic. Is that not something to strive for?

You decide.