How Artificial Intelligence Will Change the Future?
Introduction
When you hear the word ‘artificial intelligence’ the first thing that comes to mind is robotics, but what truly is artificial intelligence and what does the future hold for it? According to Wikipedia, artificial intelligence also referred to as machine intelligence, is any device or machine that mimics cognitive functions humans associate with the human mind such as learning and problem solving. Examples of artificial intelligence in our day to day lives include: Siri, Google, drones, advertising and so much more. Every industry is incorporating artificial intelligence into its back bone in one form or the other, changing the way we think and live. The future of artificial intelligence is both fascinating and a constant cause of concern, therefore what will our future look like with the advancement of artificial intelligence? Here are a few case scenarios.
Job Losses
According to Forrester, in a recently published article ‘The Future of Work’, which gives a pragmatic view on the influence of artificial intelligence and automation in our job industry, it predicts that by 2030, job losses will reach a rate of twenty nine percent (equating to roughly 20 million jobs eliminated) with an even lesser job creation percentage of thirteen percent. Not every company or organization will be able to jump upon the artificial intelligence train and will risk being overtaken by companies with a firmer hands-on approach to artificial intelligence. Jobs such as data entry, inventory trackers, proofreaders, receptionists will be replaced by artificial intelligence. Presently we see patterns of jobs becoming obsolete with the emergence of self-driving cars, drone and factory automation.
New Discoveries
Artificial intelligence will lead to more new and important discoveries in the future, through its predictive modelling. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was able to predict new thermoelectric materials when it’s artificial intelligence left unattended, examined old scientific papers. In 2017, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) reported the discovery of an eight-planet solar system by an AI and in 2019, with the help of AI, two new planets were discovered by astronomers at the University of Texas. What this spell for the future of artificial intelligence are new discoveries that will not only lead to scientific breakthrough but in lesser periods of time. Less back breaking work for scientists who do not have to pore through thousands of scientific records especially in cases of emergencies. It can also predict the emergence of any new virus, disease or epidemic and discover a corresponding drug to treat it. Beyond that with well written and researched algorithms, AI can also predict preventive measures to stop any such epidemic from happening.
Healthcare
AI accesses multiple sets of data to reveal patterns in diseases, diagnosis and treatments. This in turn will help the healthcare industry develop AI algorithms that will improve longevity and predict the onset of diseases, improve drug research processes and aid doctors in diagnosis. Drones are already transforming the delivery of medical services by providing medical supplies, search and rescue operations and medical care. This technology will benefit countries with poor medical services greatly. Also, nanotechnology combined with artificial intelligence will create a totally different way in which we treat diseases. By using nanotechnology, AI can identify bad cells, especially in cancer patients, tumor penetration and drug delivery.
Robot Companions
Remember the movie ‘I, Robot’ and the Nickelodeon TV show, ‘I Am Frankie’? With the onset of robotics research that focuses on replicating and learning human behavior, we have robots like Sanbot, Buddy and ASIMO. These robots will shape the robots of the future. They will do much more than work in factories, they could act as care givers or simply home companions. A robot that is capable of running searches the same way as your smartphones can, schedule appointments, respond to questions and run basic human errands. So, imagine a world where a robot companion can carry on intelligent conversations and provide information that you will usually seek out on the internet, prepare meals according to your health needs and perform functions that will smoothen the daily activities of the average human.
Safety Concerns
The Turing test is a method in artificial intelligence that determines if a computer has the ability to think like a human being. This test was developed by Alan Turing in1950. In 2014, a chat bot known as Eugene Goostman made judges think it was human and led to a lot of raised concerns. Does this mean that with prolonged research, robots can insert themselves seamlessly into our environments? Vladimir Putin, former president of Russia stated that “Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia but for all humankind. It comes with enormous opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere becomes the ruler of the world”. These threats that could become a major source of concern range from abuse of power, artificial intelligent warfare or weaponized robotics and robot rights. Also, artificial intelligence meant as a source for saving lives could be used as a biological weapon. Artificial intelligence makes use of data to predicts trends, data collected from online searches. Deepfake technology, another fast-rising concern enables a person in a media source such as videos or pictures to be replaced by someone else’s image. This has made its way into app technology such as the Zao, a Chinese deepfake app, politics in which powerful politicians are misrepresented in videos and use of peoples’ faces in pornographic media. In the wrong hands, is anyone really safe?
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is going to change the way we view the world both positively and negatively. Anyone who hold the power of AI in his or her hands has to be cautious in its usage. Privacy laws and security parameters should be reviewed to protect everyone from vulnerability. Beyond that the positives currently outweigh the negatives, therefore if researches continue to be done with transparency and accountability, the balance would not tip in favor of the negative.
