The human inclination, to tame the physical world, has given us tools to cater experience. Often, as a solution to an existing problem. The inventors of yesterday, today and tomorrow—had, have and will look for inspiration to create blueprints and construct their ideas. Sometimes, the idea may come from a less pragmatic source – the imagination. The ideas of science fiction fall under this imaginary realm. For example, submarines and moon landing were predicted by Jules Vernes. Issac Asimov predicted about gadgets, video calls, robots and automation. These inventions have greatly changed the world that we live in.
In the last century, mankind has made huge strides in technology. Today, AI is starting to become all pervasive. Look around, Robocop is no longer a science fiction movie! Now some of you may/will slide towards the likes of Skynet, H.A.L and Ex Machina. Well, these movies have illustrated humanity’s interaction with technology and how we would potentially react to artificial intelligence. Hollywood has exploited the deep human fascination—an existential fear of the unknown with great story telling. And, you are sold to the idea of computers going rogue.
But it’s not just the movies!
“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” Stephen Hawking
“I think you can build things and the world gets better. But with AI especially, I am really optimistic.” Mark Zuckerberg
So, grab popcorn, while we unfold some popular myths across AI.
ROBOTS WILL TAKE OVER OUR JOBS
The fear that humanoids and bots will entirely replace services at banks, retail stores, and hospitals is ill-founded. Timely reminders to pay bills, order groceries, or take medications improve the quality of a service. This will augment, rather than replace, the personalized services offered by relationship managers and healthcare professionals. So far in history, each and every technology revolution has created more jobs than it destroyed. Gartner predicts: “In 2020, AI becomes a positive net job motivator, creating 2.3 million jobs while only eliminating 1.8 million jobs.”
THE SKYNET CONSPIRACY
Seriously! This is where people lose faith in John Connors.
AI will only help organizations make sense of big data by executing complex analysis and computation at a speed that is impossible for humans, thereby generating faster insights. A suitable example of the power of AI and Big Data is the stock market where AI is used to conduct quick trading within nanoseconds. Further cloud based technologies can accelerate progress by enabling robots to learn tasks and share this knowledge with other robots, thereby eliminating the need to program each robot individually. The benefits of AI are abundant, especially if people are helped and encouraged to learn the new skills they will need to work alongside intelligent systems.
AI LEARNS FROM ITSELF
Nah, it’s not an alien that adapts our cyberspace with an ulterior motive. AI can be defined as computers or robotic systems capable of processing information the same way human beings learn, make decisions and solve issues. These systems have several cognitive capabilities such as: experience-based learning, learning-based reasoning, image recognition, complex problem resolution, and Language comprehension & perspective development. When applied in enterprises, these capabilities can bring about a revolutionary transformation, making them smarter, more intelligent, & more productive.
AI HAS HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS
AI harnesses the cumulative power of machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing (NLP), speech/ image/facial recognition, robotic process automation (RPA), and analytics to mimic human intelligence. Progressive enhancements in the cognitive capabilities of underlying interdependent technologies is making AI smarter and more efficient. The dynamic interplay of recommendation systems, predictive learning algorithms, and intelligent data mining facilitates the investigation of business issues and accurate problem-solving.
AI WILL SURPASS HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
In Infosys’ executive survey, 85% respondents reported an increase in productivity with the use of AI, and 84% reported work simplification. Further, enterprises currently using or planning to use AI technology anticipate an average 39% improvement to organizational revenue by 20203. AI technologies empower enterprises to execute tasks and resolve issues while reducing the repetitive work human agents perform. Automation and AI tools streamline enterprise systems and make processes more efficient and accurate.
Every revolutionary technology has its fair share of naysayers. Do you remember before the internet happened?!