AI and Humans – The way forward

We are in an era of fourth industrial revolution with rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence from personal assistants to autonomous vehicles. Today’s AI is more of narrow AI meant to perform specific tasks, and there is a transition towards strong AI for cognitive tasks that require an ability at par with humans. Final phase would be achieving super intelligence which is expected to surpass human intelligence in all the areas. Does this mean AI will replace humans or can they collaborate for betterment of the society?

In 1950, British mathematician Alan Turing, spoke about machines that think for the first time. The word “Artificial Intelligence” was introduced to the world by John McCarthy, an American scientist in 1956. World chess champion Gary Kasparov was defeated by IBM DeepBlue in 1997, this was one of the greatest achievements of AI. Though researchers and scientists have worked on AI earlier, AI has gained more popularity only in the recent years due to the increase in data volume, high computing power and cheaper storage.

How are we using AI?

We are using AI in one or the other form, be it smart phones or vaccum cleaners. AI is revolutionizing many industries like healthcare, finance, retail, supply chain, transportation, etc.

What’s the future of AI?

AI will bring more smarter machines to make our lives easier and better. Once luxury, Mobile Phones have become important part of our life. And, AI becoming part of our daily lives is not too far.

What about jobs?

AI will definitely make some jobs obsolete. Repetitive, mundane tasks will be taken over and at the same time will bring newer opportunities. Companies should ensure new jobs are created for the employees, and reskill them for innovative jobs. Did the ATM take away banking jobs? Banking has become so easy compared to standing in long queues for getting money.

Is AI a Threat to Humans?

Eminent scientist, Stephen Hawking warned that development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of human race. Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX fears AI could be our biggest threat.
AI in the hands of wrong people and wrong applications of AI can be a threat. It’s similar to questioning whether nuclear energy is threat to humanity? AI driven weapons could be as dangerous as nuclear weapons. There is definitely a need for proper government regulations around AI.

Summary

We can embrace the AI revolution with open mind. Technology replaces less creative jobs and opens up doors for innovation. We can use AI for betterment of our personal, professional lives and society.