Understanding Goods and Bads of AI

Introduction

 

We can see AI all around us, in various forms. Inside our homes, Smart home assistants are driven by AI as well as the use of AI in industrial spaces. 

 

Businesses are leveraging AI in a remarkable way. It has already been proved that high-performance computing has enhanced a machine’s ability to perform advanced calculations faster and more accurately as compared to the human mind.

 

Decoding the Benefits of AI 

 

The potential of AI indicates that it is certainly going to proliferate over the coming year and beyond.

 

The applications of AI are impressive, efficient, and cost-effective for businesses which shows that it is highly likely that the amount of AI we interact with daily will increase in all aspects of life. 

 

With continuous research, efforts are being made to deliver an AI that will be much better for everyone.

 

• High Efficiency

 

Every business needs to maintain data processing as accurately and quickly as possible to achieve real-time results. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are proving to be critical to all businesses. 

 

For instance, in the field of medicine,  AI has enabled doctors to spend less time studying thousands of medical reports and diagnosing patients within seconds.

 

• Eradication of human error

 

We know that everyone is prone to errors of judgment, whether it's due to a lapse in concentration or a simple mistake. 

 

However, an artificially intelligent machine built to carry out a specific task usually does not display these idiosyncrasies.

 

As per Source, many businesses deploy automated machine learning in their warehouse, where they control thousands of robots, communicating with them 10 times a second to coordinate the logistics of hundreds of thousands of crates. 

 

• Enhanced technology

 

AI is utilized to power many of our automated services. In the future, these could be smart cities that will work towards improving our environments, or self-driving cars that will leverage AI in road navigation and assessment of obstructions.

 

AI possesses the ability to process large data sets quickly and accurately. This is important for many smart technologies and environments to operate. 

 

Also Read | What is AI Marketing and why is it needed?

 

Decoding the Risks associated With AI

 

As the world has seen before, immensely powerful technology tends to be easily misused. Numerous data scandals, malware, and social media are enough to demonstrate this. 

 

AI is not an exception and we all agree that this also comes with drawbacks of its own. 

 

• Role of AI in Decision-making 

 

Many AI solutions are being utilized by executives who are looking to add more value to their organization. AI applications are as quick and efficient as possible which makes them ideal for use. For instance, IBM's Watson has been used to decide if employees are worthy of a pay rise, a bonus, or a promotion, as explained by this article. 

 

Watson brings in consideration the experience, portfolio and past projects of employees to judge the qualities and skills that individuals might be able to provide to the company. Decision-making software used in this way has led to some concern among experts. 

 

It is highly likely that all of us will agree with what TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said, 

"If left unchecked, the sole use of AI to manage people will lead to work becoming an increasingly lonely and isolating experience, where the joy of human connection will be lost". 

 

• AI leading to job losses

 

Everyone is immediately concerned with the aspect of AI that is replacing human workers. This is widely regarded as the number one downside to AI. This leads to widespread lay-offs as humans struggle to outperform machines. 

 

Amid the fears, there is a ray of hope when Gartner predicts that AI will create more jobs than it takes. In research published in 2017, it said to expect AI to create 2.3 million jobs by 2020, and eliminate a further 1.8 million. 

 

• Concern for Security 

 

Despite the ability of AI to virtually remove human error from processes, errors can still exist in the code, along with bias and prejudice. 

 

As it is largely AI algorithm-based, the technology can be coded to harm certain demographics and discriminate against people. In case of a lack of security, hackers can take advantage of AI's thirst for knowledge. 

 

A well-known example of this can be Microsoft's chatbot, Tay Tweets, which had to be taken down after only 16 hours, once it started to tweet racist and inflammatory content ideas it repeated from Twitter users, as pointed out by this article.

 

 

How to Use AI Responsibly?

 

Obviously, there are a lot of positives when we talk about AI. Like an emerging technology that has the power to disrupt, individuals and organizations need to monitor its pitfalls as well.

 

However, this does not mean that organizations need to become blinkered to the numerous advantages of augmenting AI. Experts warn against doing just this as this will lead to high chances of losing out on the benefits AI has to offer. 

 

According to Gartner, leading businesses and IT leaders should work towards cutting the AI hype away from reality by carefully considering and weighing up the opportunities and risks. 

 

Gartner has also warned that only focusing on automation, rather than the bigger picture, will obscure the wider benefits.

 

Also Read | Weak AI - Definition, Applications and Limitations

 

 

Ending Note 

 

Owing to rapid development and innovations, we have been able to make AI a reality. This has made many experts consider the possibility of superintelligence in the near future (Source).

 

We all agree that AI has the potential to become more intelligent than any human but no one can be sure about how this will unfold. There are numerous pros and cons associated with different aspects of Artificial Intelligence. 

 

As experts suggest, humans need to take care of the potential benefits and risks and use the positive sides of the invention to create a better world. Indeed, artificial intelligence has massive potential advantages. 

 

Humans must innovate in order to ensure that the robots do not win the race. We may or may not agree with a widely popular opinion that if left unchecked, artificial intelligence might destroy human civilization. The decision of whether artificial intelligence can be labelled as good or bad is not easy as it seems and all the aspects need to be taken into consideration.  

 

As explained by the article, AI will present massive opportunities for all humankind. By using machine learning and deep learning ethically, we can not only solve big problems in manufacturing but also solve the world’s problems. 

 

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