AI will herald an entirely new era in human history. In this era, computers will become our equals; performing tasks that only humans can currently perform. Artificial intelligence will augment our intelligence and accelerate our evolution as a species. For most people AI is a distant dream, yet as we approach that time, it is important for us to understand the situation, the challenges and the opportunities. We need to focus on the tangible issues, such as privacy, ethics, security, discrimination, jobs and how technology might increase inequality.
What are the risks of AI?
New technologies usually come with risks. But AI has the potential to change society in an unprecedented way. AI could displace millions of jobs, both in the public and private sectors, such as truck drivers, teachers, lawyers, home cleaners, baristas, chauffeurs, doctors, customer service staff, truck drivers and judges, as well as millions of jobs that now are provided by machines.
How might AI affect the world today?
The effects of AI will impact on virtually every aspect of life, from driving taxis to hiring cleaners to inspecting clothing for defective labels to the clinical diagnoses of hospital doctors. It will change the way we make decisions, from fast food to picking stocks. The impact will ripple out through society; from the kids who are dropped off at childcare to the packages of clothes ordered through e-commerce.
But what is AI really?
We generally mean Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a general form of computer science that focuses on automating specific types of learning and decision-making tasks. For example, one of the most popular implementations of AI is computer vision. This field has the aim of designing computer systems that can take in images and recognize objects. Machine learning is a key application of AI that focuses on developing programs which can learn and adapt to new situations or data. Automation has the potential to replace human labour, thus changing the nature of the economy.
Why is it so important that we are well informed about AI?
The impact of AI and automation on our economies is already being felt today, but will accelerate in coming years. The public doesn’t yet understand what is happening; even governments and business leaders are unable to make sensible decisions about how to proceed. This is because businesses and governments don’t know how AI and automation will impact on them; a fundamental problem when working out how to regulate and change policy. Businesses are trying to understand the impact of AI on their own processes, but this is difficult and time consuming and many are still not making sense of it. Without knowledge and understanding, AI systems will be able to outperform people and compete for many of the positions people currently hold. Whilst many people are excited by the possibilities of AI, they are also concerned about AI ‘replacing’ human workers in what are seen as ‘human jobs’. There is concern about losing control of companies, losing rights and freedoms as governments try to regulate AI and dealing with the likely backlash of being replaced by AI. Understanding what is going on is important to support companies and governments to make better decisions when planning for the future.
What should we do now?
People should familiarize themselves with the big data sector and understand how AI will impact their lives. We need to understand the fundamental principles of AI, which includes such topics as natural language processing, machine learning and reinforcement learning. In addition to being well-informed, we should be open to new technology. This is because technology is always being developed and we cannot predict how it will work or what is needed to overcome obstacles, such as ensuring the AI systems are safe.
Can the system become unsafe or ‘become’ harmful to people?
What is clear is that AI will replace people in many jobs, the nature of these jobs will change dramatically. We must prepare people for this change, creating new jobs for people who can adapt to the changing environment. Because the nature of AI is changing,
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