The Matter Of AI Takeover: Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Human Beings?
Will AI take over the human race, both admirers and critics alike?
The so-called robot/AI uprising has been a popular plot point for much dystopian fiction. Whether on the big screen or on the small screen, we have all witnessed the plot unfold as the AI-driven robotic overlords slowly, surely and ruthlessly take over the human race. However, in the movies, the human race always wins. We are not yet sure about the outcome of the AI takeover if it happens in real life!
The topic of the AI revolution is pretty debatable. While some have nothing but amazing things to say on the AI revolution, there are many AI experts who have openly spoken out about the kind of negative effect AI can have on the society and requested the researchers to look into the societal effects of Artificial Intelligence.
The omniscient, omnipresent and almost omnipotent power of AI has been put to question time and time again. The future possibilities of this technology can easily be compared to the myth of Pandora’s Box. However, we know what pandora’s box contained, the future of AI, on the other hand, remains quite foggy, which justifies the question that we are faced with again and again, and that is- will AI replace us human beings?
AI Takeover: The Beginning Of The End
Today the AI technology is being used to perform tasks that range from trivial to monumental. Whether it’s enhancing mobile photography with AI cameras or financial asset management, AI has some truly amazing applications in various fields of human life.
But as the applications of AI increases, more and more people are starting to wonder if it is going to erase the importance of human skills and experiences in different tasks. What happens to the skills and experiences of a veteran photographer when all the person holding an enhanced AI camera needs to do is to point the camera and click? What happens to the skills and intuitions of an experienced stockbroker when AI is trained to predict stocks and help people make decisions based on that?
Some will argue that AI only helps the users to reap the benefits of having years of experience without having to struggle for years to gain that experience. But what happens to the fundamental human values when that experience gaining process is removed entirely, and nothing stands between the user and gaining the optimal results?
If you keep all these questions in mind, then the entire “AI will replace human beings” premise does not seem that ridiculous. However, to confirm, or reject that thought, we really have to get to the bottom of the visibly positive and negative effects of AI on society.
AI Automation: Different Sides Of The Same Coin
Everything has its positive and negative effects, that much is evident. Artificial Intelligence is not an exception. The effects of AI automation ranges from extremely good to severely bad. And these effects need to be observed and analyzed closely before making any assumptions about the long term effect of AI in society.
The Positive Side Of The Coin
There are many facets of the positive sides of AI- from speeding up mundane tasks to enhancing the inner workings of bigger industries. The analytical and predictive power of AI has proven to be a valuable asset for many industries. Whether it is predicting the weather or stock market, the accuracy of AI technology’s predictive power is affecting many industries in a positive manner. Not only data analysis and making predictions based on that, but AI is also being used for more dangerous tasks such as space explorations, sea exploration and many more.
The next positive is definitely enhancing the diagnostic and monitoring procedures in the medical industry. With wearable integration, doctors today are better equipped to diagnose a patient and monitor their situation, which leads to better and accurate treatment. The AI effect not only enhances the medical procedures, but it is also reducing the cost of medical treatment across the world drastically.
Thanks to the increase in smart home automation development, AI has also entered our homes and turned it into a smarter household. The AI-based smart home systems, often called the “Phantom Load” or “Vampire energy” is working wonders when it comes to reducing power consumption and controlling the carbon footprints of a household. The AI-based facial recognition systems are also helping the authorities to deal with criminals in an advanced manner.
There are many, many other positive uses of Artificial Intelligence. But in short, we can definitely say that the positive sides of AI do not only span across different industries but also affects the individual lives of everyone attached to those industries.
The Negative Side Of The Coin
Since there’s a positive side, there is bound to be a negative side of AI as well. Starting from AI bias to social media manipulation, AI is affecting society in ways that were previously unimaginable.
The introduction of AI automation has brought about a serious shift in the modern human lifestyle. The tasks that once required manual labor, can be done without having to live a finger today. This means that users today have more free time and they are looking for new experiences to fill that void. However, this search for new experiences is easier for some people than others, which has some serious social and psychological impact on society.
One of the most glaring examples of the negative effects of AI would be the incident involving a racist medical AI system putting millions of lives in danger. The racial bias of human society entered the AI through data sets used to train that AI system. This led to millions of black people suffering from their illness due to not receiving good enough treatment.
Besides these, there are far more sinister impacts, such as social media manipulation, that is changing our point of view, the lack of privacy and security as is evident from China’s social credit system, etc. The main problem with all these negative effects of AI is that we don’t even think about these effects until they are right in front of us. The negative effects of AI seem superficial when really it is working on a deeper level, changing the fabric of society as we know it.
Can AI Penetrate All Industries And Fields?
Until now we have this understanding that AI can be used in a wide range of industries. But can it be used in all of them?
Even though AI IS disrupting multiple fields of studies and works, there are many other areas where AI is not exactly that effective. Be it the Human Resource manager of an organization, PR manager or an artist, there are fields that require a greater amount of human sympathy, experience, and skills.
Despite all its possibilities, Artificial Intelligence is still believed to be at its very first stage of development. All that we are seeing today is just a precursor to a much smarter and intelligent version that is yet to come. And that’s why we can rest assured, as today’s AI still has not achieved the kind of skills needed to accomplish a lot of jobs.
Jobs such as writing and editing, graphic designing, teaching are yet to be automated, all because these jobs need the human touch. Sure with AI-based systems, these jobs can be made easy. But AI can not completely take over these tasks, not yet. Academic fields too are exempt from the AI automation trends. Tasks such as grading papers can be assigned to the AI system, but when it comes to teaching or researching, the field still requires human influence.
Where Do They Differ- AI Vs Humans
If we are to finally answer the question of whether human beings are to be replaced by AI systems, we would need to understand that there are fundamental differences between the human psyche and an Artificial Intelligence system.
While both work with cognitive functions such as problem-solving, memorizing, planning, reasoning, and perception gathering, a human mind is far more capable of performing these simple tasks. The human brain is able to integrate their emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and human experience into these tasks and give it a flare that is unique to every individual. The AI system, on the other hand, is still not developed enough to learn on its own. It still needs to be trained using data sets by human beings so that they can perform different tasks.
At the end of the day, AI is an invention of the human mind. The complete automation of various tasks today is possible because of Human imagination. Even though the question persists whether we are going to be replaced by AI or not, we can rest assured that for the time being, the AI system is not at all close to achieving the kind of technical maturity to take over the human race.
Conclusion
There might not be any conclusive answer to the question of AI replacing human beings in various industries. What we only have are predictions and observations. And here are the top three observations that we can consider when wondering about the AI takeover-
- Human beings have created AI, and even though greater attempts are being made to replicate human intelligence through AI systems, we still have a long way to go in order to create an intelligent system that can overpower us.
- AI will replace human beings in some jobs and industries and that much is inevitable. Many jobs that require manual labor will be automated in the future. This is, however, not the first step of AI domination. Something similar happened when computers became mainstream, but we are not yet its slaves. (despite our obsession with computers and smartphones)
- With enough regulation and limitation, we can be prepared if an AI takeover ever comes into play. Even now there needs to be proper regulatory laws in the AI industry, that include laws about how AI is trained, used and how it affects the users.
The rapid expansion of AI technology needs constant regulation and observation before the negative effects of it become too much. With proper laws guarding the users, AI takeover will only be limited to the entertaining plots of dystopian movies and fictional worlds.
