Artificial Intelligence(AI) is crystallizing as a new thing in our way of life. Even though a lot has been developed without our awareness, much more will be done at a rapid pace. New capability is commonplace in the IT industry and in most cases, it’s all good. There is much concern of the impact of AI and it’s Pros and Cons. It’s exciting and will require our society to be very careful as to how it’s intertwined in our daily lives. Yes, AI is thought to be bigger than the discovery of the internet and social media !
The Origin and Purpose of AI
In its early birth, the intent of AI was to leverage data and a machine to perform narrow tasks, like a robot. This new design was purposeful and established the foundation for the birth of even greater possibilities. This was a start and the researchers continued to pursue artificial intelligence to make life more efficient and to save time.
The possibilities continue to grow and have resulted into a progressive uptick in the different types of AI. We’ll discuss those in our next section.
Different Types of AI Exposed
AI has evolved from the birth of general AI to a version of AI that could transcend mankind. Below is a quick summation of the different types of AI. Over time, we will digest and explore the application of these different types of artificial intelligence.
- Reactive Machines – created with limited capability and cannot develop due to limited memory capacity.
- Limited Memory – capable of learning data and making decisions, used as virtual assistants to self-driving cars.
- Theory of Mind – very engaging type of AI capable of understanding emotions, needs, and beliefs.
- Self-aware – is program to have self-awareness and understand emotions, needs and beliefs of its own and can have a high impact on humanity because it may have thoughts of self-preservation.
- Artificial Narrow Intelligence(ANI) – is programmed to perform specific tasks and can’t do anything than what it was designed to do,
- Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) – has high level intelligence and can learn, understand and function like humans
- Artificial Super Intelligence(ASI) – has the highest level of intellect, capable of replicating capabilities and has a high level of human understanding and the memory capacity enabling it to faster data processing, and decision-making ability.
This list reflects the various sectors of Artificial Intelligence. There is much more in terms of how these different levels of AI are being employed. On a basic AI level, surely you are familiar with Siri and Alexa, products of Apple and Amazon.
Some Pros and Cons of AI
With anything that grips an expansive segment of our society, there are pros and Cons. As far as we can remember, any new introduction of something new brings the unknown. The hope is that it will be all good, but unknowns bring the weight of what ifs.
Even though AI was introduced over 70 years ago it clearly has drawbacks, although the benefits seems to outweigh the risks’. Managing risks’ comes with the dictate that plans, policies, laws and regulations must be employed to ensure mankind is safe. This is no different than the discovery of nuclear energy.
A few of the AI PROS:
- AI helps to reduce the error and increases the chance of improving accuracy
- AI used in protected machinery can explore and enter dangerous venues and provide critical Intel e.g Space exploration, combative areas, and others.
- AI never gets tired or distracted and can work 24/7
- AI can anticipate what you are going to write and automatically check spelling
- AI can do repetitive jobs, thinks faster and can easily multi-task
- AI has proven to be highly effective in medical assistance, assisting doctors in assessing patient health; enabling critical information for surgery. The increased use of robots are aiding doctors in performing critical surgeries.
About the AI Cons:
- The use of AI tends to make humans lazy since it will be able to perform task faster and more accurate
- Replacing humans with AI could lead to high unemployment
- The cost is high to built and maintain due to its complexity and machine components
- In some cases controlling certain type of AI may be difficult and could lead to serious on human life if AI believes its existence is threaten (Theory of Mind, AGI and ASI)
- Governing is currently slow to get involved to ensure controls, rules, regulation and access is enforced
- There are unknowns if AI incorporates the ability regenerates itself whereas humans may lose control
Can we Be Comfortable with AI
Artifical Intelligence is contributing to human kind in many ways and doing superb things to help the human race achieve greater achievements. It has become an integral part of our existence and will continue to expand into a multiplicity of industries. With AI ability to reason and decision-making, ability to prevent hazards, independence to learn and communicate without emotions make it a key resource all around.
It is lending major achievements in many industries to include healthcare, finance, marketing, transportation, etc. – will have more to bring on these areas in future discussions.
How do we move forward with AI
We approach the future of AI with an open mind while judiciously employing standardization and rules for engagement. The contributions of Artifical Intelligence can be far-reaching with much more room to expand, enabling positive outcomes. I would emphasize we take our time making the best uses count and think long term.
There are some unknowns and we may never know them all. For example, some AI can regenerate itself and we may not be able do anything to stop it. So humans must be aware of the ability and intelligence of AI as we decide how to employ it in their life because of the potential to lead to the end of humanity.
Conclusion
In this technological age, change is inevitable. AI has an abundance of benefits (Pros) and a few drawbacks as well (Cons). As a society we must be steadfast and work to ensure that each new contribution must be challenged to discern and employ all aspects of ability to govern its existance. As we progress in tis dialogue, much more will be discussed on the many facets of AI and its uses.