Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Blessing or Bane? I Blog By Siddharth, 15, Mumbai

Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Blessing or Bane?

Introduction

In today’s age, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is regarded as the future and is revolutionising the way industries function. In the corporate world, GenAI (generative AI) is a common enough term in many fields from Gene therapy to Human Resources, and in households, ChatGPT is all the rage, aiding day to day life in almost every facet. 

 

‘A branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent human behaviour by a computer’ is the textbook definition of AI, and while replicating the cognitive functions of the human brain might seem interesting, is it a boon or a curse for humans? This article’s goal is to answer that question, as well as explain some of the other nuances of AI.

The birth of AI

The introduction of AI dates to the 1950s, when Alan Turing developed a test, named the ‘Turing test’ after him that measured the level of intelligence possessed by a computer in comparison to a human being. If the intelligence levels of the two entities matched, the machine was proven to be artificially intelligent. In 1951, Christopher Strachey wrote a program to play checkers which was the earliest simulation of human behaviour by a computer. A year later, a similar program was written by Arthur Samuel which also played checkers and was the first introduction of AI in the United States of America. 

 

In 1956, the term AI was officially coined by John McCarthy, and the buzz around AI was growing. By the mid 60s, it had spread worldwide, with numerous programs from speech recognition to algorithms that played chess at a professional level, capturing the interests of everyone and leaving people to ponder over what was to come next. 

Subsequently, the first full scale, humanoid, artificially intelligent robot was built in Japan and called the WABOT-1. After the WABOT, Artificial Intelligence experienced a decrease in popularity due to reduced funding and slow progress and it was the introduction of expert systems in the 70s that fuelled AI once more. Expert systems are a form of AI that use knowledge given to them in the form of a repository of facts, to solve problems using inference and logic. Along with expert systems, developments in machine learning allowed programs to learn from past experiences and act accordingly, further refining AI and bringing AI closer to mimicking a human. AI steadily progressed onwards with consistent increases in training data, bringing about the advent of a few popular devices such as Roomba, Siri, and gaming consoles such as Xbox.

While we talk of developments in AI, a device called the perceptron deserves special mention. Built in the late 1950s by Frank Rosenblatt, the perceptron was essentially an artificial neuron that was trained to distinguish between objects. It was the first introduction to a neural network system behind which many of today’s algorithms run. 

 

The types and functions of AI 

To understand the uses of AI today, one must delve deeper into the types of AI. Artificial intelligence can be divided into two distinct categories under which subcategories exist. The first type is based on the capability of the AI, whereas the second type is based on the functionality of AI.

 

Types of AI

Narrow AI is used to describe a machine that has superior performance in comparison to a human while performing a specific task only. 

General AI is used to describe a machine that has similar performance in comparison to a human while performing a specific task.

Strong AI is used to describe a machine that has superior performance in comparison to a human in a variety of tasks.

When talking about functionality, all artificial intelligence is broadly distinguished into four categories, where reactive machines are the most basic. 

– Reactive machines have no memory and are used to perform a single task. Everyday examples of reactive machines include spam filters, and recommendation pop-ups. Reactive systems can be classified into narrow and general AI, but not strong AI as they only perform specific tasks. 

– Limited memory is a branch of AI in which the AI will have a small amount of memory which will store data. The algorithm uses this repository of past data to generate trends and make predictions. The amount of data stored will be limited and overwritten by newer data once the memory is full, hence the name ‘limited memory’. The world is full of limited memory AI in the form of driverless cars, virtual voice assistants etc. Generative AI algorithms are almost always forms of limited memory AI. 

– Theory of mind is a branch of AI that understands the cognitive processes of the human brain. AI algorithms interpret the psychology of various individuals and based on these results, can predict intentions and needs. This branch of AI is still very new; however it has exciting prospects in the fields of customer service, sales, human resources, hospitality and many more. 

– Finally, self-awareness is the final frontier of artificial intelligence. This involves AI being conscious of its existence and being subjective. In short it involves AI mimicking a human completely. Unfortunately, self-awareness is still quite a distance away for AI. Many scientists say that it is impossible to build such an AI, however there is research underway to understand the conscience of a human. If there is a breakthrough, it could allow the creation of AI that displays such properties. 

 

Advantages of AI

As mentioned earlier, AI is used almost everywhere. Some of the key advantages of AI include:

– Accuracy:

AI is almost always more accurate than humans due to the fact that it is unbiased, and it is not prone to fatigue or emotional volatility. Most importantly, it focusses only on set task/tasks assigned to it without deviating. 

– Ability to work 24/7: 

AI can work around the clock without the need for any breaks. This boosts performance for companies. These days AI is a must for scaling companies, and many consulting firms are bringing in AI experts to cater to multinationals and startups alike.

– Ability to work in hazardous conditions:

AI can perform work that may be dangerous for humans such as in the mining industry where AI algorithms can direct excavations from controlling the machinery to pinpointing exact locations abundant with minerals and even differentiating between ores. 

– Lower long run costs: (Firms utilizing artificial intelligence on a large scale can leverage technical economies of scale)

Sure, at the start AI systems may seem to be expensive, however in the long run they drastically boost revenue by their increased efficiency and productivity.

– Creativity:

AI is capable of generating a multitude of ideas in a matter of seconds. It can analyse data fed to it, creating trends and insights. 

 

Disadvantages of AI

Having just touched the tip of the iceberg regarding the advantages of AI, one can conclude that it is the Industrial Revolution 2.0. However, if we were to cover its vast array of benefits and see beyond the veil, we manage see the disadvantages of AI which in some cases can be dealbreakers. 

– While AI is streamlining automation of tasks, incorrect design and usage can lead to serious consequences. USA based airplane manufacturer Boeing had to deal with the two 737 Max crashes where a faulty AI algorithm caused the plane to nosedive into the ground, after it misinterpreted the plane’s pitch. 

– Unemployment:  AI is quickly taking over repetitive tasks in companies, displacing many employees. This could result in widespread unemployment if AI takes over more jobs than it creates. 

– Limited by data:  AI is only as good as the data that is fed to it. There is a possibility that AI may be used for pursuits resulting in negative consequences and make biased decisions creating ethical issues.

 

Applications of AI

 

As mentioned in the introduction, AI is used in multiple fields. Below are some examples of the industries that utilize AI tools.

 

– Finance – The finance industry uses AI in multiple functions such as risk management and predicting markets. AI is used to analyse data ranging from news articles to company archives and forecast the behaviour of financial instruments, assess credit risk, optimize investment portfolios, and help perform multiple processes critical for the smooth running of a firm into financial services.

– Healthcare – Generative AI is used to find possible medicines for a target disease, and machines with AI functionalities are used to streamline the production of the drugs. AI is also used in administration of hospitals and in improving processes to assisting doctors with analysis of X-rays, CT Scans etc. 

– Human resources – AI is used in recruitment to analyse resumes and choose the resume closest to the requirements of the company. It is used in helping new employees settle into the job and to answer any questions they might have. Analysing employee performance and morale, and planning workforce needs using historic data and trends are some of the other HR functions that utilize AI.

– Education – These days AI is used to make videos for students and even provide tailor-made lessons for individuals depending on their skill sets. It is used in assisting teachers in grading processes and giving feedback by analysing student’s performance. Furthermore, AI is being used for career guidance and is replacing counsellors in today’s era. However, students are also misusing AI to complete their homework assignments which raises the question as to how schools can incorporate the benefits of AI into the learning process while ensuring that there is no malpractice. 

– Transportation – AI is used vastly in supply chain and logistics businesses by finding the fastest and most economical methods of transportation, as well as in managing inventory and maintaining quality. Automation of vehicles using AI is rapidly reducing accidents and traffic on roads while simultaneously reducing transportation costs for firms. 

 

Conclusion

As we have seen earlier, AI is an incredibly powerful tool and invention, so powerful infact that this article could have been written by AI itself and we would be none the wiser! However, there is one question still left unanswered – ‘Will There be an AI versus humans war?’ The answer to this question isn’t as straightforward as it seems. As seen earlier, self-awareness AI, if not impossible to create, is very far away from reaching the world. As long as AI is limited to the data it receives there is no danger in it starting a war. However, this last statement opens up yet another question ‘Can AI be programmed to start a war?’ The answer to this question is most definitely ‘yes’. AI is already being used in the war between Israel and Gaza at the moment to find potential targets that Israel can strike upon. It is only a matter of time before AI is used in war to manage the fighting and killing. So, to answer the question ‘Is AI a blessing or a curse?’ the answer to this, like so many other pressing problems in the world lies in the hands of us humans. 

 

—Bibliography—

 

 Britannica

Red-gate

Teneo.ai

Wikipedia

Javatpoint.com (http://Javatpoint.com)

Google

e cloud

Coursera

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