Figure 1 AI is already proving to be beneficial
Earlier this year some of the leaders in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry made headlines the world over when they proclaimed that it posed a risk of extinction for the human race. Obviously, this was a concerning piece of news. If the people who have been working in this sector all their lives are this worried, then maybe the rest of us should start hoarding canned food and preparing for the apocalypse.
For anyone trying to put forward AI as a benefit for humankind, this kind of reporting was, at best, unhelpful. There have already been plenty of scare stories about how AI will take over and rule humans in a dystopian future, so confirmation from people on the inside was a blow.
But what wasn’t reported quite as much was the fact that artificial intelligence is already helping millions of people, across thousands of industries. From speeding up medical diagnoses to the best sportsbooks in Vegas providing a more accurate service for its customers, AI is already proving to be a positive. So, forget the negative stories for a moment and take a moment to reconsider – and how to use AI in your own business area of websites.
A Tool Designed by Humans
The main reason why AI is not the killer robot of the future it is sometimes made out to be, is that it is designed by humans. It is not a sentient being, it is a tool designed by us. That means that it will only ever do what humans have designed it to do. The destruction of the human race is not very high on our list of to-dos.
It should probably be noted that we are all aware of just how badly behaved some humans can be – and how visions of the future are not entirely shared by the population of one country, let alone the world. But we can surely have enough faith in the thought that we would not design a tool to wipe us out.
In-Built Safety
Another reason why we can have, at the very least, mixed feelings and an open mind about artificial intelligence, is that there are in-built safety features that should stop anything as nefarious as wiping out humans at the first sign of trouble. These programs will stop by design if something is noticed to be going wrong.
Also, we should probably get away from the idea of scientists and artificial intelligence experts being the equivalent of a sci-fi horror villain. Many in the industry have the sole task of checking AI development and researching into how to make it even safer.
Early Stages
We should probably dial down the anguish over the state of the world because of AI too. It is true, there are plenty of things that we should absolutely be worried about at the present time. But the stage of artificial intelligence we are currently at should not really be of that much concern.
Artificial intelligence is nowhere near the level of taking over humans by force – it is questionable whether AI even has the intelligence of humans yet. It can perform tasks in a very impressive way and write songs and essays without any stress, but it is still in the early stages of its development.
Not One Thing
We should stop thinking about artificial intelligence as one thing. We get that it is easier to comprehend if we revert back to that killer robot motif we mentioned earlier, but there are many different strands of AI and they all work in slightly different ways. It is not an overreaching entity that is gaining intelligence in one way.
When we start to think of AI as a multi-stranded thing, we can then realize that it is working in many different ways. If we go back to the idea of AI being designed by humans, we can also see that each of these different strands comes with its own limitations. In fact, these limitations can even be by design.
Eliminate Boredom
So, now that we have covered why artificial intelligence may not be the existential threat we have been told about, we can think about all the good things that can come out of using it now and in the future. We can start to eliminate the more boring tasks that we face every day and hand them over to AI.
By breaking down countless tasks, AI can hand us back some precious time. There are not many people who complain that they have just too many hours in the day to do nothing. By introducing AI programs to the more boring tasks, we are freed up to perform far more interesting ones.
Figure 2 Medicine is using AI to help care for the patients
AI for Good
We have already touched upon how using AI can do a lot of good for us. Being able to spend more creative time on web projects is a huge positive when the more mundane tasks of the job are taken care of. It can even take away some of the need for technical knowledge to allow more people to create.
With more businesses moving online – and even into the metaverse – the ability to use AI to streamline tasks and speed up transactions should be considered as a move in the right direction.
New Opportunities and Caution
There is obviously the need for caution, rather than concern, with the way that AI is developing. There are industries that will be hit and professions that will be profoundly changed. But the challenge can then be to retrain and create new jobs related to AI, rather than cling onto outdated models.
Regulation of artificial intelligence is obviously required too. There is a huge potential if AI development is responsible. Some critics may say that that is a big “if”. But the opportunities that the development could bring could be limitless.