The World of Artificial Intelligence

The World of Artificial Intelligence –The emerging use of Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) with the assis- tance of tools such as ChatGPT, Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, Snapchat AI evidences our heavy reliance on AI. However, while the majority of us are familiar with what AI means, many people are still unaware of the meaning of this term. Therefore, we provide a basic overview on what Artificial Intelligence is and its impact on us so that the ones unfamiliar with its mean- ing and impact are enlightened.

Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) is simply the use of machines to perform certain tasks which would have required human intel- ligence in order to be performed. The idea of making machines perform tasks using human-like logic and information was first explored by the computer scientist Alan Turing from where the Turing Test was invented. The Turing Test is a test to prove that AI can perform human-like tasks and use human-like logic.

AI has been in use since around the 1950s, however, with tech- nological advancements, it has evolved over time to perform complex functions which would have required a lot more time and effort had those been performed by humans.

A few of the many examples of AI’s contribution to societies are listed below:

• AI generated self-checkout services in many convenience stores improve the business’ customer service and create room for the employees to work efficiently
• The introduction of AI generated self-driven cars such as
• The use of AI in the education system such as Google
• AI generated self-baggage claims in many
• The very popular ChatGPT used for businesses, education and so

It is indeed undoubtable that AI has made our lives much easier, however, whether it has changed our lives for the better is arguable. It has saved us from the monotony of doing repetitive tasks, helped us save time by completing tasks faster and with more accuracy, and opened up the doors to use the saved up time and effort elsewhere more efficiently.

The use of AI has been prevalent in sectors such as education, finances, also the legal field in some cases, for medical reasons, in the commercial world, and so on. AI has been in use in business for a long time. It assisted in automating tasks done by humans which includes customer service work, lead generation, fraud detection and quality control. In many areas AI can perform tasks more effi- ciently than humans especially when the task is repetitive, detail-oriented such as analysing large numbers of legal documents to ensure the relevant fields are filled in properly, and that too with more accuracy. AI has also been very useful for disabled people.

On the contrary, with such magical outcomes from using AI lies disadvantages that may lead to a very dark future. Majorly relying on AI for our everyday work including tasks related to professional fields, household, the society and so on, may lead to dangerous outcomes such as an ‘apocalypse’ in the event of malfunction. Moreover, many may misuse the AI by affecting peoples’ private lives thus, increasing cybercrimes.

Apart from these, although AI was first invented and introduced in order to increase efficiency, replacing human labour with AI may make humans incapable in the long run. Furthermore, it is already a threat to human skills like creativity and critical thinking. The composition of literature, poetry, music and computer programmes are not for the AI to perform, however, people are relying on the AI system for such purposes as well. Thereby, the AI system is making us lazier, and wiping off our desire to create new skills, improve existing ones, and to being more innovative. In addition, creative people may lose the motivation to innovate due to the belief that the AI generated result would be much better than human results, hence, their innovations and creations may be unrec- ognised. Additionally, AI taking actions without possessing semantic understanding may lead to major consequences in the wrong situation. Thus, if not used effectively, AI can weaken human dis- cipline, skill and community, as humans are relying more and more on the AI system with time and the increase in technological advancements. Leaving all the innovative tasks to the bots will lead to an end to human innovations such as AI in the future.

Thus, the existing and possible repercussions of the AI system may be alleviated if it is advanced with the aim to complement human intelligence rather than replace it. As AI tools are simultane- ously making us smarter and dumber, stronger and weaker, and more human and less human, regard must be had to the fact that we do not completely rely on such a system the failure or mal- function of which may maroon us, leaving us in the middle of an ocean by stealing the skill to swim.