AI is now being employed to accomplish activities ranging from basic machine vision to writing of this article. AI offers some very fantastic applications in numerous aspects of human life, whether it is increasing manufacturing productivity with AI cameras or wealth creation through asset management. However, as AI’s applications grow, more people are beginning to wonder if it would obliterate the value of human talents and knowledge. This article cannot answer that question, as it is mostly generated by an AI. One thing we can conclude is that the takeover of AI will be slow but impactful, and adaption of AI is a matter of business survival.
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence
For decades, the capacity of computers to understand the world has been limited, a result of the limited complexity of the algorithms underlying the AI systems. However, things are changing fast as computers have been getting increasingly better at recognizing patterns. AI can now perform many cognitive tasks that would have been out of reach for human beings. Additionally, AI systems have been able to improve over time, adapting to each other and evolving. In short, they are getting better at doing their jobs. Today, a computer can replicate human speech, help doctors diagnose a patient’s health, even respond to natural disasters and assist firefighters during the process of extinguishing a fire. But what is this doing to people in the industry that develops AI systems?
AI is Changing Jobs and the Economy
In the past, many of the jobs and services available to the common man were owned and controlled by humans. Due to innovation and technological advancement, a lot of these industries started becoming automated. Automation of the financial markets, retail chains, insurance, legal services, education, social media, entertainment industry, and transportation (self-driving cars, drones) can be identified as few of the examples of the above mentioned industries. The implications of AI and robotics on the jobs market is a hot topic in the business world today. Many high-profile firms such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Uber have been working on AI based voice assistants, chatbots, robotic employees and self-driving vehicles.
Skills Needed to Survive in a World of AI
While possible, the consequences are still quite bleak as it’s likely that at least in the foreseeable future, artificial intelligence will make so much human work redundant, that skills like visual perception, creativity, empathy, communication, and other essential human skills and experiences will disappear. It’s likely that these skills, considered essential by the majority of people today will become the result of mundane actions done in front of a screen. This post has been written by University of Washington Professor Yann LeCun and published on Medium.
Conclusion
The world of science fiction movies portrays a world where robot servants and automation are the norm. With increasing use of automation to perform various tasks, people are expecting robots and AI to take over human duties in daily life. And this rise in expectations could result in quite some chaos. To mitigate the risk, we must find ways to develop human skills and skills around AI. Looking at the current trends, and the amount of AI research being done in the world, it is evident that artificial intelligence is the future. But it can only become a part of the future, if we humans learn to master it and learn to master our skills with AI. The fact of the matter is that AI is a tool that can be used to accelerate or reduce certain tasks for most business. In controversy to the overhype of electric vehicles, AI will consolidate industries from semiconductor design/manufacturing to automotive, and businesses that failed to adapt will be acquired, or slowly slowly demise.
MACHINE VISION INTEGRATORS, AUTOMATION INTEGRATORS