THE ONLY REASON WHY I AM GENUINELY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) a good thing or a bad thing? It’s a hugely debated topic around the world, and the conclusion ends up sounding like the question: it’s good, and it’s bad too.

I think, irrespective of profession, everyone should think about this question and draw conclusions from all angles, because AI is going to disrupt every industry. I am really impressed with what it can become; its applications can genuinely improve human standards. AI can be a highly skilled workforce that takes away boring jobs, or customer support that solves issues efficiently and instantly. This technology can disrupt the education system too, as we can create better tools for learning. No wonder that one day AI robots could replace teachers (and chatbots could act as personal student assistants) and teach diverse courses to every corner of the world. Imagine a chatbot feature on edX, Coursera, and other MOOCs that provide MIT- and IIT-level education to everyone for free (or at least at very low cost). Recruiters won’t have objections to considering degrees obtained from AI-taught programs if the quality of education is higher and fairer.

"ALL I WANT IS AN EDUCATION AND I AM AFRAID OF NO ONE" -Malala Yousufzai
That's the impact of education

Another great benefit of AI (that I care about) is in the auto industry. Last year, I attended a startup meeting on new technologies and entrepreneurship. The speaker was a professor at an American university, and he emphasized the main reason behind self-driving technology. Autonomy isn’t just a fancy thing; it’s being developed to reduce road accidents, which are rising at an alarming rate. Globally, more than 1.25 million people die from road traffic injuries every year. With AI, we can help reduce this number, not only with fully autonomous vehicles, but also through adaptive technologies such as automatic emergency braking and adaptive cruise control. These can have a major impact, and they are part of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems). The video below shows an autonomous bus concept by VRN and RNV, Southwest Germany’s public transport network, displayed at the Klimatag (Climate Day) event in Ludwigshafen in 2017. The video demonstrates how an autonomous bus can avoid a collision when it detects obstacles in its way.

(Now please don't laugh at that person if you recognize him)

AI has endless benefits, but misuse can be scary. It can violate privacy, take jobs, and at least in extreme scenarios, robots could harm people or take control. The worst possibilities are what we often see in sci-fi films. But I think if our advancements ever reach the level of creating such efficient robots, we will also be able to create technologies that protect us from harmful ones. For instance, today our bank transactions happen online and are generally safe because we have developed security technologies to protect them. In the same way, we can build strong firewalls (possibly developed by AI itself) to prevent dangerous situations. Google tested its AutoML and found its performance was better than many human-made approaches at the time. Doesn’t that suggest a machine could code better and help protect us? If a situation arises where an “evil” system tries to cause violence, an ethical system could defend against it. In that case, the conflict would be between a machine and a machine, which is why we must create “ethical” AI.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them" 

- Albert Einstein

Maybe AI will create a whole new level of problems, but using it ethically and with better government policies can definitely benefit humanity, especially the other half of the world that we often ignore. The technologies we develop should benefit the entire world. A country leading with automation while another country lacks basic amenities makes no sense to humanity. We need to make this planet better for everyone. I think AI can help do that. It’s for everyone. And that’s the reason I am genuinely optimistic about this incredible technology.

"By far, the greatest danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it"

-Eliezer Yudkowsky (American researcher)