विद्या शस्त्रस्य शास्त्रस्य द्वे विद्ये प्रतिपत्तये ।
आद्या हास्याय वृद्धत्वे द्वितीयाद्रियते सदा ॥
Meaning: The Knowledge and erudition of (Shastra) Weapons, weaponry, and (Shaastra) Vedas, Upanishads, and Scriptures are imperative for a decorous life and living. As one ages, the art of Weaponry may become laughable as one’s body may not support the usage of weapons but wisdom and knowledge of Vedas, Upanishads, and scriptures will always be respected.
The Fear & the Fame
Artificial Intelligence, popularly called AI or its subfields, namely machine learning and deep learning, are mere tools and weapons. Their knowledge and understanding can enable a person, an institution, or a country. However, from an outsider’s perspective, it is a Job guzzler, job destroyer, and job terminator.
ChatGPT (Level 3 AI) and its widely publicised utility, ease of usage (reflects in the numbers – 1 million Users in the first 5 days of launch & 100 million within the first two months) as well as swiftly rising valuations basis the Projected revenue growth (200 million USD by the end of 2023, & over a billion USD by the end of 2024) has created fear-mongering amongst the technologically literate and illiterate equally.
Before figuring out how this Artificial Intelligence can be an enabler or a derailer in human progress, let’s understand what Artificial Intelligence is. Artificial Intelligence is collecting data on one’s behaviour or pattern of thinking or reactions to a situation and synthesising the same, to produce and display results equivalent to that of the human mind. In simpler words, collecting all biases, preferences, recommendations, likes, disliking of one’s personality and throwing results back basis, the above data.
AI can be sub-classified into four parts or four levels
1. Reactive Machine Learning – Reactive machines have not embedded or fed memory of the past. They react to the preferences or data keyed in by the user.
For example, when one searches for a product on any online shopping platform, the preferences or the selection is automatically stored on the website as well as on the browser. Even when one has closed the website, the popup of the product that has been visited keeps popping up, through the browser memory and is also popularly known as Cookies.
2. Limited Memory Intelligence– This algorithm or machine learns more with more data. As more inputs, more images, and more information come in, the smarter the machine becomes. An example of this is an Airplane in auto-pilot mode or Self-driving cars, that receive more information about speed breakers or road potholes and slow down automatically once it has ridden through them.
3. Theory of Mind – This is the Artificial Intelligence of the future, encompassing multiple behavioural, intelligence and reactive possibilities that exist not with a person, not with an institution but with behavioral patterns of several people and predicting reactions or outcomes of many. In simpler words, this kind of AI gathers data from several heterogeneous sets and predicts the most probable outcome basis those several sets.
A live example of it is – On April 27, 2023, JP Morgan, one of the global financial services giants fed in their AI tool, the Federal Reserve’s last 25 years’ speeches to predict the action The Federal Reserve is going to take on May 4, 2023, during their The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meet to decide on the Fed fund rate. The AI tool predicted a 25 basis or 0.25% hike, and the same action was undertaken by the Federal Reserve on May 4.
Chat GPT is one of the similar Artificial Intelligence tools that belong to this category.
4. Self-Awareness Intelligence – This is a replica of the human mind, human behaviour, and human emotions. It has a sense of self-awareness, ego, self-assurance, foresight regarding decision-making, expertise to remove cloudy emotions while articulating the outcome, etc. This kind of Artificial Intelligence is yet to come, and no tool exists today to have such Artificial Intelligence at present.
What the world presently perceives is that robots, humanoids, and chatbots will replace humans, serving customers or solving client queries. This truth can never be negated but at the same time, it’s not complete.
Peril or Perk?
Way back in 1914, when commercial aeroplanes came into existence, people initially felt that usage of railways, roadways, and waterways would reduce; however, all four are in co-existence. In fact, resources went on to develop faster, bigger, smarter aeroplanes as well as cars, bikes, motorboats, etc.
Similarly, just over a decade back, the smartphone gobbled up the camera, the alarm clock, the organiser, and the television, but people adapted to it, and it increased their efficiency in doing things. Computers and laptops made people’s lives easier. Online shopping and internet-enabled, allow one to focus on one’s work cutting down the travel and shopping time through physical stores.
What the world presently perceives is that robots, humanoids, and chatbots will replace humans, serving customers or solving client queries. This truth can never be negated but at the same time, it’s not complete.
When the camera was replaced by Computers and Phones, the manufacturers of cameras or the photo film developers had to add computer and/or phone manufacturing in their resume. In other words, the skills needed by the world changed and that’s exactly what is happening with Artificial Intelligence.
Futuri Media, a leading cloud-based audience engagement and sales intelligence software provider for media companies recently created an entire Radio Show, where current news was articulated by the Chatbot, and in between music was played. This news spreads the fear and panic emanates that Disc Jockey and Radio Jockey jobs are in danger. Is it so?
Surely, Chatbots can create content but interesting ideas and thoughts and comments, and mood swings that bring volatility, variation, and entertainment in interactions between RJ and the audience surely can’t be replicated.
The Artificial Intelligence may have a set of recommendations for the RJ to play the kind of music basis the listeners’ quantum, time of the day, and basis the day of the week in itself. But making such comments, conversations, remarks, and observations depending on the mood, temper, and spirit of the listeners or the audience is difficult to replicate by Artificial Intelligence as yet.
Similarly, DJ changes the songs depending on the emotions, moods, and feelings of the people for whom he is playing, thereby trying to connect the chord, and thus creating a cult and brand for its following.
What tools of AI and instruments like ChatGPT will do?
These will force the human mind to think better, learn better and perform even better.
For sure, redundant, repetitive low-quality work will be questioned and then threatened by Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, but the passion, energy, and drive that is required to build and then succeed in businesses or organisations will surely be lacking.
Artificial Intelligence, as well as Robots, will also produce what the data is fed to them. For example, if someone asks OPEN Artificial Intelligence, to write and produce jokes on Muhammad, the founder of Islam, it will say, that one should not hurt the religious feelings of others; however, if the same question is asked about Hindu deities, a couple of jokes will emerge on Lord Ganesha or Lord Hanuman.
Humans have a unique ability to adapt and mold themselves to survive and then succeed, and thus AI will emerge as a boon and not a bane for several.
Having said that, the biggest risk of AI is not on the job or on people’s redundancy, it’s more pertinent and prominent in shaping one’s opinions, one’s preferences, and one’s ability to develop oneself.
Over 70 per cent of the people on this planet have little knowledge of the facts, whilst everyone has an opinion about everything. The Artificial Intelligence thus perpetuates the narrative and tilts and twists the rhetoric as per the creator of the AI or the data absorbed. That, in real terms, is the biggest risk that forthcoming generations face:-
The reality, truth, or facts remain hidden, and some sadists will continue to divide the world to profiteer from such divisions.
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