AI Revolution: Transforming industries with efficiency and innovation amidst complex ethical challenges

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the buzzword these days. This technology has captured the imagination of all and sundry. The youngsters view it with awe and regard it as a key to more sophisticated inventions. The elderly folks look at it with both amazement and skepticism. All in all, this technology brings with it many novel possibilities with wide potential for paradigm changes in various fields of human endeavour.

Let us look at Artificial Intelligence more dispassionately and with greater objectivity.

AI came into existence very recently after a very successful run of computer software in different domains. Machines to perform the work of many humans have been developed extensively in various spheres during the last 200 years or so. Earlier, these machines — whether tractors for farming, automobiles for surface transportation, aeroplanes for aviation, telephones for distant communication, computers for computation, cranes for building construction, air conditioners for room temperature control or textile machinery for knitting and weaving fabrics were developed for ease of human living and enhancing the quality of life. Whether or not the technologies underlying the operation of all these machines are environment friendly is a different matter altogether.

As stated above, the development of AI is a recent phenomenon, an aftermath of the invention and usage of computer hardware and software. This sophisticated software enabled the fusion of human intellectual processes called algorithms with computational machines called computers. AI is the next progressive step in this direction, where this algorithmic software combined with suitable computer hardware can substitute for humans to operate various machines based on hardware memory and what is called ‘machine learning’.

Now, AI is able to produce robots for farming in the fields and for shop floor operations in the factory. It has led to the development of drones for doing designated tasks and driverless cars to run on the roads. Robot vendors at departmental stores have already seen the light of the day. Now, robot teachers are expected to enter classrooms to teach students.

AI has, through the use of computer languages and algorithms, created working units that substitute for routine operations of the human intellect. But it can never substitute for creativity, innovation, and intuition.

Some repercussions of more significant usage of AI are in stark evidence. It will reduce human working and adversely affect employment. It will make humans idle. It will lead to mental aberrations and personality disorders of humans. These will see an exacerbation of social problems.

The above does not take into account the need for far greater quantities of computational hardware to run these AI algorithms, which means a far greater number of semiconductor chips and the environmental concerns associated with them. About semiconductor chips, it may be mentioned that the manufacturing process of semiconductor chips possesses separate environmental challenges. The production of these chips consumes considerable amounts of energy, water, and a variety of chemicals. It also emits greenhouse gases and poses health and other risks. Beyond manufacturing, sourcing raw materials for semiconductors raises sustainability issues due to the limited availability of resources like high-purity silicon, gallium, tungsten, and tantalum. As global reserves deplete, obtaining these materials economically becomes challenging. Furthermore, many of the materials used in semiconductor manufacturing, such as silicon, require intensive extraction and energy-intensive purification processes. This production model is certainly not sustainable in the long term because of the fact that it puts a strain on natural resources and increases the computer hardware and IT industry’s environmental footprint.

Aged computer hardware materials or e-waste items are generally not 100 per cent recyclable. Roughly 30 to 40 per cent of e-waste is non-recyclable. Therefore, serious environmental concerns remain attached to their usage.

Let us return to the software and algorithmic part of the computer hardware cum IT industry. Artificial Intelligence is viewed as the next big thing on the science and technology frontier. But let us not overlook the fact that no technology is worthwhile if it inflicts harm or damage on the environment and ecosphere, which includes not only humans but also flora and fauna. And this damage is being inflicted by the computer hardware cum IT industry not only on the physical environment but also on the subtle entities like ether, human (and also animal ) mind and intellect about which little is yet known to the modern scientific community. We need to fill our understanding and knowledge gaps in these areas by referring to the scientific literature of texts derived from Sanatan scriptures called Vedas handed down to humans by the omniscient Creator.