With the sudden rise in Artificial Intelligence over the past few years, especially after the development of great AI tools like ChatGPT, Google Bard, Copilot, etc., AI has become a hot topic in the market.
With the ongoing research and development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), most people are concerned about its adverse effects on jobs and threat to humanity.
In this article, we will be discussing about “How Artificial Intelligence will change the future” or “What is the future of AI”. But before we deep dive into that, it is important to first see what is the meaning of Artificial Intelligence.
Table of Contents
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer or a machine to think and learn like a human mind and mimic human behavior. It lets the machine perform different tasks, such as learning, problem-solving, customer support, etc., that typically require human intelligence.
AI models are trained on large datasets and learn from this data (just like humans learn from their experiences) and use this knowledge to perform various tasks that usually require human thinking.
Some examples of AI applications are virtual assistants, chatbots, ChatGPT, self-driving cars, etc.
How Artificial Intelligence will change the future?
The rapid rise in the advancement of Artificial Intelligence has brought a radical change to the different sectors and is rapidly changing the world around us. From intelligent chatbots to AI models like ChatGPT and Google Bard, AI has already imposed a major impact on our lives, and it will continue to impact it further with the advancement in AI-powered applications.
A forecast report from McKinsey & Company (a research firm) has predicted that around 70% of companies will integrate AI into their businesses, which might create $13 trillion in global economic activity, and companies have a chance to increase their cash flow by 122% by the year 2030!
AI is already impacting and bringing rapid changes in the way many industries, such as finance, healthcare, robotics, etc., operate.
Though AI has many benefits to offer to industries, it has some limitations and, more importantly, has some concerns raised by humans as well.
Present and Future Impact of AI on Different Sectors
Almost every industry is adapting different AI technologies like machine learning, deep learning, or generative AI to increase productivity and thus increase business outcomes. There is a sudden rise in AI use by companies in business operations after the launch of advanced AI models such as ChatGPT and Google Bard.
Indeed, it’s also true that some companies are making a forced change in the traditional way of operating and adapting to AI technology because companies very well know that AI is the future and if they don’t adapt it, they will be left behind in the competition with the companies who are using AI.
Following are some of the sectors where AI is bringing potential changes:
1. Healthcare and Medicine
AI models are trained on large patient datasets to learn the diseases and treatment patterns. This way, AI is set to revolutionize the medical and healthcare industries by the early prediction of critical diseases, for example, cancer, etc., recommending effective treatments, and improving patient outcomes.
AI is already helping in diagnosing diseases from medical images like CT scans, X-rays, and MRIs, developing new drugs and treatments, predicting patient outcomes, and drug discovery.
2. Education
The education sector will see a transformation with the integration of AI, and it will change the way students learn. AI-powered applications, virtual tutors, machine learning, and NLP will definitely bring changes to the traditional methods of teaching and will also sense the student’s emotions to provide personalized educational experiences to students. It will also help digitize textbooks and make education more accessible and engaging.
3. Finance
AI algorithms are already being used in a variety of financial services applications, such as stock market prediction, risk management, credit risk assessment, etc. With the advancement of AI, it will be used in enhancing cybersecurity by recognizing and preventing fraudulent transactions, credit card fraud, etc., and will also be used in predicting bankruptcy and implementing investment strategies.
4. Manufacturing
AI is already bringing a significant change in the manufacturing sector through automation. AI-powered machines and robots are used to automate many repetitive tasks in the manufacturing industry, they can perform these tasks with better speed and accuracy than humans.
As the technology continues to develop, AI is likely to automate even more tasks, freeing up humans to focus on more complex and creative work. It will help in improving the efficiency and enhancing the overall productivity of the manufacturing units.
5. Transportation
The concept and possibility of autonomous vehicles, such as self-driven cars, are set to bring a revolutionary change to the transportation sector shortly. These vehicles have the potential to reduce human-caused accidents and revolutionize urban mobility. Apart from autonomous vehicles, the use of AI in the travel industry through Google Maps, traffic management, and AI-powered chatbots is steadily increasing day by day.
6. Social Media
AI algorithms are used in various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., to provide enhanced personalized experiences to end users. AI tools are used to analyze the sentiments of social media posts and comments for example AI helps in identifying hate speech in Twitter tweets.
AI algorithms are also widely used by social media platforms to perform the following tasks:
- Image and video recognition
- Trend analysis
- Content recommendation
- Data insights,
- Content creation
- Ad targeting
This way, AI has become an important aspect of social media platforms to enhance the overall user experience.
7. Customer Service
AI-powered intelligent chatbots and virtual assistants are already being used by many industries to enhance the overall customer experience and satisfaction.
Some of the benefits of using AI for customer services are:
- ·Automating repetitive tasks
- 24/7 customer support
- Sentiment analysis
- Personalized customer experience
- Consistent Service Quality
8. E-Commerce
AI has brought transformative change to the e-commerce sector by revolutionizing the way online businesses operate and how customers shop. Many e-commerce companies, such as Amazon, Shopify, etc., are using AI algorithms to provide recommendations of products and services to users based on their preferences and behaviors. Also, AI is being used in inventory management by analyzing sales trends and demand forecasts.
9. Agriculture
AI can help farmers maximize production and reduce costs with the help of crop monitoring and analyzing parameters such as temperature, soil moisture, weather conditions, soil nutrient level, etc. AI algorithms are used in crop monitoring and precision farming that help farmers make better decisions about crop cultivation and achieve better efficiency.
10. Environmental Impact
AI algorithms are used in environmental sustainability to predict natural disasters, climate research, optimize energy, foresee natural calamities, etc. It helps in mitigating the impact of natural disasters and calamities.
Impact and Concerns of AI on Society
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to bring about significant positive changes in society, but it also raises several concerns and challenges. The biggest concern raised by humans is regarding job displacement as AI is capable of performing repetitive human tasks with great speed and efficiency.
After the development of tools like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Midjourney the threat on various jobs such as customer support, data entry, professional photographers, etc. increased a lot and even some companies are already using AI-powered virtual assistants and chatbots in place of manual customer support.
One of the reports published by investment bank Goldman Sachs:
“In the US and Europe, as many as 300 million jobs could be threatened by some form of AI. Fully two-thirds of US jobs could be partially automated through AI, and up to one in four current work tasks could be completely automated by AI.
As much as 29% of computer-related job tasks could be automated by AI, as well as 28% of work by healthcare practitioners and technical tasks in that field.”
Apart from the job displacement, some other concerns of AI include:
- Working professionals need to reskill and upskill their skills to sustain in jobs.
- Society’s increasing dependency on AI could lead to over-dependence.
- AI models require large amounts of personal data, raising concerns about data privacy and security.
- Businesses will need to find the right balance between automation and maintaining a human touch in customer interactions.
- AI could also be used for malicious purposes, such as developing autonomous weapons systems or spreading disinformation.
- AI-powered robots and machines may start to dominate humans, which could result in the end of the human race as AI lacks emotions.
- The widespread adoption of AI requires addressing technical challenges and ethical concerns related to decision-making algorithms.
Privacy Concerns of AI
The rapid advancement of AI has already raised significant privacy concerns, and with the continuous development of AI with time, privacy concerns will also increase in the future.
Following are some of the privacy concerns raised by AI:
- AI models require massive amounts of data for training, and this data contains personal information that can be used to track individuals, invade their privacy, create detailed user profiles, etc., which can lead to a breach of the GDPR and raise privacy concerns.
- Storing massive amounts of personal data increases the risk of cyberattacks, which can result in financial fraud, fraudulent transactions, and identity theft.
- AI systems sometimes need to share this large dataset with other systems to perform certain tasks, which can result in data leakage to third parties such as advertisers or agencies, which can misuse this data.
- AI-powered image and video recognition systems, such as facial recognition, could also lead to identity theft.
- AI algorithms can sometimes produce biased output, which can result in unfair treatment, and can make different decisions for different people based on factors such as age, race, caste, or gender, which can have a significant impact on society. It can affect an individual’s rights and privacy.
- AI systems can be used to spread misinformation or for malicious purposes, which could lead to potential security breaches.
- AI algorithms can create detailed profiles of individuals that can be used for advertisements or manipulation, which can compromise the individual’s autonomy and privacy. A lack of control over personal data can lead to privacy violations and exploitation.
Threats of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)
Artificial General Intelligence is a theoretical or hypothetical form of AI where a machine or system can learn, understand, and think like a human mind. AGI can adapt to different environments and possesses the ability to solve different problems, similar to humans.
AGI doesn’t exist yet, is still far off from reality, and seems hypothetical, but continuous AI development may lead to the growing capabilities of generative AI, and we could be making progress toward its development soon.
What if AGI becomes reality?
“If this becomes a reality in the future, then these super-intelligent machines may start to dominate over humans, which could result in the end of the human race as AI lacks emotions.”
It seems like a potential threat to human existence. Even Elon Musk has warned that AGI may be humanity’s biggest threat in the coming future.
Following are some other threats raised by AGI:
- AGI systems may operate in ways that are not aligned with human values and goals. It could potentially lead to unintended, harmful consequences.
- Due to their autonomous learning capabilities, they might evolve in unforeseen ways, potentially causing harm.
- AGI could disrupt industries and economies, potentially leading to job displacement and economic challenges.
- If AGI development lacks proper safeguards and ethical guidelines, there could be risks.
Conclusion
To conclude, Artificial intelligence will have a huge impact on how the world looks in the future. AI serves as a driver for development thanks to its ability to automate processes, transform entire industries, and personalize experiences. From reshaping industries and healthcare to improving education and transportation, its impact will be far-reaching.
However, this transformation is not without challenges and risks, including ethical concerns, job displacement, and the need for regulatory frameworks. Society must handle these developments responsibly as AI develops, maximizing its advantages while minimizing any potential disadvantages. By doing so, we can harness the full potential of AI to create a future that is innovative, efficient, and beneficial for all of humanity.
Also, to mitigate the threats and risks raised by AI and AGI, the world needs to form rules and regulations to use AI similar to what the countries have regulations for using nuclear weapons.