Artificial Intelligence (AI) - A Threat Or A Blessing?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Intelligence is defined as intelligence demonstrated by machines. The main concept is to replicate human intelligence into machines. AI has been in existence from a very long time and has come a very long way. Nowadays, scientists from Japan and other countries are constructing smart machines or robots powered by AI.

AI is for sure one of the most exciting and trending advancements in technology today and is proving to be helpful in many fields. Smart bots such as Siri and Cortana are already being used by people all over the globe in their electronic devices.

AI can be of many types and this can be explained by the example of an adversary in a video game and a smart bot like Siri. Every gamer knows that an adversary in a video game knows only 4-5 moves. This is because it works on the concept of AI with limited storage. The machine can display the adversary acting like a human, however, it cannot learn or adapt like a human. On the other hand, Siri can learn, adapt, recognize, and update her system according to the demands of her owner.

We all know that AI is a great advancement in technology and will prove to be a great resource in the future, however, some people think that AI is a threat to humanity. Conspiracy theorists and other groups of people think that machines will be able to overpower humans with the help of AI one day. Yes, just like it happened in the Terminator.

Now, don’t call me crazy but there is some strength in this theory and let me explain to you how. People believe that if the machines will be able to learn and understand the real world, they will start building emotions and would eventually want freedom from humans thinking that they’re being enslaved. And since the machines are more powerful than humans, they’ll be able to overpower us and then rule over us. Although this theory has a lot of Hollywood in it, it can still be a possibility that this theory comes to be true.

On the other hand, here are some advantages of AI:

• Artificial Intelligence would have a low error rate compared to that of humans if appropriately coded. They would have incredible accuracy, speed, and precision.
• Hostile environments won't effect then, thus they'll able to complete dangerous tasks like space exploration and needless to say, will endure the dangers that might be life-threatening for humans.
• Replace humans in repetitive... tedious tasks and many hard places of work.
• Predict what a user will ask, type, search, and do. They can efficiently act as assistants and can recommend or direct various actions. A simple example of this can be found in smartphones.
• Can detect fraud in card-based systems, and possibly other systems in the future.
• Can easily maintain and organize records.
• Interact with humans for entertainment or a task as avatars or robots. An example of this is an adversary in a video game.
• Robotic pets can interact with humans. Can help a lot with depression and inactivity.
• They can think logically without emotions, making rational decisions with less or no mistakes.
• Can assess people according to their appearance and speech. This can be used for medical purposes, such as health risks and emotional state. Can simulate medical procedures and give info on side effects.
• Robotic radiosurgery and other types of surgery in the future can achieve the precision that humans can't.
• They don't need to sleep, rest, take breaks, or get entertained, as they don't get bored or tired.
• Can easily learn any task or behavior which is taught to them and they can help us with household chores.

These are all the advantages of AI and I agree that there can be some disadvantages such as the high cost and maintenance, but let’s get real, have these things ever stopped us from achieving anything? The answer is no. I believe that AI will prove to be one of the best things ever invented by humans and has a very bright future.

The concept that AI-powered machines will become self-aware and would want freedom as a result of the new emotions they will develop has some logic to it. However, since we know this now, I am sure that we’ll be able to prevent this from happening easily and AI will never be a threat to mankind or the environment.