AI is an intelligent entity created by man, and though human needs get fulfilled by material comforts, they aren’t sufficient
The world is changing increasingly with innovations. Undoubtedly, technology has made our lives more comfortable. Human beings have added much more to it so that today we are completely dependent on technology and even if we want to shift ourselves, we might miss the boat.
Today we are all surrounded by artificial intelligence (AI) in some or the other way. From the moment, we wake up to check our smartphone to directly asking Alexa to turn on the lights and update wit news; from watching movies on a large screen in theatres to watching it on OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Disney Hotstar; from searching for on time bus arrival and three-wheeler in scorching summer day to booking cabs through Ola or Uber with a click of a button, while sitting at workplace, from waiting in queues in front of favourite restaurants to ordering food through Zomato, Swiggy and the list goes on and on, Artificial Intelligence has made its way quickly into our lives. We are totally dependent on it now for our personal benefits.
But what is AI? In simple terms, AI is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially the computer systems. The biggest advantage of AI is that if the machines are programmed properly the results would be accurate and precise without any bias.
Also, they survive in many risk-taking activities, be it exploring the deepest parts of oceans or even disposing of a bomb. Today, hundreds of technologies are converging together and are creating altogether a new set of opportunities such as Virtual Reality, robotics, drones and many more. One of the famous examples being the concept of self-driving cars, wherein the availability of sensors will help perceive the surroundings followed by smooth driving.
Based on the model of the car, the navigation paths will be self-identified, and strategies will be made to manage traffic controls. It is just the beginning and as and when the technology matures, such autonomous vehicles will surely impact the entire automobile industry followed by the insurance, traffic control, health and other numerous sectors associated with it.
As we are moving towards AI, we are already witnessing AI taking over jobs. According to Ray Kurzweil, director of engineering at Google states that by 2030, AI will for the first time in human history achieve human levels of intelligence; 15 years later, he believes that we will have reached the singularity. This means the capabilities and intelligence of AI will surpass the intelligence of humans, and machines will become smarter than human beings. But does that mean it will eat up
jobs?
AI may create new jobs in innovation and bring new goods and services to the market and even adoption of such technology may even increase the organisational performance, but at the same time it can lead to loss of jobs, leading to a loss of employee engagement. Also, the benefits associated with AI may not reach most firms and workers in developing countries. Employee engagement affects the trust of the organisation. Higher the employee engagement, the more is the trust in the organisation and such kind of engagement is important for self- actualisation.
According to the data collected by UNCTAD, low-income countries are at a disadvantage given their low share of skilled workers and relatively slow download speed. Adoption of AI is not an easy affair. It needs plenty of time and resources which involve lots of money. Also, the hardware and the software on which it will operate also involves 24x7 technical know-how which makes it a costly affair.
AI may be on the verge of replacing most jobs, but its adoption will definitely lead to decrease in job satisfaction. AI cannot think outside the box. It can only work with the pre-fed data. No doubt bots can write applications or mails or even respond to customer queries, but they work only on the basis of pre-fed data.
It’s important for the companies to take into consideration both the needs of humans and business when adopting AI. No doubt implementation of AI will result in sophisticated innovations, followed by a positive impact on company returns but at the same time the need of humans will be much more required as the AI cannot be creative or empathetic. Companies and other organisations must not adopt AI monocausal with a view to finances only, rather it should investigate the ethical, cultural and organisational aspects too.
Being highly dependent on AI does not guarantee success in the development of any organisation. It is only its most important resource that is the workforce which can guarantee success in the process. At the end of the day, AI is nothing but an intelligent entity created by man. Human needs get fulfilled by material comforts, but they aren’t sufficient. What satisfies is something deeper—human affection and not machines.
(The author is an educator)