Surface Ripples

AI - Blessing or Curse?

There’s growing discussion about artificial intelligence (AI, as it is known). What do we make of this phenomenon and how can it be harnessed?

The subject of AI is actually not new. Sci-fi writers such as Isaac Asimov deal with it in books like I Robot. Frank Herbert’s Dune saga deals with the rise of a messianic figure in a world that has rejected technology due to robot rebellions in its distant past. Other books and movies such as 2001, A Space Odyssey discuss the effects of AI run amok.  Perhaps the most famous is the Teminator series where the computer Skynet becomes self-aware and sets out to systematically destroy the human race. 

Like all new technology, AI is here to stay. Like all new technology, there is room to use and abuse it. “Good“ uses might be for automating simple decisions, diagnoses, or processes, thereby, speeding them up and providing better (and cheaper?) service to consumers.

Abuses, as have already come to light, may include students using AI to write assignments, thereby earning marks to which they otherwise would not be entitled.  

We recently discovered the limitations of AI when, as an experiment, we asked ChatGPT to generate a press release for an event that we were running. We found that the information on which the AI could draw seemed to be limited to anything available in the public domain two years or more ago. In other words, more recent material, of which we were aware, was  not yet available to AI.

The head of ChatGPT has now called for regulation on the use of AI. Like much technology, this will be necessary to regulate and eliminate potential abuse, as well as leverage the benefits that AI could produce.

Perhaps the greatest problem with regulation is that it will inevitably be up to governments to manage. History shows that government regulation is “way behind the curve“ as has been demonstrated on numerous occasions by, for example, the financial services industry.

At present, the full potential of AI has yet to be discovered. What I suspect will happen is that the potential for abuse will become far more apparent far more quickly than the potential benefits. One can only hope that the former do not outweigh the latter.

A final consideration: what happens to the jobs that AI will inevitably supplant? What jobs can AI supplant? What new jobs will be required to absorb those whose livelihood has now been taken away? 

One role that is unlikely to be displaced (at least in the near future) is that of interpreting what people mean. I recently saw a joke about how AI could never replace IT staff because then IT users would have to be able to explain exactly what they want. The joke amongst IT experts is that users never know what they want. The same will apply to other jobs: medicine psychology, anything that requires an ability to make the intuitive leaps of which AI is not yet capable.

All these and many more will become the subject of much debate over the next 5 to 10 years.

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  

Labels: Customer Care, Productivity, Strategy

posted by William Martin @ 08:12