For decades the growth of Artificial Intelligence has fascinated scholars and scientists alike today intelligent machines aid and streamline our lives but the next 50 or 100 years may yield even more powerful.
AI could elevate or transform our species if humans do create sophisticated super-intelligent machines
How Will The Growth of Artificial Intelligence Affect the Future of Humanity!
Over the last 20 years global interest in AI has steadily increased universities government agencies and wealthy investors are pouring billions of dollars into AI focused projects. Research groups already in the early 2020s almost every industry uses intelligent context-dependent machines called Narrow or Weak AI.
In manufacturing Narrow AI work alongside, humans in factories in hospitals virtual nurses monitor vital signs and analyze patient data in fact entire industries like Digital Marketing rely on data collected by Artificially Intelligent software with so many industries seeking newer faster technologies the production of narrow AI continues to grow on smartphones and computers intelligence machines are already woven into the fabric of our lives but these machines capture only a small fraction of what narrow AI can do it in the next 20 Years leaders in the field predict significant growth in the production and diversity of Narrow AI thereby improving the communication and productivity of our society as a whole some experts are optimistic about the future role of Narrow AI.
As stepping stones toward a more advanced human society but other experts worry humans will become over-reliant on machines for example the advancement of narrow ai could transform the global workforce by 2040 at least 50 percent of routine quantitative jobs may be performed by Narrow Ai but that number could climb as high as 90 percent large companies are already replacing human workers with hundreds of thousands of robots as narrow ai becomes more popular and less expensive many companies may reduce their human workforce to a mere 10 of its current volume these estimates foreshadow a bleak future for humanity.
The growth of Narow AI also offers humans a unique opportunity the loss of repetitive non-creative occupations may trigger a global re-education of the workforce average workers may obtain higher paying bigger picture roles no longer responsible for basic processes like construction or routine manufacturing a higher density of machines will also require a substantial increase in engineers programmers and repairmen more and more workers will learn how to maintain robots create software and speak the coded language of artificial system over time the elevation of the workforce and the higher demand for skilled workers may cultivate a stronger global economy.
Global economy will be increasing wages decreasing poverty rates and making higher education more accessible for the general population the growth of Narrow AI could theoretically remedy lopsided political and economic systems by reducing the gaps between socio-economic classes but there’s no guarantee Powerful AI will benefit the greater good.
the growth of Artificial Intelligence could just as easily de-stabilize our global economy radicalizing pre-existing hierarchies by catering to the extremely wealthy at the same time the growth of narrow ai will increasingly intrude upon basic human freedoms, Therefore changing the relationship between humans and technology already digital privacy is the source of controversy around the world for example social media algorithms collect store and share personal information allowing machines to develop intricate profiles and predict with astounding accuracy your needs wants and interest in the coming decades.
The complexity of our machines may increase but so will violations of privacy and other basic freedoms suffice to say Narrow AI are impacting our society on a grand scale however these context-specific machines pale in comparison to Strong AI also known as Artificial General Intelligence or (AGI) unlike Narrow or weak AI which are restricted to a specific set of tasks an AGI can generalize the knowledge, it learns to solve a variety of problems in a variety of contexts research into the development of AGI is still broad and largely theoretical though humans have created very intelligent machines like IBM’s watson which is capable of learning and processing language nobody has created a system as intelligent as a human being but some leaders in the field do expect an important scientific breakthrough.
In early 2050 before humanity leaps into the unknown world of Strong AI we must consider the ethics and consequences of producing machines as smart as humans beyond the fantastic dystopias displayed in the media scholars do foresee real dangers in the production of strong AI hypothetically a machine capable of General Intelligence could expand and surpass the human mind one day that very same machine could achieve self-awareness though experts widely disagree on whether computers can ever be self-aware if possible a sentient machine may outperform humans in every discipline making humans irrelevant in the shadow of our own creation. The proper precautions how-ever AGI could launch our society and our species into an age of transcendent growth.
How do we program super intelligent possibly sentient machines to protect the interests of humankind?
The three laws of robotics designed by author Isaac Asimov in 1942 act as a fictional vehicle for this complicated issue instead of power or Intelligence developers of strong ai should place more value on cooperation between humans and machines an AGI must be programmed to prioritize the safety of humans above all directives including the pursuit of knowledge and the protection of its own existence even a human-friendly AGi does not guarantee a healthy lasting relationship between humans and machines similar to the overproduction of narrow ai the growth of strong ai could stifle the agency autonomy and competence of humanity if we rely on machines to solve our problems we may lose our creativity our drive and our sense of purpose if humans become complacent in a machine driven paradise we may abandon the aspirations that define our species in the growing field of artificial intelligence a single breakthrough can affect our society on a macro scale soon sophisticated machines will spread for better or for worse to every industry and every household in the world as narrow ais evolve into strong ais machines could one day bring about the downfall of humanity however the same machines could better our social systems and significantly improve our quality of life either way humans are moving steadily toward a future defined by intelligent machines but one critical question remains is the risk worth the reward.
