AI: Frightening future or serving mankind today?

AI: Frightening future or serving mankind today?

Much has been made of the recent comments by "experts" who are predicting a bleak future through artificial intelligence (AI), with robots taking our jobs, outthinking and outperforming us and soon, perhaps, eliminating humans, as "unnecessary" relics of the past. But it may be far too late to stop this technological revolution.

We are already entering the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The First Industrial Revolution began in, roughly, 1784, as steam, water and mechanical production equipment revolutionised our industrial production and transportation. Within 90 years, we witnessed another Industrial Revolution as electricity began powering our industries and we began dividing our labour into specialties and mass-producing products. By 1969, the world ushered in the Third Industrial Revolution through electronics, automated production and information technology. Humankind ushered in the new revolution by landing a man on the moon that same year. Now, we are on the verge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR), less than 50 years after the beginning of the third, accelerating both pace and production through construction of cyber-physical systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and promising to impact the lives of every human being.

To view the changes that are taking shape, we need to understand four principles that characterise FIR. First, in the words of Thomas Philbeck, Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum, we need to think systems, not technologies. While individual technologies may be interesting, it is their systemic impact - how they are interconnected - that matters most. Second, we need to consider AI as empowering, not determining. Philbeck reminds us that, "technologies are not forces; we have the ability to shape them and decide how they are applied."

Third, we need to consider the future of AI by design, and not by default. We can govern the use of the technologies and their impacts without allowing malicious forces to shape the future for us. Fourth, we need to consider values as a feature of AI. Philbeck reminds us that, "values are embedded in technological systems. They are embedded at points of decision-making about what is worthwhile to pursue." It will be up to each one of us to make sure that our values - human values - are encoded in the systems we produce.

Have we embedded those human values in AI, or is it too late? Has AI already crossed the threshold to annihilate humans?

Carnegie Mellon University's Takeo Kanade, who is a professor of robotics, shares a different opinion of the future than many of the AI naysayers, urging us to "view AI not as something competing with us but as something that can amplify our own capabilities."  

So, what are some of the ways AI is changing the world? Artificial Intelligence in humanoid robotics receives the most attention and drives our future thinking and fears. But these robots are here to stay. Honda's ASIMO, one of the most advanced robots in the world, can be seen strolling around shopping malls, museums, and train stations the same as a human. Atlas, another next-generation humanoid robot by Boston Dynamics, is designed to negotiate rugged outside environments and rough terrains for search and rescue. It can climb using its hands and feet, or on more suitable terrain, walk on its lower limbs so that its upper arms are free to lift and carry.

Other humanoid robots have been designed to provide genuine personal assistance, and to have an emotional element in order to bond with the humans they are designed to care for. These robots have been marketed under the name NAO and Romeo by Aldebaran Robotics, and are especially important in providing care to the elderly.

AI-inspired cars

Would you trust your life to an autonomous vehicle? Over 55% of people recently surveyed indicated they would trust an autonomous car as their means of transportation. And why not? Many of us are already driving with AI embedded in our vehicles in the form of driver assistant features such as self-parking and advanced cruise control. AI is also used in some traffic management applications to reduce wait times and emissions by optimising traffic stops. These systems are interacting seamlessly with vehicles currently on the road.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is another area where AI has become embedded and is expanding rapidly. Robots in industries posing a considerable danger to humans have proven themselves effective in completing very repetitive tasks that often lead to mistakes, causing injury or equipment damage when performed by humans.

Artificial Intelligence in medical applications is another area where cognitive systems are providing enhanced services for humans. One example is computer-aided interpretation of medical images to highlight potential diseases and detection of tumours. The use of AI in mining medical records provides an extraordinarily rapid capacity to review and identify potential diseases through identification of patterns.

Another very interesting use of AI is in the development of new drugs. Dr Supratik Mukhopadhyay, creator of Synthesizable AI, uses the eSynth technology to synthesize new compounds in the development of advanced antibiotics. This AI is providing a cost-effective, efficient method of finding and developing new antibiotics and antimicrobial agents.

AI is also embedded in tasks being completed all around us. Stock-traders use AI to determine the best deals of the day, as well as to analyse emerging markets and quickly retrieve data in the banking industry. Schools are incorporating robots to teach children nearly every subject, while business and industry are using AI to train advanced workforce. What is the state of the art in AI today? Just look around you!

(Iyengar is a distinguished Ryder Professor and Director, School of Computing and Information Sciences, Miami; Miller has been with US Air Force for over two decades and is Coordinator, Discovery Lab, Florida International University)