Understanding Artificial Intelligence And Its Impact On Society

What is Artificial Intelligence and its Nature

What Artificial Intelligence Is And Its Impact On The Society?

Researchers have always been fascinated by the thought of creating a machine that could mimic human thoughts and do things just like a human which resulted in the creation of artificial intelligence.

Scope

The scope of this report is to understand what Artificial Intelligence is and its impact on the society.

Method

This report will define artificial intelligence and explain its nature. This report will analyse different types of artificial intelligence and evaluate its positive and negative impact on society by evaluating how it has improved and threatened the society. Further, a conclusion will be drawn after analysing different literatures on the topic and recommendations will be given for effective use of artificial intelligence.

According to Russell and Norvig (2016), the artificial intelligence or AI is referred to the theory and development of computer programs which can perform actions or tasks which require human intelligence such as speech recognition, translation between languages, visual perception and decision making. AI is a branch of computer science, and it focuses on creating intelligent machines. The research associated with AI is highly specialised and technical. One of the critical parts of AI is knowledge engineering which provides that machines can act like humans if they have abundant information regarding the world. Machine learning is a core part of AI, and it enables AI devices and robots to learn without any human supervision and learn and identify new patterns. Although the concept of artificial intelligence is generations old, however, the term was first coined by John McCarthy in 1956 (Pannu, 2015). Since then the AI has evolved substantially, and a number of AI devices and robots has introduced by companies in the market. In 2016, Google’s DeepMind’s AlphaGo AI defeated Go champion Lee Sedol (Moyer, 2016). In 2017, Saudi Arabia gives citizenship to world’s first AI robot named Sophia (Hatmaker, 2017). There are major milestones in AI history, and these examples show that AI technology is growing rapidly along with its impact on the society. However, there are many ethical and moral issues relating to AI as well since in wrong hands it has the ability to wipe out the entire human race.

Intelligence is referred to mental capability which enables a human being to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience (Thurstone, 2013). The classification of intelligence divides it into three main categories which include concrete, abstract and social intelligence. The concrete intelligence is referred to the ability of an individual to comprehend a specific situation and react accordingly. The abstract intelligence is referred to the ability of a person to respond to words, symbols and numbers. The social intelligence is the ability of human beings to react to social situations occurring in day-to-day life (Sternberg, 2014). In other words, intelligence is the thinking skills, ability to change and learning the ability of an individual. The key role of intelligence is to adapt as per changing environment. Similarly, AI is adaptive rather than analytical. The nature of AI is similar a human intelligence which is to adapt as per the environment (Ghahramani, 2015). AI is constantly learning based on experiences by using machine learning which assists it in performing complex tasks such as decision making, speech recognition, visual perception and translation between languages. Experts argue that creation of AI is ethically or morally wrong since only God has the power to create consciousness. Ethical issues relating to AI include increased unemployment, unequal distribution of wealth, artificial stupidity, threat for humanity and other security issues.  

Types of AI

With the advancement in computer technology, such as machine learning, natural language processing, computation creativity, genetic algorithms and neural networks, artificial intelligence has evolved as well. Following are different types of AI.

Types of AI
Reactive Machine	·         First Stage of AI (Sulaiman et al., 2012) ·         Did not store memory
Limited Memory Machine	·         Add details to action based on previous memory (Hintze, 2016)
Theory of Mind	·         Has the capacity to understand human emotion (Bargin, 2017)
Self-Awareness Machine	·         Form representation of itself ·         Extension of the theory of mind machines ·         They are conscious and aware of the environment (Hintze, 2016)

Table 1: Types of AI

(Source: Hintze, 2016)

Sulaiman et al. (2012) provided that these machines react depending upon a specific situation and they didn’t store memories or have past experience. It is the most basic form of AI. It perceives environment directly and acts on the basis of what it sees. It is great for playing games because it can recognise the best moves on the spot. Examples include IBM’s Deep Blue and Google’s AlphaGo.

Hintze (2016) provided that the second type of AI are able to consider and analyses the previous information and adds these details to its preprogrammed representations of the environment. It has enough memory or experience to make appropriate decisions and execute appropriate actions. However, its memory is short term, and it cannot store information for longer period of time. Examples include self-driving vehicles such as Tesla Model 3 and Chabot and personal digital assistants such as Google Now and Siri.

These machines are more intelligent, and they have the capacity to understand thoughts and emotions which affects human behaviour. Bargain (2017) stated that this type of AI can comprehend motives, intentions, expectation, and feelings and it can interact socially. These machines are yet to be built, but they will be the next class of intelligent machines. Examples include c-3PO and R2-D2 characters from Star Wars Universe.

According to Hintze (2016), these types of AI can form representations about themselves. These machines are an extension of the theory of mid and they are aware regarding their internal states, they can make inferences and abstractions, and they can predict feelings of others. These machines are “conscious”, and they are future generations of sentient, conscious and super intelligence. Examples include Eva from the 2015 movie Ex Machina.

Following are different ways in which AI can improve the society.

• Precision Medicine: AI helps in adaptation and implementation of precision medicine which is an emerging way of treatment and prevention. Precision medicine enables researchers and doctors to predict more accurately the symptom, treatment and prevention strategies for a specific illness and they can cure it more easily (Hamet and Tremblay, 2017).
• Cybersecurity: More than 707 million cybersecurity breaches were reported in 2015 and over 554 million in half of 2016. AI-based solutions can be more proactive, and they can pre-empt attack and identify patterns that are associated with the malicious It assists in reducing breaches of cyber security (Dilek et al., 2015).
• Reframing Farming: AI can address the issues relating to increased food demand and shrinking farmlands. It can provide real-time data analytics to farmers which assist them in maximising their crop yields and profits. For example, FarmLogs is a mobile application which uses data and technology to help farmers in monitoring fields, tracking weather and getting insights of soil through satellite data (Richardson, 2017).
• Increases Automation: The growth in AI technology will increase automation and making it more accurate which would free up people time, and they can invest it in more important tasks.

Following are different ways in which AI can threaten the society.

• AI is based on computer programming, and it can be programmed to do something devastating. For example, Autonomous weapons are AI systems that are programmed for killing people. People can misuse AI and use it as a weapon to cause mass causalities.
• AI causes many ethical or moral issues such as increase in unemployment rates due to automation, inequality in wealth because people with AI technology will generate more wealth, humanity will be at risk because machines will affect people interaction and behaviour and increase security issues.
• AI is a computer program, and it can malfunction which can result in causing an error. For example, recently, a test self-driving car of Uber was involved in an accident which resulted in the death of a woman. It shows that AI needs a large number of improvements before they are able to replace human intelligence (Kopytoff, 2018).
• The self-aware AI machines can be dangerous for humankind because it could lead to an AI war in which AI machines stand against humans. Machines which are able to think and take decisions can decide to wipe up the entire human race to rule the earth (Kowert, 2017).
• AI can be programmed for doing something beneficial; however, it can develop a destructive method in order to achieve its goals. In order to achieve its tasks literally, AI can perform its duties that can negatively affect humans. For example, AI driver can be programmed to take passengers quickly to airport however people might vomit in the car due to high speed.

Conclusion and Recommendations

In conclusion, with the advancement in technology, the popularity of AI is growing as well. Researchers are working on creating new AI machines which are highly smart and are able to perform complex tasks which require human intelligence. There are a number of advantages of AI such as improved healthcare, cybersecurity, farming and effective automation systems. However, there are many disadvantages of AI as well such as the risk of AI war, AI weapons, and unsuitable for the ecosystem. Although there are many risks associated with AI, researchers will continue to invest in AI development. AI is the future, and it will change the traditional process entirely. However, following recommendations can assist in reducing the negative impact of AI on the society.

• Core public agencies which are responsible for healthcare, criminal justice, education and welfare should not use ‘black box’ AI and algorithm. It will create transparency which is needed for ensuring that cybercriminals do not misuse AI.
• Organisations should run rigorous testing before releasing an AI system for ensuring that it will not amplify errors or biases based on an issue of algorithm or data.
• Companies should continuously monitor the use of AI system across contexts and communities to resolve any malfunction quickly.
• The government should implement strict policies for ensuring that companies are not misusing technology for gaining an unfair
• Ethical codes should be created for AI field accompanied by strong accountability mechanisms and strong

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