Anupam- The Dreamer

Without any iota of doubt, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is THE BIGGEST THING that will redefine the way we live, we do our tasks and the manner in which we interact with each other in this 21^st century! The more we hear and learn about the AI tools reshaping the things at the fundamental level, the more it comes to realization that we are actually transferring the human intelligence to the machines. Infact, AI is the simulation of human intelligence in the machines. And in terms of capability, the machines can at times do much more than a mortal human being.

Humans, however smart, are limited by their knowledge, experience and wisdom. Let’s not talk about the “superhumans” here. Most of the humanity, I would say more than 99%, is not super genius. We do things that are taught to us by the previous generations. We seldom create new things ourselves. Again, I am not talking of the 1% exceptional superhumans, so please refrain your strong urge to counter my general statements. So, it is always possible for a machine or a computer, to do the same things at a much faster pace than a human. Because a human is limited by his/her bodily, mental and emotional capacity. But, a computer isn’t! Take a very simple example of a simple machine called calculator. A simple calculator can do computations way faster than more 99.99% of the humans on this planet. Because it has been configured to do so. Only, a few superhumans like the legendary Shakuntala Devi can beat the calculator! But, how many Shakuntala Devis do we have among us? I am afraid, but there are almost none! Thus, a computer can always do things for which it is programmed at a must faster pace than humans.

The only limitation of the machines till now was the ability of humans to train or program the machine. Now, with the coming of AI, that barrier is also being broken! Now, we are indeed training the AI bots, AI agents, AI tools to mimic human intelligence. Atleast, whatever data, knowledge and wisdom exists in the world as of today, can be mimicked by the AI if properly trained to do so. And once it is trained, then it will definitely surpass the human’s ability of data interpretation, data processing and data generation. A poor human will take some time to read 1 book or to execute one task. He/she cannot compete with a supercomputer which can read millions of books within a minute and execute tasks in a blink of a second. The more human intelligence is put into the machine, the smarter it will become than most of the people.

A smart AI tool will be zillion times more efficient, cost-effective and productive than a poor and average human being, in every field of technology like robotics, medicine, heathcare etc. Now, states like Tamil Nadu and Assam are using face recognition softwares for school attendance of children. Can, anything beat that in tracking and monitoring attendance without any fault? Again, some states are using AI tool to detect cataract in the older generation by using computer vision technology. No need of ophthalmologist in most cases now! The smart traffic system can track cases of traffic violations more efficiently than a traffic policeman, without getting tired or bored. The examples are many, but you got the point.

But, this rise of AI is also leading to decline of human intelligence at the same time. Barring few superhumans, who are actually training the AI (i.e. the Godfathers of AI who are building it), most humans are slowly getting dependent on the AI tools, which can hamper cognitive skills development and brain development. For example, kids of present generation who are born with the proverbial spoon of AI in their mouth, don’t have adequate reading, comprehension and writing skills. Because they don’t need to do this stuff, when they have readymade answers and search engines to do their work. The homework now can be done without applying mind, by just googling the answers. No need to put their grey matter to test. I have seen people opening mobiles for calculating 123+54. If the trend of dependency on the AI tools gets profound, then the day will not be far when the actual intelligence will reside in the computers and most of the humans would be termed dumb and stupid. For example, if Google Maps is taken out from your life for just one day, most of the people will not be even able to reach their offices in the metro cities, because they never bothered to remember the routes! So, it’s important that we must not forget our own human intelligence in the process of using the intelligent AI tools.

The sceptics will give a counter argument that freeing one’s mind from mundane things like remembering routes and maps will give more headspace and time to a person to do other bigger things in life. Agreed in theory, but how many people do “great things” out of the time and energy that they saved in not doing mundane things themselves. Already, there have been studies which say that many of the kids who are born in the current digital age, don’t have adequate cognitive, creative and comprehension skills, because they already have tools to fall back upon. And just for a day, take the internet and AI tools and technology out of their lives, you will recognize where they actually stand.

I am all in favour of technology and AI, but we must not reach a stage where the actual human intelligence resides only in the machines which can outsmart the humans. We must retain our human intelligence, creativity and ethical values. Because, a supercomputer can do a thing better than 1 billion people can. But, no supercomputer can do anything better than a superhuman as afterall, it is the superhuman only who is the creator and trainer of this supercomputer. And we must not let the bots takeover most of the humanity, or for that matter, any superhuman to create his/her own army of bots to rule over other majority of humanity. It will soon be an existential issue for the human race…and we cannot let humanity down at any cost! Period.