Many of the leaders around the world speak of the potential of machine learning (ML) & artificial intelligence (AI) tech, and it’s nothing short of miraculous, but could the blessing be a curse?
In this article we will cover the general daily advantages, world changing applications and the dark doom that could follow should it fall into the wrong hands – or has it already…?
How Does It Affect You Daily?
Every single day you are surrounded by ML & AI tech, many of us would feel lost without it yet we barely pay attention to it. Let’s begin by uncovering some of the everyday, general uses;
- When you’re browsing LinkedIn/YouTube/Spotify and mysteriously it shows tailored content instead of the other millions of content pieces on the platform, imagine sifting through that!
- Google Maps magically identifies the shortest route to your destination instead of a physical map…
- The crazy concept of unlocking your phone with your face 📱
- Having a conversation with Siri/Alexa – A REAL robot friend!?
- Getting price ranges from Uber in a matter of seconds; with driverless cars in the future 😉
- Your precious inbox is protected by spam filters to stop those pesky outreaches/scammers blocking up your folders.
- Online shopping – ever viewed a fancy new bag for yourself them it appears on every single website…!? STOP!!! I DON’T HAVE THE MONEY FOR THIS…
- Google search engine, ‘’did you mean…’’ – Erm yes, I did thanks.
The list goes on, you get the idea; it’s our good old friends ML & AI, giving us a helping hand making our daily lives that little bit easier. However, this is nowhere near the full potential. It does make you wonder if this is the everyday uses, what are the most cutting edge applications for the future? Well, let’s dive into some below 😉
What Are The Cutting Edge Capabilities of ML/AI?
Now this is where we blow minds…In the future it’s extremely likely that top level ML/AI tech will outperform the human brain at nearly every cognitive task – literally blowing our minds out the water. So let’s investigate some of the likely uses we can expect to see🤯
- Safer transport systems – cars, trains & planes that drive themselves like some kind of sci-fi film!? 🚕
- A completely enhanced healthcare system🏥
- Safer, minimally invasive, yet precise surgeries…. Conducted by robots😲
- Robot hospital cleaners, limiting person to person contact when it could be of danger
- Training surgeons when combined with virtual reality tech
- Developing cures for illness we haven’t discovered yet
- Access to complex medical data
- And many, many more uses in Healthcare!
- Quantum computing, computers extremely more powerful than what we have today and could superpower AI/ML tech like we’ve never seen before. Unlocking the potential to solve super complex problems such as, drug discovery, cryptography, financial modelling for the financial system & climate analysis that could drastically help with agriculture production 👨💻
- Increases in production efficiency through use of robots, leading to cheaper goods and also job creation for high-skilled technical workers, creating these computers/robots. 🤖
Pretty crazy right? The list goes on, but as the saying states, with great power comes great responsibility. Which brings the questions; is the human race ready for such great power? What could go wrong with these advanced tools? what if it falls into the wrong hands? Well, using my own algorithm I took the initiative to share some points below for you 😉
So, What’s The Downside?
It’s predicted robots will replace humans in tens of millions of jobs through the next decade; for example, warehouses ran by robots or automated delivery drones for parcels. This would lead to an dramatic decrease in the lower-level jobs available, adding in the fact we are a growing population could demolish livelihoods of lower-skilled workers.
Further to this, robots lack outside of the box thinking and the human touch of emotions which are needed to show empathy which can be key in certain environments such as team leadership or therapy sessions. Thus inviting a distant society that the world has yet to ‘trial’.
Finally, we’ve seen what happens when power falls into the wrong hands? WW2 being a prime example. Can you imagine what could’ve happened if Adolf Hitler had access to technology with more capabilities than most people can comprehend? An army of metal robots programmed for destruction, intentionally designed to be difficult to ‘turn-off’ – we could lose control of the situation. It’s possible we could see a digital war, maybe even a world war harnessing these computers ability. Especially combining quantum computing with AI/ML – It’s a gruesome thought, it’s a long way off the technology we have today but it’s important we educate ourselves on something which is spreading over the world like wildfire.
To Summarize
At this current time there are tonnes amazing companies that create tools based off this technology to make our working life easier. To name a small handful;
- Sourcebreaker, for efficiency when resourcing candidates/leads.
- Salesloft, to drastically improve your sales capabilities.
- Featurespace, to stop fraudulent activity in real time.
- Darktrace, to protect your computer system from pesky viruses.
- AstraZeneca, to deliver life-changing medicines.
With all this being said, weighing up the pros and the cons everyone will have their own opinion on the future of these technologies. The pros create a super advanced civilization aiding human survival, but the cons can get pretty dark if we look at the extremes. As we progress, regulation will need to become firmer in attempt to supress the dark side and ensure the technology stays firmly in safe hands. Either way, for now we will continue to develop the technology and unlock the capabilities for better or worse…
Thank you for reading, I invite you to leave your opinions on AI/ML technology; and the future in front of us. If you’re involved in the space, please drop a comment to help educate any readers further.
“AI is going to change the world more than anything in the history of mankind. More than electricity.”— AI oracle and venture capitalist Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, 2018
“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race….It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.” – Stephen Hawking
“AI doesn’t have to be evil to destroy humanity – if AI has a goal and humanity just happens to come in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it, no hard feelings.” – Elon Musk, Tesla
