On the face of it, the goal of AI is laudable. The computer age, the internet and the explosion of data has created an opportunity. That being: finding answers to critical questions that could positively effect the future of humanity. Those answers most assuredly lie somewhere, out there, waiting to be discovered, but our brains lack the essential computing power to look at this universe of data, see patterns, compatibilities, nuances and run multiple scenarios simultaneously in seconds, rather than the years it would take a team of scientists.
As the developers of “Watson” IBM’s AI project are quick to point out, in instances where this super computing has already been employed to solve problems in medicine, film editing, fashion design and so on, these systems only "assisted" their human counterparts in the quest for better solutions.
But at what point will the apprentice be ready to make his boss obsolete? And what will be the result of that change for our workforce, economy, personal freedom and the definition of creativity?
Let us take this example: You go looking for a greeting card to tell your spouse how much they’re loved and appreciated on your anniversary. You may imagine some writer, paid by the hour, sitting in a cubicle somewhere churning out tear-jerking phrases to appear above the artwork generated by yet another creative employee. That may have been the Hallmark of your parents’ day, but the future will use computers to gage the reactions of focus groups on various phrases, pictures, sounds, impressions, etc and then use that data to tell the company how to create the most irresistible anniversary card.
It’s not hard to understand why commercial and industrial entities are anxious to embrace these technologies. In the past, products and advertising programs were hit or miss. A greeting card company might create a whole new line of cards on a hunch that you’ll be tempted to buy their product over that of the competition, only later to find out that their expensive bet failed miserably. Now, by reducing human emotions to data, through the tracking of facial expressions, heart rate, blood pressure, number of blinks per minute and so on, businesses can test their products before rollout, and winning designs will almost guarantee that you’ll be smitten by their card and want to buy it.
And what about that writer in the cubicle? Well, he’s now in the unemployment line or taking on student debt to learn a new skill that may also be usurped by AI one day.
Where does this leave us as a society? No one knows for sure. But stay tuned. One day soon, you may just come across the computer generated article that will tell you exactly what you want to hear.
-Shane Eric Mathias
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