Artificial Intelligence Pros and Cons: Essay Introduction
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a machine’s ability to demonstrate intelligence comparable to that of humans. The AI algorithms are developed for a specific task, implying that a device can scan its environment and perform actions to achieve a set goal. The use of artificial intelligence suggests both improvements in various domains of human activity, such as medicine or manufacturing, and dangers connected to the loss of jobs and unknown implications of AI’s advancement.
Artificial Intelligence Pros and Cons Essay: Background Information
AI is a technology that was first introduced in 1956 and has overcome several transformations over the years, including skepticism towards its capabilities and lack of appropriate hardware to support AI’s work. The current stage of AI’s development is innovation, meaning that different AI algorithms are being introduced to the market. Jennings states, “today, you will find AIs in factories, schools, hospital banks, police stations” (1). Learning from the given information or the environment and solving problems are the two critical characteristics of AI. With AI’s rapid development and improvement, many aspects of people’s lives are at stake, including millions of jobs and how individuals receive healthcare or education services.
Artificial Intelligence Pros and Cons Essay: Discussion
Since AI can be applied in different settings, the stakeholders of this technology are all people. The main conversation surrounding the increasing popularity of AI is the safety and reliability of the algorithms. Another aspect is the impact of AI’s use on employment prospects in many industries, including logistics and manufacturing. The positive effect of AI that some sources cite is connected to the superiority of its problem-solving and the ability to analyze. AI can produce better analysis and lower costs associated with manufacturing. Makridakis states that AI will help companies make better decisions based on data analysis, creating an additional competitive advantage (46). Hence, AI will help reduce costs and make more efficient decisions based on the algorithms’ analysis.
The financials available to companies because of improved efficiency will be invested in further development, which will lead to the introduction of better products and services. Jennings states that AI has already allowed many companies, specifically auto manufacturers, to minimize the number of people engaged in production by applying this innovative technology (2). Another example is Amazon Go, a fully autonomous grocery store in Seattle that does not have cashiers or sales representatives. Moreover, AI is used in medicine to analyze photographs, detect skin cancer, or help medical professionals diagnose conditions (Jenkins 2).
It improves healthcare quality since people receive a better diagnosis more quickly. Wilson et al. argue that although AI already disrupts the workforce, it will create a substantial amount of jobs because the machinery will require maintenance and programming (14). The authors argue that newly created positions will require people to work with AI to produce better results for their companies.
The arguments supporting AI and its implementation in different domains highlight the positive impact that it will have on companies and people. These sources provide information connected to AI prospects, meaning that they focus on how the benefits will outweigh the negative impact. These stakeholders choose this approach because AI will disrupt many aspects of people’s lives, most notably by eliminating millions of jobs. Hence, by focusing on the jobs created due to AI to maintain and support the technology and other positive outcomes, these stakeholders can highlight the need to address the immediate issues that will arise soon, such as work shortage.
While currently, AI can perform varied tasks, and this technology will continue to evolve as new computers and other advanced hardware are introduced to the market. In his interview with Bill Gates, Holley discusses the potential dangers of AI and the destruction that it can cause if not managed properly. Gates states that the technology industry will undergo rapid development and progress in the following thirty years, making accurate vision and speech recognition with AI possible.
Holley references the opinion of scientist Stephen Hawking, who stated that AI could end the human race. Other well-known technology experts and entrepreneurs, for instance, Elon Musk, voiced a similar opinion. The latter stated that people should be “very careful about artificial intelligence” (Holey). The main argument is that it is unclear how AI will develop in the future and what capabilities it will have.
If AI surpasses humans’ ability to think and solve tasks, how it will interact with people is unclear. The popular argument against AI is that they are presented as warnings. Technology specialists choose this approach to discuss their opinion on AI because it is rapidly developing, and no governmental or international regulations are present. This reasoning is most evident in Elon Musk’s commentary on AI, in which he states that regulatory oversight should be introduced to contain and oversee the development of AI.
The previous paragraph focused on stakeholders’ opinions about the future of AI. However, there are several ways in which AI currently affects people’s day-to-day life in a negative manner. Knight and Hoa (2019) cite the crashes of self-driving cars in recent months and the various manipulations of information done by bots as examples of AI’s misuse. The recent Cambridge Analytica case, a data-collecting scandal, revealed that individuals’ news feeds could be manipulated to display particular information. It can potentially impact opinions regarding significant social and political problems.
Finally, both pros and cons AI stakeholders note that once the technology is advanced enough, it will be used in some significant domains of people’s lives. For example, Gates states that once robots can move things appropriately, they will be used in hospitals to help with patient transportation (Holey). Similar applications will be possible in warehouses and other facilities with much inventory. Jenkins states that self-driving trucks and other AI-supported technology will eliminate one-third of jobs in the United States (2). Similarly to the previous argument, these concerns are voiced as a warning for politicians and organizations developing AI.
Artificial Intelligence Pros and Cons: Essay Conclusion
Overall, AI was first introduced in 1956 as a technology miming human thinking and task-solving capabilities. The main stakeholders of the debate are all people since AI is already used in different domains, for example, healthcare or education. The main argument supporting AI is the efficiency and capabilities of this technology, which surpasses human abilities. However, the arguments against the uncontrolled development of AI presented by technology specialists and scientists argue that it is unclear how AI will develop in the future and how humanity will interact with it.
Works Cited
Holley, Peter. “Bill Gates on Dangers of Artificial Intelligence: ‘I Don’t Understand Why Some People are not Concerned.” Washington Post, 2015. Web.
Jennings, Charles. Artificial Intelligence: Rise of the Lightspeed Learners. Rowman & Littlefielf, 2019.
Knight, Will and Karen Hoa. “Never Mind Killer Robots—Here are Six Real AI Dangers to Watch Out for in 2019.” MIT Technology Review, 2019.
Makridakis, Spyros. “The Forthcoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) Revolution: Its Impact on Society and Firms.” Futures, vol. 90, 2017, pp. 46-60.
Wilson, James et al. “The Jobs That Artificial Intelligence Will Create.” MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 58, no. 4, 2017, pp. 14-16.