The Social Impact of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is one of the most powerful and transformative technologies that humans have ever had access to. From a Netflix recommendation or a price quote for your uber to nonlinear controls and optical character recognition, AI has completely taken over the world and is transforming it in inconceivable ways.
Artificial intelligence, in its most basic form, is a subject that combines computer science with large datasets to solve problems. Some consider it to be the technology that enables computers and machines to perform intelligently. Some perceive it as a machine that takes the place of human labour to provide a more efficient and faster outcome for mankind. Others perceive it as a “system” capable of accurately interpreting external data, learning from it, and using what it has learned to achieve specific goals and tasks through flexible adaptation.
Despite the various definitions, AI is widely believed to be linked with machines and computers that assist humans in solving issues and facilitating work processes. AI allows softwares to learn by integrating massive quantities of data with quick, iterative processing and intelligent algorithms, allowing the software to learn automatically from patterns or features in the data.
The issues that our world faces today have become increasingly complex, necessitating large-scale, coordinated activities across nations, as well as across a wide range of governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the communities they serve. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to solve some of the world’s most difficult societal issues.
Due to a series of high-profile successes in recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have prompted widespread interest. AI has proven to be successful in games and simulations, and it is now being used to solve a wide range of real-world problems, such as speech recognition and self-driving cars. These commercial applications often lead to an indirect positive societal impact by improving information availability through better search and language translation capabilities, improving communication services, enabling more efficient transportation, or supporting more personalized healthcare. With this interest comes a series of concerns about the societal effect, malevolent applications, dangers, and control of these breakthroughs, all of which are crucial.
Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) present an opportunity to build better tools and solutions to help address some of the world’s most crucial challenges and deliver positive social impact in accordance with the priorities outlined in the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Artificial intelligence has a broad spectrum of applications in sectors including but not limited to healthcare, education, finance, robotics, etc.
Artificial intelligence has the potential to double the annual growth rate by 2035 (1). AI will drive this growth in three important ways. First, owing to innovative technologies that enable more effective workforce-related time management, it will result in a significant improvement in labour productivity (up to 40%). Second, AI will facilitate the creation of a new virtual workforce capable of problem-solving and self-learning. Third, the economy will profit from the growth of innovation, which will have an impact on many industries and generate new revenue streams.
According to research conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers in the United Kingdom, AI has the potential to replace around 7 million jobs in the United Kingdom alone, it also suggests that an equal or higher number of new employment will be generated. This is an intriguing AI conundrum: occupations will become obsolete as new ones emerge. Although there is a clear link between automation and jobs, automation is more about business operations. We can now have self-driving vehicles, robots that move on their own, ships that autonomously cross oceans, and so on. As a result, we are seeing more and more of our operations being automated by smart intelligent machines that employ AI. But It’s not just physical labour, but even white-collar jobs are also being transformed because of AI.
We are currently facing a healthcare crisis across the world; AI can not only make healthcare better and more efficient but also give more people access to healthcare. A study by McKinsey found that the world can save over 100 billion dollars a year by using artificial intelligence and machine learning. A gadget, such as a Fitbit or an iWatch, collects a lot of data, such as an individual’s sleeping patterns, calories burned, heart rate, and so on, which may help in early detection, personalization, and even disease diagnosis. When combined with AI, this gadget can easily monitor and alert users about abnormal trends. This can even schedule a visit to the closest Doctor by itself and therefore, it’s also of great help to the doctors who can get help in making decisions and research with AI. It’s been used to forecast ICU transfers, enhance clinical processes, and even identify a patient’s risk of getting an infection in the hospital.
AI will revolutionise education; our educational system is out of date, having been designed many years ago for the aim of giving mass education to students in order to prepare them for specific types of professions. Schools must be reinvented, and AI has the potential to solve a variety of educational issues. Among these are automated marking software, content retention strategies, and suggestions for needed improvements. This can assist teachers in monitoring not just the kids’ academic performance but also their psychological, emotional, and physical well-being, as well as their overall growth. This would also aid in expanding education’s reach to places where trained educators are unavailable.
Artificial intelligence enables us to make sense of the vast volume of data we now have in the world. We have never had more data than what we have today and AI can help analyse it, identify patterns and even draw conclusions based on that data. Information, in general, has become more accessible and personalised because of AI. Our decisions, ideas, and temperament are all influenced by social media. All of this is because of artificial intelligence technologies that operate in the background, showing us posts we “might” enjoy and promoting items we “might” find useful based on our search and browsing history. With the introduction of OTT platforms, the entertainment industry now relies significantly on data gathered by users. AI technologies examine the contents of videos frame by frame, identifying things for which tags should be applied. AI is also assisting media companies in making strategic decisions.
The banking and finance industry was one of the first to employ artificial intelligence. The applications range from chatbots provided by banks, such as SIA by a depository financial institution in India, to intelligent robo-traders provided by Aidya and Nomura Securities for autonomous, high-frequency trading. AI bots, digital payment advisors, and biometric fraud detection technologies all contribute to improved service quality for a larger client base. AI in banking is constantly being adopted to remodel firms within the sector, provide more helpful and tailored experiences to consumers, minimise risks, and increase opportunities involving financial engines.
AI has the potential to accelerate global efforts to protect the environment and conserve resources by detecting energy emission reductions, CO2 removal, helping develop greener transportation networks, monitoring deforestation, and predicting extreme weather conditions. When combined with satellite imagery, AI can detect changes in land use, vegetation, forest cover, and the fallout of natural disasters. AI can gather data from ocean locations that are hard or impossible to reach and thus, help protect species and habitats. With the applications of AI, various environmental challenges like climate change, conservation of biodiversity, pollution, ocean health, weather, and disaster resilience can be addressed.
There are some apprehensions about the increased use of artificial intelligence as well. Since AI algorithms are built by humans, they can have built-in bias by those who either intentionally or inadvertently introduce them into the algorithm. If AI algorithms are built with a bias or the data in the training sets, they are given to learn from is biased, they will produce results that are biased. Wealth inequality, AI terrorism, accelerated hacking are other such concerns.
From self-driving vehicles to the sensory control of devices, the amalgamation of AI and cognitive automation has the potential to create an autonomous world. AI is here to stay in the world, it has and will continue to impact all aspects of human existence both in a positive and negative way but if the plans for increasing the applicability of AI are in accordance with the sustainable development goals, it has the potential to create a better and a more habitable world.
Author & Illustrator: Anirudh Verma
Supervisor: Professor Alka Kacker, Convenor, 180 DC Hansraj
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