Fear of AI

Almost every AI movie tells a similar story: the AI surpass the knowledge of human and they attempt to take over the world. Due to this negative perception of AI in the media, we often immediately jump to the conclusion that AI can do more harm than good in our lives. However, people underestimate how much AI is already integrated into our lives and assisting us without us even knowing. Perhaps if we explore this option further, it can help us remove the lingering fear we have within against AI.

Starting with the virtual assistant AI such as Siri, Alexa, and Cortana, these technologies involve assisting our daily lives from mundane tasks such as setting the alarm to more complex demands such as ordering things online. The support we receive from these assistants almost feel like a personal secretary helping us organize our lives and removing the burden of daily tasks. We can also acknowledge the fact that these AI assistants also help the need of many disabled people who might have trouble completing some of the basic tasks.

Another sector that has been significantly affected by AI is the customer support industry. Often, if you call any customer support center, the first thing you hear is the voice of an AI. This AI will help you navigate through your options and even meet your need before requiring any assistance from a representative. By allocating some of the work from human to AI, human resources can be focused on more complex issues and therefore saving thousands of dollars for the companies. This same concept can also be applied in the medical industry where a simple diagnosis can be completed by AI while more intriguing symptoms can be saved for an actual doctor.

AI has definitely been helpful in removing the burden of less significant tasks and it will continue to do so as our definition of “less significant” tasks become more complex. Although there exist fears where AI can threaten our roles, perhaps we can focus on how to create a mutually beneficial relationship with it resulting in a brighter future where AI and human can better the world together.

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