Artificial Intelligence: Peek Into The Future Through VUCA’s Lens
“People are usually afraid of change because they fear the unknown. But the single greatest constant of history is that everything changes.” ―Yuval Noah Harari in Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
The future and changes. Two words that can never be disassociated. The constant rate of change sometimes overwhelms and triggers an anxiety for numbers of people. The uncertainty of what might occur in the future also continues to haunt our minds. But, what really causes this? The answer does vary from one person to another, but we can trace it all the way back to where this problem stems from: technological advancement.
Entering the 21st century, the advancement of technology is in its super exponential phase. Twenty years ago, we — especially Indonesians—were not even familiar with the word “internet”. Now in 2020, we’re already in a talk about the development of cashless society, Internet of Things integration, and the most controversial one — artificial intelligence or AI.
How does artificial intelligence impact us?
The development of artificial intelligence is believed to have started as early as the 1950s and has been taking the world by storm in the last decade. In today’s society, its application can be found in broad range of sectors as shown in the figure above. From automotive digital marketing to education to entertainment, we cannot deny that AI is a sort of “boon” for the society. But all of those advancements raise questions about its course in our future. Will it bring humanity to prosperity? Or will it “take over the world from us”?
To be able to answer those sort of questions, we can put it in the perspective of VUCA, which stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. That way, we can buckle ourselves up for what can possibly come ahead.
The volatile state of AI
Just like the growth of technology in general, artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing every second. Ten years ago, I only knew artificial intelligence as a computer-controlled character in a video game, but now it can be found in SIRI, camera facial recognition, self-driving Tesla cars, and much more. It’s fluctuating and ever-changing state will surely provides challenges for our generations to quickly adapt to it.
The vague and uncertain future of AI
The future of AI is in the circumstances of what military tropes name it: “fog of war”. We still have limited information about what advantages and disadvantages it brings if we take artificial intelligence research and development even further. Make a wrong move and it would mean a disaster for humanity. From personal data leak to invasion of privacy, yes, AI can really be that dangerous.
The mind-blowing complexity behind AI
In theoretical computer science, AI is basically a mathematical model of human intellect. Its “brain” is made of thousands sets of complex algorithms which are then fed with large arrays of data including certain inputs and corresponding outputs. This complexity alone is enough to make lay people hesitant to learn and comprehend artificial intelligence.
The double-edged sword of AI
The biggest problem with AI is that it’s very difficult to create frameworks or safe practices that regulate the technology. We’re basically have limited control over their learning development. Hence, we cannot guarantee that they will do more good than harm toward us.
The most notable instance of the dangers of AI is the 2018 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. After Cambridge Analytica gained Facebook users' personal data, they engage a massive political advertising campaign for 2016 US Presidential Election with help of artificial intelligence to target the Facebook users based on their personal information. We can say that AI has played a role in our democracy and it is something to be concerned about.
Should we stop developing AI?
No. In fact, there is no point in halting the advancement of AI. Technological development is an inevitable thing, and so is artificial intelligence. So, how do we deal with it? Humans are among the most special, distinctive creatures out of millions species on Earth. We have the ability to adapt to change and survive in dire condition. What we need to do is adjust ourselves to technology.
The knowledge and comprehension of technology is obligatory in this 4.0 era. By mastering it, we could possibly collaborate ourselves with AI in doing our job, ultimately making us more effective and efficient. Because AI is such a powerful thing, a government regulation is needed to prevent it falling into the wrong hands.
As long as we can adapt to, collaborate with, and regulate artificial intelligence, it would be humanity’s biggest feat in technology.
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