Why it is important to understand, cope and move forward with Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence. This word is in everyone’s mouth, at the heart of a great number of companies’ strategies. Even us, at XXII, we believe in it and make it our vision, our bet on the future.
Even so, there’s no real definition to what AI is, and it triggers buried fears. For several reasons, legit or not.
The main one is about jobs and workforce. Is this fear justified? Really, no. But there are concerns that need to be adressed as soon as possible.
In fact, we are not ready yet for the automation revolution that’s coming. Let’s be real. Even if we don’t know everything that’s happening on the politics side, we do know the relevant questions are not asked. Nothing is being done while we know the EU is already late when it comes to AI operations. Also, deep down, AI is more of a social debate than a political one, and we are just getting trapped into a vicious circle. Society is waiting for answers and enlightenments from its politicians while these same politicians ignore fundamental issues and maintain the already accumulated backlogs compared to other countries.
It’s important to remember that all scientific advances are beneficial. It only depends on us to determine a positive outcome for humanity.
Also, we are living a logical tech evolution. It’s important to remember that all scientific advances are beneficial. It only depends on us to determine a positive outcome for humanity. It is better to accept AI, at least try to understand it and not avoid it. Because yes, it’s when we start to refute sciences that we begin to lose touch with innovation. Thus we slowly give up on our status as an economical leader country, because the technical and economical innovation only goes with scientific advance. If we remain in a denial state of mind, we take the risk to see our country, our economy move from an innovator position to a consumer position, which would be the situation of a third-world country.
So, what are the solutions? First, let’s stop waiting for our government to comfort us, reassure us. We need to push everybody to enter the debate. Employees, companies, infrastructures, institutions…. We are all concerned! We need to stop hoping for our politicians to understand and take decisions. They have a short-term vision (re-elections), while AI has a very long-term vision. The most possible outcome is that companies will make us feel more confident and lead the debate. It is risky but that’s our best shot to go fast and move forward.
Another key solution that has to start as soon as possible is to completely reform education and training. There’s a real lack of education on AI and robotics. It’s an intense and fast-changing topic, we think we know a lot about it when we are still pretty ignorant in reality. But it needs to change — the sooner our society will understand and apprehend the ins and outs of this tech transformation, the sooner we’ll be able to move forward, in the right direction.
Besides this societal aspect, it’s important to repeat that yes, automation will take some of our tasks, but also to keep in mind that AI will also and mostly allow us to have more time for other tasks. It will create new jobs that we probably don’t even think about yet. Think about the digital revolution and what kind of jobs it has created — community managers, digital managers, web and mobile developers, etc. The AI issue will soon be the same than the computers’ one a few years ago in the workplace. Let me explain — someone who doesn’t know how to use a computer will have a very hard time finding a job. It will be the same soon with AI. Most sectors and jobs will have to adapt and use this « companion » AI.
[…] It’s important to repeat that yes, automation will take some of our tasks, but also to keep in mind that AI will also and mostly allow us to have more time for other tasks.
To conclude, the question is not much to know if we are afraid of AI because the answer is no. However it is realistic to say that our society is afraid of its application. But it’s about time to stop wondering, start bypassing this fear of change and decision, take the risk and change our approach on work.
Well understood and apprehended, we truly believe that AI will become complementary to the Human, its extension. But there’s no way it will become its replacement.
