Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Foe?

by Arnav Ramamurthy

Wiki Commons

Artificial Intelligence is still in early stages, however as humans continue to advance in technological fields, AI may be much more prevalent in the future and may be part of everyday life. The AI market is set to grow to a $190 billion industry by 2025. In the future, driverless cars may seem normal, and there may be robots designed to do household chores such as cleaning and cooking. This seems like a very exciting future, but AI can be dangerous as well, according to some, if used for the wrong reasons or if they surpass human intelligence and develop their own emotions and feelings. It might seem like the plot of a science-fiction film, but some people are convinced that if we are not careful and continue to make AI more intelligent, this may be an important issue in the future. In this speech I will explore the advantages and disadvantages of using AI.

Personally, I think Artificial Intelligence is very useful, and helps to make our lives easier. One benefit is the reduction of human error. The phrase ‘human error’ was born because humans make mistakes sometimes, and no human is completely perfect. AI, if programmed properly, will not make these mistakes, and would always give correct solutions to problems such as maths questions. An example of where this would be useful is weather forecasting; AI has already reduced the majority of human error in weather forecasting. Another benefit of AI is using them as employees for a company. Humans would usually require breaks and times of refreshment. On the contrary, a robot would have the ability to work 24 hours a day without taking any breaks. This would make them much more efficient and useful for employers. Furthermore, robots would not need to be paid a salary or a wage, which would save a lot of money for the employer long-term. In addition, robots could do many jobs which humans find boring or repetitive, such as verifying bank documents. Robots would do these jobs much quicker and more efficiently, benefitting both the customer and the employer/owner. Robots can also provide digital assistance for customers with queries or problems with a company’s services. Many organisations have already started to use ‘voice bots’ or ‘chat bots’, which can help the customer 24/7 and prevents the need for a customer support team.

However, there are also some downsides to using AI. One disadvantage of using AI is the high cost of creation and the constant need to repair, maintain and update the machinery. It would cost a lot of money to create the robot, due to the fact that they are very complex to make and require constant updates and maintenance breaks. One ethical reason AI might be bad for humans is the fact that it could make humans ‘lazy’. In the future, the majority of work would be automated, which would mean that it wouldn’t be necessary for humans to do work manually. This could also lead to a rise in unemployment levels, as most organisations are looking to replace the minimum qualified individuals with AI robots (63% of businesses say that pressure to reduce costs will require them to use AI in the future). Humans could also become addicted to these inventions, which would be a problem for future generations. Another setback for the use of AI would be that they would lack out of the box thinking. Robots will only do what they are programmed to, and if you ask them to do anything other than that they tend to crash, read an error message or give irrelevant outputs, which would be a major drawback.

In conclusion, AI could be very useful for the future, and could help humans out a lot. However, there are some setbacks that could discourage businesses and individuals to use Artificial Intelligence, such as the high cost of creation and upkeep. In my opinion, AI would be very useful for the future and could prove to be ideal for businesses. However, I understand why some businesses or individuals would not be inclined to spend thousands or even millions on this new and developing technology.