The pros of AI
Over the next few years, we can expect AI to take over the consumer, business and public sector landscape with many technologists predicting we will soon be surrounded by IoT devices with the ability to speed up complex tasks and perform mundane ones too. Many of the benefits offered by AI will centre around the workplace.
Improved efficiency
Data is now as important to business as oil once was and there is a necessity to process this data accurately and quickly for real-time results. A great example of this type of artificial intelligence is being utilised by DeepMind to diagnose sight-threatening eye conditions on the same level of accuracy as the world’s top clinicians.
Alongside UCL’s Institute of Ophthalmology and London-based Moorfields Eye Hospital, their research could lead the way for the rollout of AI systems in hospitals throughout the UK. Thanks to the AI system, doctors can spend less time studying thousands of eye scans and can help diagnose patients within seconds.
Eradicating human error
Even the best of us are prone to errors, whether it’s a lapse in concentration or a simple mistake. However, an artificially intelligent machine built to carry out a specific task does not display these idiosyncrasies.
Online grocer Ocado employs automated machines in its warehouse, where it controls thousands of robots, communicating with them 10 times a second to coordinate the logistics of hundreds of thousands of crates.
Smart technology
Similar to Ocado, AI will be utilised in the future to power many of our automated services. These could be smart cities that are predicted to improve our environments, or self-driving cars that use AI to navigate roads and assess obstructions.
An AI machine’s ability to process large data sets quickly and accurately will be vital for many smart technologies and environment to operate. An example of this is already in operation on many top range smartphones, where AI operates in the background constantly tweaking the phone’s settings for maximum performance or battery life.
The cons of AI
For every act of good a new or existing technology offers, that can also be turned on its head and be used for nefarious purposes, or simply bad side effects. AI is no different in this respect.
In 2016, an industry-wide organisation including five Silicon Valley giants was formed, known as the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society. This body works to promote the fair and ethical development of artificial intelligence technologies that have the potential to bring as much disruption as it will benefit.
Decision-making AI in the workplace
The speed and efficiency of certain AI-programmes make them appealing to executives looking to find more value across their organisation.
IBM’s Watson has been used to decide if employees are worthy of a pay rise, a bonus, or a promotion by looking at the experience and past projects of employees to judge the qualities and skills that individuals might provide to the company in the future.
Decision-making software used in this way has caused some concern. The Trades Union Congress, the federation that represents the majority of trade unions in the UK, recently called for legislative changes to safeguard employees against this kind of technology. It also recommended that employers consult trade unions before deploying such systems.
“Our prediction is that left unchecked, the use of AI to manage people will also lead to work becoming an increasingly lonely and isolating experience, where the joy of human connection is lost,” TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said.
Job losses
AI replacing human workers is widely regarded as the number one downside to AI, potentially resulting in widespread lay-offs as employees struggle to outperform machines.
However, while this doom and gloom scenario is often peddled, Gartner predicts that AI will create more jobs than it takes. In research published in 2017, the analyst said it expects AI to create 2.3 million jobs by 2020, and eliminate a further 1.8 million.
“Many significant innovations in the past have been associated with a transition period of temporary job loss, followed by recovery, then business transformation and AI will likely follow this route,” said Svetlana Sicular, a Gartner research vice president.
“Unfortunately, most calamitous warnings of job losses confuse AI with automation – that overshadows the greatest AI benefit – AI augmentation – a combination of human and artificial intelligence, where both complement each other.”
A recent study from PwC also argued that AI will create just as many jobs as it culls. However, the report detailed that the new technologies will have an uneven effect on industries.
Where sectors like healthcare and education were predicted to benefit, laborious positions such as manufacturing and transportation operators were estimated to see the largest decreases in jobs. Former chess world champion Garry Kasparov has said these jobs losses were necessary to progress, arguing that it is outweighed by the societal good that AI can achieve.
Human error
Although AI can virtually remove human error from processes, it can still exist in the code, along with bias and prejudice. Being largely algorithm-based, the technology can be coded to have a negative impact on certain demographics and discriminate against people.
Worryingly, if security is not 100%, hackers can take advantage of AI’s thirst for knowledge. For example, Microsoft’s ill-fated chatbot, Tay Tweets, had to be taken down after only 16 hours, after it started to tweet racist and inflammatory content ideas it repeated from other Twitter users.
Responsible use of AI
There is a great deal to be positive about when it comes to AI. Of course, like any new or emerging technology that has the power to disrupt, individuals and organisations must also be mindful of the pitfalls.
But being mindful of the downsides does not mean becoming blinkered to the benefits. Indeed, decision-makers have been warned against doing just this or else risk losing out on the benefits on offer.
“Look at how you are using technology today during critical interactions with customers – business moments – and consider how the value of those moments could be increased. Then apply AI to those points for additional business value,” said Whit Andrews, distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner.
“AI projects face unique obstacles due to their scope and popularity, misperceptions about their value, the nature of the data they touch and cultural concerns. To surmount these hurdles, CIOs should set realistic expectations, identify suitable use cases and create new organisational structures.”
Gartner advises that business and IT leaders should endeavour to cut the AI hype away from the reality by carefully considering and weighing up the opportunities vs risks. Obsessively focusing on automation, rather than the bigger picture, will only obscure the wider benefits, the analyst firm warns.
Sage advice indeed. Let’s leave the final word to someone whose entire remit is to focus on what the future holds – whether it’s good, bad or inherently ugly.
“Everything we love about civilisation is a product of intelligence,” said Max Tegmark, president of the Future of Life Institute.
“Amplifying our human intelligence with artificial intelligence has the potential of helping civilisation flourish like never before as long as we manage to keep the technology beneficial.”
