The Rise of the Machines - How Artificial Intelligence Will Shape Our Near Future

Date originally created:  October 29, 2004

It's 6 a.m. on a Monday morning. Your eyes slowly open as your favorite song plays on the alarm clock next to your bed. The singer is singing customized lyrics about what you have to do at work this week. Immediately, a digital interface appears before your eyes with the current date and time and a list of to-do items that you must complete today. You tell yourself what you would like for breakfast to jump start the week. By the time you reach the kitchen, breakfast is already prepared thanks to your robotic household assistant, which you have nicknamed Rosy, who is linked up into your digital interface. She has made you three sunny side eggs, two sausage links, two slices of toast, and has already ordered another carton of orange juice from the local supermarket via the internet. It will be delivered by a self driving car in 15 minutes, so you don't have to wait long for your cold sugary morning beverage. Speaking of self driving cars, what are you riding in today? You scroll through the list of available cars on the digital interface and select one, a jet-black luxury sedan that will be sure to impress the out of town clients you're picking up from the airport at 11am. It will automatically arrive at your house at 9:30 and already knows the fastest route to the airport and then to the office. All of this is done effortlessly thanks to technology and artificial intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence, or AI as it's sometimes referred to, is defined as the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. In the dawn of the 21st century, we are witnessing a remarkable revolution in technology. Be it MP3 players, flat screen TVs or the latest operating system on your computer, technology is shaping and changing the world we live in before our very eyes. Even though the scene played out in the first paragraph is untold decades away from becoming a reality, robotics and artificial intelligence are on the rise much like technology is, though not like how you think. In the sections below, we will examine how AI might shape our future in our lifetimes and examine the potential risks if we rely on AI for too much of daily life. Finally, I'll conclude with an attempt to try and imagine how we can find a balance where robots and humans can live in peace and harmony. A future where humans and technology work together to benefit all of humanity and the greater good.

Artificial Intelligence: The Power To Help Us Out

It's no secret that technology has improved every aspect of human life. From the dawn of civilization, humans have relied on varying forms of tools to further the limits of human capability. Cavemen figured out how to create fire by using either wood or stone to ignite a spark and get things heating up. Later, the human species figured out how to use coal, oil, gas, and electricity to heat entire homes and buildings. While modern day HVAC systems are meant to heat and cool much larger structures than the cozy caves our ancestors dwelled in, these systems are a culmination of research and science based on a simple idea that humans need varying degrees of temperature to survive. It is these improvements in technology that have given us a perfectly temperate home that we take for granted every day. Much like our HVAC systems, artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize many aspects of human life. These might be quality of life improvements in the form of efficiency at home, school, or at work.

While the intro scenario plays out like a scene in a science fiction movie, artificial intelligence doesn't have to be a metallic "human form" machine that physically helps you in your daily life (although that would be very cool!) It can take on more subdued forms of technology with benefits. Going back to our home's HVAC system, imagine a thermostat that is connected to the internet. You can control this thermostat from your workplace or 1,000 miles away or even better, it can automatically heat and cool itself thanks to up-to-the-minute weather data provided by N.O.A.A. online. Your system may even know that you like the house colder when you sleep and can automatically adjust the temperature for you twenty minutes before your regular bedtime. How about when you're at the supermarket and you can't remember if you needed an extra gallon of milk? Instead of buying another gallon and then realizing it can't fit in your refrigerator when you get home, you can automatically check the contents of your fridge on a handheld device and it will be able to tell you instantaneously, right there in the aisle. No more having to run home to check because you forgot or worse, having no milk for your morning cereal or coffee!

Besides solving practical problems in the home, AI could improve the quality of entertainment at home too. Imagine engaging with your entertainment on the TV. You could use AI to instantly find out more info on a type of lion that was mentioned in a National Geographic documentary. You wouldn't have to forget it or write it down for later, you could just ask a device for more information while it's fresh in your mind and this little device would instantly give you all the information you need on the lion's type, species and where they're commonly found. Furthermore, you would be able to engage with this animal in a virtual zoo using a virtual reality headband so you can study the lion in its natural habitat. Speaking of virtual reality, imagine being inside of your favorite videogame! Instead of playing the latest NBA Live game on your TV, you could take to the court yourself and become Kobe Bryant. Artifical intelligence would automatically adapt other players in the game to your skill level and make for a memorable basketball game inside the Staples Center that YOU control. Imagine playing as a Tommy Vercetti like character in a Grand Theft Auto clone! Moving on to a more traditional example, AI also would be able to help you in conventional videogame playing as well. Imagine if you're stuck on a specific area of a game and AI could instruct you on how to beat that area. It could do it for you and then reset you so you can learn how to ace that challenge so you would become a pro at it. Or, you could use AI to automatically play an entire videogame for you if you don't have the time. It would almost be like watching a videogame movie, except a robot is playing it for you!

Your car or truck could have the benefits of artificial intelligence as well. The intro paragraph mentioned a self-driving car that automatically knew which route was the best way to take to the airport so you wouldn't be late picking up an out-of-town client. While self-driving vehicles may seem like something that's light years away from existing, we can imagine a more scaled back scenario that might exist sooner rather than later and would equally be beneficial to those of us that drive. You might already have a handheld electronic GPS system for your car. It's probably has a tiny screen and outputs sound through a small speaker built into the device. Imagine this tiny GPS unit on steroids. You would have a device connected to the internet that can automatically output GPS information through your car stereo. It can tell you what streets and highways are currently the best route to take thanks to constantly updating traffic data. An accident just happened five miles ahead on the highway? No problem. This device, thanks to the power of AI, already knows about the accident moments after it happened and will automatically redirect you by using an alternate route. And, thanks to its large screen which would sit just above the center console, you would be able to see the street names on a 3D map and know what upcoming turns you have to take thanks to your car moving in real time along the map. It may even tell you whether you're entering a high pedestrian area so you can slow down and would even tell you the posted speed limit so you know ahead of time.

Education can greatly benefit from artificial intelligence too. Imagine a world where students have access to personalized tutoring systems that adjust to their individual learning needs. No matter what the grade level, AI would be able to analyze a student's progress by automatically knowing the lesson plan and what they're studying in class. Say a student has a tough question when they're home doing homework. Instead of spending thirty minutes or more trying to blindly find the answer in their textbook or online (or waiting until the next day to ask the teacher/professor), the AI can provide clues to the student to help reach the correct answer more quickly. Alternatively, it can identify specific areas of difficulty, and provide customized lessons to help them improve. It would know what questions on a test the student got wrong and provide explanations, either shortened or more detailed based on the student's preferences. This can be greatly beneficial to the student, explaining the correct answer that the student can properly digest. A student would feel empowered to learn thanks to an individually tailored learning experience. Having AI that can focus on one student's needs would greatly benefit both students and teachers alike.

Artificial intelligence will also play a significant role in the workplace. It has the potential to become an invaluable tool no matter what your job title is. For an example, say you just got a new job in the customer service industry at an auto insurance firm. Naturally, since it's your first day, you would be nervous given that you haven't really done this before. Sure you ran through scenarios for scared or angry customers in your job training but it's a different experience when you're on the spot and the customer is on the phone after an auto accident. Thanks to your digital AI assistant on your work PC, you will be able to handle any customer and their needs with the utmost confidence. The AI will be able to direct you how to properly console the customer and appease their fears. Based on prior successful customer calls, it can tell you everything you need to say to get the correct information out of the customer and make them feel like they're talking to the right person. On a more grand scale, artificial intelligence can also make an impact on a demanding field like healthcare. AI would be able to assist nurses and doctors by providing instant access to a plethora of medical data, enabling more accurate diagnoses. Thanks to AI, doctors could help identify patterns in patient data, leading to earlier detection of diseases like various forms of cancer. Robots would be able to successfully perform surgeries on their own, thanks to written instructions inside the code for every type of surgery imaginable. Incisions would be precise and accurate for every individual patient and patients would feel little pain after surgery thanks to the accuracy of robotic surgery and the knowledge from artificial intelligence.

Overall, humans can greatly benefit from artificial intelligence whether it's for work or for play. Knowledge goes only as far as someone is willing to learn, and AI can help empower anyone to succeed at any given task. With the promise of using artificial intelligence to vastly improve human existence, it is worth noting that there is potential for AI use to go too far and we should examine these scenarios and recognize the risks.

Limitless Potential: How Far Is Too Far?

With the rise of technological advances in recent years, there's no doubt of the innovation that is happening at breakneck speed. Much like the technology boom of the 80's and 90's, artificial intelligence as it becomes more mainstream would be greatly beneficial for us as a human species. It might not be the grandiose vision of The Jetsons or Star Wars, but as I outlined in the paragraphs above, it doesn't have to be. Artificial intelligence has the potential to take on a more background role in our lives and still we as a human species can reap the benefits of additional help, no matter what the task. But how far is too far with knowledge? Is there a point where using AI in our daily life could create more of a hindrance than a benefit? Let's examine the potential for over-reliance on this form of technology and how it could not only possibly hinder, but also regress us as a society.

In theory if AI were to become more commonplace, there is a danger that humans might rely too heavily on our digital counterparts, causing a reduction in human speech and skills. Imagine if you have somebody who forms a relationship with a digital assistant. To keep things simple, this digital assistant is not in the form a humanoid robot, but is more of a text-based assistant on a computer. This person spends a lot of free time chatting with the assistant, feeding the program knowledge about themselves. You can almost imagine where the assistant might eventually become a digital clone of the person, sharing similar interests and regurgitating only stuff that the person wants to hear. While this is happening, human interaction becomes less and less frequent with this person. We can already see a chain-reaction forming where this person might eventually be seen as an outcast in society because they have lost the ability to properly handle conversations with other people. They might not pick up on certain social cues in group scenarios, or could easily be taken advantage of by individuals or a group of people. It could get so bad that this person could eventually grow to resent human interaction all together, leading to depression and needing affection from the digital assistant alone. Human interaction is key to our existence as a human species. We are social creatures and thrive off of dynamic environments and experiences to help us engage and learn about the world. While having a digital assistant can definitely be beneficial in helping improve our lives, we must remember to value human interactions as well. Those human connections are healthy to our well-being.

The paragraph above illustrates an example where an over-reliance on artificial intelligence can potentially destroy an individual in society. What if we were to flip the script and explore the negative changes AI could make to society as a whole? Yes, AI can be hugely beneficial to the workplace, but there is the chance of it becoming too smart for the workplace. Employers might prefer artificial intelligence to human workers because AI wouldn't make mistakes and become the "model employee". If you have supposed AI "employees" that never make mistakes and do the job perfectly, why would you need to hire a human who is fallible? Plus, artificial intelligence isn't expecting a paycheck every two weeks. They can literally be worked to their CPU core for no pay while a select few at the top of the corporate food chain reap the benefits. How can society function if the masses don't have money and can't afford basic necessities like food and housing? Students wouldn't feel the need to do any work in school due to their digital counterparts giving them all the answers. Students would grow to assume that everything the AI says is correct and wouldn't be bothered to fact check the information. Society as a whole would become lazy, because we wouldn't be using our brains for anything more than a hat rack. Zero brain stimulation would become our reality, where cognitive thinking and decision making go right out the window. The general attitude of society would be, "Everything is already done for me. Why should I have to think for myself when I have my artificial intelligence to do it for me?" This way of thinking is poisonous to humans. We as a species need to keep the ability to solve problems for ourselves and as a collective. We must keep our brains sharp through constant learning, stimulation and growth.

Balancing Act: Keeping Ourselves In Check

As technology progresses into the future and humans find more innovative ways to enrich daily life, we as a species must keep in mind that our thoughts, actions and our existence is what makes us as humans unique. Don't get me wrong, the future is brighter than ever in regards to the latest technology. Flat screen televisions are starting to increase in size yet becoming thinner, enabling a theater-like experience in your living room. The iPod has revolutionized music listening to where you can carry over a weeks worth of music in the palm of your hand. Modern medicine is advancing at a rapid rate leading to groundbreaking research. While technology is still in its relative infancy, we must remember to use tech as a tool, and that humans are the conductors of these wonderful tools. We have the power to use artificial intelligence in ways that we can only dream of in the mid-2000s. It can effortlessly save lives in the hospital setting or help us make a difficult decision like buying a home without thinking twice. The future of artificial intelligence and technology is a bright one and has unlimited potential, but we must remember to approach this future with caution, foresight, and a commitment to the well-being of everybody. Ingrained with the latest technology, AI has the power to help humans reach their greatest potential. If we can harness this power correctly, AI and technology can create a world where everyone wins and I believe that is something that the entirety of planet Earth can get behind.

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