rh2010/stock.adobe.com
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is that this technology will improve us. So I think instead of artificial intelligence, we’re going to expand our intelligence.” -Ginni Rometty, Executive Chairman of IBM
Artificial Intelligence (AI) conjures up legitimate and irrational fears such as job losses, machine takeovers and insurmountable skills gaps. On the other hand, there are also countless reasons to be intrigued and excited about the next level of business and technology innovation that is available to us with AI. As a technologist leading my company to deliver next-generation business and technology solutions to clients, I am involved in the development and delivery of new AI solutions and understand their potential to impact our future. Our lives will continue to be enriched by advanced digital technologies, so the best approach is to familiarize yourself with them and then get started.
how far is too far
The most recent AI to capture our global imagination is ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer), launched by OpenAI in November 2022. This solution made us aware that AI will continue to challenge us at all levels for supremacy in our ways of living and being human. In the past few months, this advanced chatbot has pushed the boundaries of intelligence we hold dear. While AI doesn’t hinder human intelligence, it can transform how problems are approached and solved, depending on how much you rely on it. The biggest challenge and question for us is how far we should go. The simplest answer is that we should go as far as possible.
AI then and now
If you’re old enough, you’ll probably remember competitions between the IBM Watson AI natural language solution and some of the greatest minds in the world. Watson was set to compete on the game show Jeopardy and won the $1 million grand prize in 2011. After people were beaten, IBM switched the use of the technology to research and treatment of lung cancer in 2013. Today, Watson AI is embedded in advertising, children’s toys, cooking apps, building code solutions, electronic teaching materials, smart fashion, tax prep and more. A decade since IBM Watson took the lead, ChatGPT has overtaken traditional search engines to create conversational interactions with users that far exceed any previous AI solution. Comparisons between the two solutions are natural.
The biggest differences between the two giant AI solutions are training data, models, use cases, integration and costs. First, the amount of training data used by ChatGPT is superior to any AI solution in history, processing hundreds of billions of parameters compared to IBM Watson’s few billion parameters. Second, IBM Watson mainly uses rules-based AI models, while ChatGPT uses deep learning. Third, use cases for IBM Watson are embedded in healthcare, finance, customer service and more, while ChatGPT is primarily used for text generation and language translation – for now. Fourth, the integration possibilities for both solutions are handled via APIs. Fifth, both AI solutions use subscription-based pricing models with free versions of ChatGPT available online. Given the ability of both solutions to learn and grow without human intervention, we will no doubt see unimaginable applications in the near future.
productivity gains
As with all artificial things, too much AI can lead to a decrease in human skills like critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are two of our most important cognitive human traits. Several industries rely heavily on AI for productivity gains and have displaced millions of jobs and workers while creating millions of new jobs in industries such as healthcare, finance, retail, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, customer service, security and energy – to name a few to call .
AI in healthcare supports medical diagnosis, drug discovery, patient monitoring, and treatment planning. AI in retail helps with demand forecasting, inventory management, personalized marketing and product recommendations. Manufacturing benefits from AI through predictive maintenance, quality control, supply chain optimization, process optimization, and supply chain management. AI in transportation and logistics supports route planning, delivery optimization, fleet management, autonomous vehicles and delivery management. AI chatbots for customer service, speech recognition, and natural language processing are popular solutions. Security uses AI for face and object recognition, intrusion detection and cyber security. The energy sector uses AI for predictive maintenance, demand forecasting and power generation optimization. This list provides a glimpse of some ways AI is being used to focus on productivity gains as we move through the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
More jobs, not fewer
A recent article published by the World Economic Forum notes that AI will lead to significant long-term job growth in the coming years, as 50% of the global workforce, or 1 billion workers, will need to be upskilled or upskilled by 2025 to keep up with demand – a gigantic task, to be sure. The collaboration of companies, institutions and governments will usher in a new landscape of knowledge workers who will continue to evolve the way we think, live and work. A similar approach was needed during the internet revolution, when fear entered the zeitgeist. Ultimately, the Internet has created more jobs than technology has eliminated.
There are countless examples of AI in our everyday lives, from digital assistants like Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and Google Assistant that interact with us by executing commands or making recommendations, to notifications that remind us to exercise that Limiting screen time or taking our medication on time. Research predicts productivity increases of up to 40% by 2035 due to the influence of AI in developed countries like Sweden, the United States and Japan. AI can help us save time by taking over repetitive tasks that slow us down, like data processing, process simplification, and search engine compilation. All of these tasks are possible with ChatGPT, although the tool instructions warn of possible errors.
Save time to live
Don’t worry, AI and ChatGPT will help us save time. By using these solutions to help us with repetitive tasks, we can spend more time living than working. Although AI solutions are capable of performing advanced human cognitive tasks such as digital art, content creation, research, language translation, essay writing, resume and cover letter writing, and coding, humanity has the greatest task of all – to evolve . Let us begin.
