On the potential of the Internet, Anthony Rutkowski, “a de facto global spokesman for all things cyberspace,” told the Washington Post in February 1996, “These technologies are going to profoundly affect the way we perceive our humanity. We all have ideas to share and stories to tell and now we really can.”
There were also pessimists like Sidney Perkowitz who wrote In the May/June 1996 issue of The American Prospect, “Aimless chat is the insidious seduction of the Internet; it can replace inward contemplation and real experience.”
Now, AI is currently in a similar phase. From being a sci-fi fantasy it has evolved and fast, to a real-world super utility. While there are those who still look at AI and Machine Learning technologies as something to be wary of. Underneath all the chatter though, there is the hope of a better future.
#1 Disruption of AI in Retail
Over the past four years, the application of AI has increased by up to 270% across many sectors. Additionally, it was expected that the use of AI across various business operations may help retailers save over $340 billion by 2022, and it did.
This in itself is a testament to the great future of AI in the retail industry. Companies like Amazon are testing AI amalgamated with drones for delivery in less than 30 minutes. The future of AI in retail is bound to be more autonomous and individualized which will further provide more choices to consumers.
#2 Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
AI will be crucial in preventing close to 86% of errors in the healthcare sector. AI coupled with predictive analytics can be used to better understand how numerous circumstances such as place of birth; dietary habits, etc. affect health. Future healthcare systems will likely use AI to predict when a person is most likely to acquire a chronic illness and recommend preventative medication to treat it before it worsens.
However, if we take a different perspective, the “QR-based Health code” example in China and Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have also raised the issue of who is in charge of the system—the user or the machine.
#3 AI & Job Opportunities
Since the advent of AI, it has been a common fear that AI will leave people jobless. But that’s not the whole truth. We may envision a more comfortable future for ourselves in which new occupations will be created rather than eliminated by artificial intelligence.
While it is true that AI will eliminate repetitious jobs, it is also true that AI will create twice as many jobs as it eliminates. This is evidence of the claim made in a recent report by the World Economic Forum that AI will generate 58 million new employments by 2022. In fact, India’s AI workforce has increased by almost three times since last year, which is encouraging given the country’s promising future.
To Conclude:
AI is undoubtedly here to stay and penetrate further.
FeiFei Li, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford Universityhad this to say, “I imagine a world in which AI is going to make us work more productively, live longer, and have cleaner energy.”
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