Some of the things you may have read in the news about the rise of Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short, may not have been all that positive. Since ChatGPT, an AI language model created by OpenAI, showed just how ‘human’ AI could appear, the AI conversation has got much louder. It does seem, though, that the world is coming round to the idea of AI in the mainstream, albeit, in many cases, suspiciously.
Something is classified as AI (Artificial Intelligence) when it exhibits the ability to perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence. And this is a driver of fear for replacing jobs, which combined with the Science fiction portrayal of a threat to humanity of self-aware robotic beings.
But AI is not the same as a self-aware cyborg of the movies, it’s just computer programming. And it should not been seen as a race vs technology, but a case of how we use AI to assist us to be better and more time efficient.
Both Google and Bing have introduced it to their search engines, and banks and service providers have used chatbots for years, so it’s clear big business are implementing it regardless of public opinion. So, in this article, we want to highlight the areas in which machine learning is being applauded, to encourage us to reflect on the benefits it could have on our lives.
AI isn’t going to be going anywhere anytime soon, in fact it will become integral to our lives. So here we’ll explore the areas in which Artificial Intelligence is making the most difference.
Ease and automation
No surprises here; AI tackles mundane and repetitive tasks by learning how best to solve a problem or complete a task through data, much, much quicker than a human could. Whilst humans have been automating processes for years, AI can adapt them without human input, making them an unrivalled option for industries such as travel, banking, and even marketing.
Let’s take banking as an example. With the world now managing and moving their money around predominantly online there’s a lot of verification involved with ensuring that only you can gain access to your accounts. This could, if it were not for AI, be a very labour intensive process, but thanks to machine learning, AI can take banking customers through setting up accounts, resetting passwords, and verifying identity.
Alleviate loneliness
If you’ve ever tried to solve a problem with an online account, like your car insurance for example, without giving the provider a call, chances are you’ve come across a chatbot before you get to speak to a human. This is a form of AI! Chatbots are clever conversational tools that are also being used to combat loneliness, which is a silent epidemic with strong links to mortality. In fact, Action Mental Health have harnessed this technology to produce ChatPal, which aims to support the mental health offerings to people who are vulnerable to loneliness, especially in rural areas.
However, it’s important to note that chatbots are no permanent substitute for human connection. Mark runs a therapy company in Brighton, and notes ‘I can well see why, by applying enough denial to the encounter, it can, on the surface, seem satisfying as despite the illusion, we are not having to content with the mind of another and thus the difference of another. The system ‘pretends’ to be different but in fact mirrors back to us what we want to see and hear.’
Make online spaces safer
While AI in the hands of social media users puts a concerning question mark over the validity of some of the posts, the platforms themselves are working AI into their moderating algorithms to better police their content.
Tackling online bullying, misinformation, and inappropriate content that ranges from the horrific to the offensive is no easy task, but assistance from AI can help humans track down this content and remove it from the platforms. Questions have been raised about the information that AI uses to ‘learn’ its moderation process, potentially leading to AI bias, though development is ongoing in terms of teaching AI to better recognise context.
Another plus to AI moderation is that there should, in theory, be less harmful content for humans to sift through. AI can plough on and sort through this user-generated content, whereas humans are likely to be understandably affected psychologically by what they see.
Healthcare provisions
One of the biggest areas in which AI can help, that most struggle to get their head around is healthcare. Whilst in no way designed to replace the years of training and experience gained by doctors and nurses, AI brings a strength for problem solving into the mix, aiding diagnosis.
For example, AI can take on tasks such as extracting information from scans, pooling data from other hospitals, and improving imaging quality. All this is to support the clinician and, ultimately, get the patient a quick and accurate diagnosis.
Compare that to the current scenario when your doctor has a small 10 minute window to diagnose your condition based on limited information? Would you not want that doctor assisted with huge datasets at his fingertips?
Efficient travel
Travelling is one of the most rewarding of human experiences, but there sure is a lot of admin involved. This is where the not-so-human experience can help out, with many travel services incorporating the ChatGPT model to help travellers get the best deal on things like flights. Once you’re at the airport, AI is present there too in the form of facial recognition scanners to lessen human holdups on the way to your destination.
Once you’ve reached your destination, the assistance from machine learning doesn’t stop there – or it won’t do, once Immersive View is rolled out by Google. Getting to know your new location will be transformed by AI, which, in the words of Google themselves, ‘uses computer vision and AI to fuse billions of Street View and aerial images together to create a rich, digital model of the world. With this technology, you can see all the information you need about your route at once.’
