AI is growing almost faster than we can keep up. It has been shown in recent months and years how AI can do almost anything a human can do. Claims that they can do “anything a human can do but do it better,” are all over the internet. Using ML (machine learning) and NLP (natural language processing), it seems there is nothing that AI cannot achieve.
But warnings coming from tech geniuses like Elon Musk also remind us that there is more to it than we can imagine. Musk recently called AI “the most clear existentialist threat to humanity,” when asked about his concerns about AI.
It was reported last week that a lady was conned into believing her daughter was being kidnapped by an AI program that called her and had a recording of “the exact nuances of” her daughter’s voice. She was getting ready to wire thousands of dollars to the collar when the call was disrupted, according to some sources.
Despite the dangers, many industries are still going full-steam ahead with AI technologies.
AI is transforming many different industries in the world today. A few of the ways it is transforming the way we do things is listed below.
1. Manufacturing
AI has speeded up manufacturing so that the process of creating and distributing goods is several times more efficient than before. Manual labor tasks such as adding items to a product along the assembly line are already speeding up the manufacturing process exponentially. This promises to improve the revenue of literally thousands of companies who need the extra fast speed of AI to reach their manufacturing goals faster and more efficiently.
2. Marketing and Content Creation
AI is being used more efficiently today in marketing and content creation since the introduction of new and improved databases and specific programs such as Article Forge, ChatGPT, and others. However, the content market has been upset by the battle that is now raging in the writing and advertising sector as two camps of thought are now developing regarding the use of AI in writing and design.
In response to the numerous AI programs that now exist, many content writing companies are rushing to purchase AI scanners that reveal whether or not an AI program has assisted in the creation of the content and writers are often penalized if they did not own up to this.
It is clear that AI can never add the human touch that a person can, with all of the emotions and experiences of a person, but the AI creators are making it clear they want to attempt to improve it to the point of where it seems barely distinguishable from human-spun content.
3. HR and Talent Scouting
While AI may remain weak in writing and art, it seems to shine in fields such as human resourcing due to its reliance on a database that makes automatic connections and analysis on any topic. In the HR world, rather than waiting to speak to a person hiring, someone might first be “screened” by an AI machine that has certain specific filters applied to a candidate that allows it to screen out less likely candidates. This saves the time of the hiring personnel and saves money for the business owner. While at times, some potentially good candidates may be missed, many companies feel that the end justifies the means when it comes to eliminating the less likely matches.
4. Cyber Attacks and Threats
Another area AI seems to excel with is in the field of cyber threats and attacks. Since the parameters for potential threats can be written into the program and machine learning can “teach” AI computers to alert the system administrators when it senses a threat, this use of AI is considered one of the smartest ways to use artificial intelligence.
However, it should be noted that the chief concern here is that there will be false alarms that could result in downtime of the company network or innocent people being named as a threat if it was a false flag that incited the warning. Much is being done to eliminate false positives, and this will result in more accurate assessments by AI of an incoming invader.
5. Customer Relationship Management
The field of customer service has been greatly changed and enhanced by the use of AI, but there are also many challenges. Machine Learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) have created a customer experience that is quite “human-like,” but over half of the people asked about their AI experience reported a negative experience and stated that they preferred a human.
Technology will continue to improve and the potential for more advanced learning evolves. But developers should always keep in mind that the true customer experience is still better managed by a real human whose language and understanding far surpasses that of the AI bot.
AI can access a database, make more thorough analysis based on the data and form a conclusion at a faster rate than humans, but they cannot factor in important aspects like empathy, understanding, and circumstance in the equation. And that is pretty important to ignore.
6. Decision-Making
One of the more frightening fields that AI dares to tread these days has to do with decision-making. Human beings make errors, true. But they do so with a sound mind, a lifetime of experience, and a bit of ethics and morality. An AI machine or robot has none of these in its repertoire. It relies only on logic (as it understands it), the database it is connected to, and pragmatism. In other words, it does what it deems appropriate without considering the cost to anyone.
And since it is not vested in the human condition, it does not care if human beings are hurt by those decisions. For that reason, people should never leave important decisions that involve other people in the hands of AI. In some cases, this might mean people lose their jobs. In others (such as the military), it could mean a world disaster.
7. Online Sales
Online sales will certainly be improved with the use of AI since this type of AI involves automating the sales process and allows the sales funnel to run automatically while the company owner sleeps, resulting in passive income.
8. Telemarketing
Telemarketing is already being used to a great extent with sales calls. This requires less workforce. But the problem is it involves rather slipshod practices by the AI machine to get a sale. This often hurts a company’s reputation more than helps it.
9. Law Enforcement
Already law enforcement is using some AI robots to help keep security standards high in certain areas. The problem with this is that AI makes mistakes in the identity of people and has even been known to accidentally shoot someone it viewed as a criminal. AI is a tool that law enforcement should use only with total control at the top in order to minimize error.
10. Art and Media
AI is capable of recreating work that humans have done almost as beautifully as the person did it originally. However, this has opened up an entire sequence of issues regarding copyright as the artists who originally created the work complain that a machine is now taking credit for their creations.
Keeping the control at the top with the humans who created AI is essential to our well-being. While AI is an interesting, fascinating thing, it is important to stay grounded in the dangers as well.
If you are interested in being a part of the future of AI, invest in yourself through one of the best data science certification options available online.
AI won’t take your job if you are the one responsible for unplugging it. 😉
