Artificial intelligence is the new buzzword in the tech industry. Since the revolution in the information and technology, the computing capacity and speed, information storage capabilities of computers has been increasing and their size decreasing exponentially. This has enabled us to develop intelligent systems, conputers or robots to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience. Since the development of the digital computer in the 1940s, it has been demonstrated that computers can be programmed to carry out very complex tasks—as, for example, discovering proofs for mathematical theorems or playing chess—with great proficiency.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a computer system which learns from the experiences it encounters. It can adjust on its own to new inputs, allowing it to perform tasks in a way that is similar to what a human would do. Computer systems with increasing levels of data being processed, improved storage capabilities, and the development of advanced algorithms, can now mimic human reasoning. This is called Artificial Intelligence or AI. The term was first defined in 1956.
The concept of artificial intelligence is that computer systems can be used to perform tasks that would normally require a human. These can range from speech recognition and translation into different languages, all the way through to visual perception and even decision making. Broadly speaking, anything can be considered artificial intelligence if it involves a program doing something that we would normally think would rely on the intelligence of a human. Computer assistants like ‘Siri’ and ‘Alexa’ are good examples of such systems.
With technology integrated with AI rapidly becoming a part of our everyday life, AI has also become a topic of debate and discussions where some think it is a blessing and others believe it is a disaster or will lead humans to one eventually. Both sides have their arguments. Given below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence:
Advantages of Artificial Intelligence:
- Less room for errors – Decisions taken by a machine are based on previous records of data and the set of algorithms, the chances of errors reduce. This is an achievement, as solving complex problems that require difficult calculation, can be done without any scope of error.
- Right Decision Making – The complete absence of emotions from a machine makes it more efficient as they are able to take the right decisions in a short span of time.
- Implementing AI in Risky Situations – Certain situations where human safety is vulnerable, machines that are fitted with predefined algorithms can be used. Nowadays, scientists are making use of complex machines to study the ocean floor where human survival becomes difficult. This is one of the biggest limitations that AI helps to overcome.
- Can work continuously – Unlike humans, machine does not get tired, even if it has to work for consecutive hours. This is a major benefit over the humans, who need rest time to time to be efficient. Also, their efficiency is not affected by any external factor and it does not get in the way of continuous work.
Disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence:
- Expensive to implement – AI is and expensive technology to implement, maintain and repair. Only the bigger or affluent businesses can take advantage of AI at this time.
- Dependency on Machines – Use of AI increases the dependency of humans on machines. We are heading into times when it becomes difficult for humans to work without the assistance of a machine. It is believed that with increase in dependency on machines, mental and thinking abilities of humans will actually decrease over time.
- Displace Low Skilled Jobs – AI will displace many low skilled jobs. As machines can work 24×7 with no break, industries prefer investing in machines as compared to humans. This may lead to large scale unemployment.
- Restricted Work – AI machines are programmed to do certain tasks based on what they are trained and programmed to do. They may be unable to think out of the box or quickly adapt to new environments because their thinking zone is restricted to only the algorithms that they have been trained for.
What do you think about the future of artificial intelligence? Let us know in the comments below!