A Chance For AI

Artificial intelligence should be given a chance to improve, and to show that they are trustworthy. Right now, when you think of AI, you probably imagine a robot that follows the orders you give it. Today, an emerging category of AI-artificial emotional intelligence provides the machine with the ability to identify not only human emotions like happiness, sadness, and anger. However, now coders are focused on developing algorithms to identify more complex emotions like fatigue, attention, interest, confusion, distraction, and more.

A very big reason people are afraid of AI is poverty. The main reasons for poverty are lack of income; a lack of preparedness (or education); and dependency on government services. AI can solve all those problems. Even though AI threatens to put people out of jobs, it can be used to match those people to good middle-class jobs that are going unfilled. Today there are millions of jobs like those that are still unfilled in the United States. The reason we tend to shy away from these kinds of jobs is perhaps that it smacks us of a command economy. What we should do is suggest the government force workers train and accept particular jobs. However, identifying these jobs and skills can be too much work for the government. However, now, we have tools like AI to do this job for them in a much easier and efficient way. By doing this more people will get jobs; which will eventually reduce poverty.

Another way AI can be helpful is for education. These days it is hard to tell whether a student is struggling, and the next thing you know is that he/she has already quit. However, AI can offer a much more personalized learning system for kids. Each student masters a different skill, in different ways. A 2013 study by researchers found that 40 percent of medical students held a strong preference for one mode of learning: Some were listeners; others were visual learners; etc. AI can provide a system in which it would slow down when the student is confused, or maybe when the student is frustrated, AI could find a different way to explain the solution; and of course, when it’s time to have fun, it can just crack a joke. This will help kids improve their weak points in a fun way.

Other than a good job and education, we worry about our health. Well if you’re a couch potato and love to watch TV all day while eating nothing but junk food; you’re probably not going to have a very healthy body. However, what if all your technologies are connected. Then, your fridge might try to get you on a healthy diet. Your fitness tracker and TV might team up to get you off the couch! Mood-aware technologies can make personalized recommendations and encourage people to do things differently, better, or faster. Just as we track our fitness and physical health, AI could also track our mental state, sending alerts to our doctor if there’s a problem. This can prevent suicide and can support autism.

Opponents against the idea of AI will argue that an old machine might struggle with new circumstances these days, such as changing cultural attitudes. There are examples of algorithms that, after being trained by people, end up discriminating over race. The thing is, that those people don’t realize that no one wants a racist robot. So then coders will have to change the algorithms. AI isn’t perfect! But it can improve.

Stephen Hawking says, “AI is likely to be either the best or the worst thing to humanity. The only thing we can do is hope for the best.” The only way that we can hope for the best, is by giving AI a chance. A chance to help humans. A chance to help the earth. But most of all, a chance to improve themselves to help all of us. We can’t let humans give up on AI. People against AI are not opening their minds to see the benefits instead of the losses in AI. If they continue to close their eyes, they will see nothing but black. But if they open them, they will see a rainbow that AI can create. So let’s not close our eyes, but instead open them wide open.

Works Cited

Mason, Elisabeth A. “A.I.’s Poverty-Fighting Potential.” New York Times, 02 Jan. 2018, pp. A.15. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

el Kaliouby, Rana. “We Need Computers with Empathy.” Technology review, 2017, pp. 8. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

“Peering into the Black Box.” Economist, Feb. 2018, pp. 12. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.