Essay – Rise of Artificial intelligence: the threat of a jobless future or better job opportunities through reskilling and upskilling
Rise of Artificial intelligence: the threat of a jobless future or better job opportunities through reskilling and upskilling Essay: The term Artificial Intelligence (AI) was coined by John McCarthy, an American pioneer in the field of computer science and the innovator of Artificial Intelligence in the 1950s. Regarded as the father of AI for his indelible contributions to the development of Computer Science, the talisman of virtual intelligence was also a prominent cognitive scientist. McCarthy defined AI as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines,” while introducing the concept of virtual intelligence at the campus of Dartmouth College.
Discussion
The inception of the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) in the mid-1950s grabbed the imagination of the general public as reflected in Hollywood movies ranging from “The Matrix’,’ and The Terminator’ to the cult classic ‘Avengers.’ The fiction of digital intelligence has been translated into contemporary reality in the form of voice assistants such as Siri and Cortana in cellular phones of ‘Apple’ and ‘Android.’ Digital intelligence has moved beyond just cellular phones to the automobile industry with the invention of electric self-driving cars such as ‘Tesla.’ Recently conducted surveys by AI scientists from all over the world anticipate that Artificial Intelligence will replace human labour-intensive jobs from interactive jobs such as that of translators by the year 2024 as well as mentally and physically critical jobs such as conducting medical surgical operations by the year 2053. Instances inclining to justify such speculations can be found in contemporary times in the form of mobile applications such as ‘google translate’ and ‘Duolingo’ which translate a word spoken in a particular language into any desired language. AI-enabled medical diagnosis is conducted in contemporary times. Speculations by AI researchers suggest that AI has a 50% potential at beating human beings at any task in the next forty-five years while completely replacing all human labour-intensive jobs in the next fifty years. The relentless development of AI poses the threat of replacing humans with labour-intensive jobs by AI.
Artificial Intelligence, in the simplest of terms, refers to the ability of smart machines to possess ‘sensory’ and ‘cognitive’ tasks that humans are innately endowed with. Opponents of AI opine that AI is devoid of the capacity of conceiving or envisaging anything original such as a thought, idea or emotion that is unique to human beings. The possibility of an AI-hegemonic world seems to be unlikely in a developing nation like India where 80% of the population is associated with either service or business sectors. A digital intelligence monopoly seems unlikely because factors such as industry finances, laws governing nations, political opinions and professional opinions play a major role in the development of AI. The ‘Lipse’, considered to be the ideal language for developing AI, is expensive. In contrast, India with a huge population of 140.76 crore serves as a pool of cheap labour. While AI can guarantee human error-free tasks it lacks the faculty of judgment and creativity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Upskillment and reskilling of existing human resources are sufficient to match the competence of AI in contemporary times, however, vigilance towards skill development especially in technological development will be judicious. Irrespective of the degree of efficiency that AI can achieve in future, the loss of an estimated 47% human workforce to AI remains a subject of political and ethical debate.
FAQs
Q1. Who is the father of AI?
Ans: The term Artificial Intelligence (AI) was coined by John McCarthy who is considered the father of Artificial Intelligence in the 1950s
Q2. How does Mccarthy define AI?
Ans: McCarthy defined AI as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines,” while introducing the concept of virtual intelligence at the campus of Dartmouth College.
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