Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI, is amongst the latest trend in today’s world. AI is best defined as a simulation of processes that replicates human intelligence and these processes are generally performed by machines. As we leap into a future of technological advancement, AI is estimated to play a major role in almost every aspect of life. This project will discuss why AI is and can be an issue if not minimised some of its destructive potential and also, its current and possibly future impacts on business and society.
Since Artificial Intelligence is about implementing smart algorithm that a machine can perform to replicate human intelligence, there have been many occurrences of bad or even good algorithm decisions which eventually leads up to threatening human lives. Though these good algorithms are never 100% accurate, what defines them as good algorithm is that the minor problems that may transpire won’t be catastrophic, however, that has not always been the case. One such example was when the automatic thrust restoration, also known as the ATR, of a Scandinavian flight automatically generated power due to its safety protocol, which was part of its algorithm, even when the pilot decreased the power of the aircraft during take-off.
Though the main culprit behind the crash of this flight was ice, the ATR was equally to blame because even though the pilots took the right steps to prevent a major catastrophe, the computer code which governed the ATR undermined the pilots inputs and decided to act upon itself which eventually lead up to a crash and consequently, placed hundreds of human lives at risks. But what if faults were due to a bad algorithm itself? Last year, a self-driving uber killed a pedestrian in Arizona. And when a flawed algorithm using voice recognition system to detect immigration fraud led the UK to deport thousands of students in error, it only posed question for the type of algorithm being used within the system. (Bayle, 2018) The examples mentioned above are all occurrences of a flawed algorithm which eventually threatened human lives, posing an important question for the society that is: knowing that even good algorithms can pose danger to human lives, why is artificial intelligence available in various machines that are ultimately used by a large number of people?
From assisting human decisions to threatening our autonomy. AI is reducing substantial number of tasks from humans, but it also has a damaging side effect on people’s skills and their ability to use machines especially when a machine fails which eventually leads to incremental of human errors. This phenomenon is known as the “automation paradox.” For example, systems like Google Map or Apple Maps assist drivers by providing different routes, but it also reshapes the way people drive their vehicles as now, they rely upon the application to provide them with directions. No one ever thinks about what routes they should be taking if they got lost when the AI fails to deliver its optimal outcome because as described an article by Wired.com, “the more reliant we become on technology, the less prepared we are to take control in the exceptional cases when the technology fails.” (Guszcza, 2018) Therefore, though AI is making our lives easier, simultaneously, is it making us humans incapable to function as efficiently as we would be if AI were not present in our everyday lives?