Five greatest advantages of artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is penetrating more and more areas of daily life, and that is a good thing, because AI not only has dangers and risks to offer, but also brings many advantages and completely new opportunities for many people.
Safer through traffic
The future of car traffic is self-propelled or at least much more automated than before. Keeping an eye on the many variables and possible situations requires exactly the qualities that a well-designed AI system brings with it. In this way, traffic runs more smoothly and, above all, more safely for all concerned.
This is not even about your own vehicle. In China, for example, artificial intelligence is used to dynamically and automatically control traffic light circuits so that ambulances, police or fire brigades can arrive at the scene more quickly and provide assistance. Only artificial intelligence can connect the measurement data of countless sensors, vehicles and other things in this way and initiate appropriate measures in fractions of a second.
More accurate weather forecasts
It sounds banal, but the strengths of AI in processing extremely large amounts of data take weather forecasting to a new level. This is less important for the way to work or the question of whether to bring an umbrella or whether it is better to stay at home, but rather decisive for agriculture and disaster prevention. Those who can better predict the weather, storms, rainfall or droughts can better adjust to the weather conditions. Long-term climate predictions are important for farmers to be able to plan sowing and harvesting as well as the type of products being grown. Especially in times of advancing climate change and steadily increasing population figures, the help of artificial intelligence can prove to be a real lifesaver here.
Better medical diagnoses
Apropos lifesavers: With the use of AI, doctors can diagnose many diseases much faster and more accurately than before. Especially in cancer diagnostics, AI can work wonders, and here speed is of the essence - the earlier the correct diagnosis is made, the better the chances of recovery. Artificial intelligence ensures that mankind is closer than ever to the goal of defeating cancer.
More accessibility
Not everyone can use the keyboard and mouse or type on a touch screen. AI-based language assistants tear down barriers to Internet use and everyday life that have made life difficult for many people for many years. No matter if Google's Project Euphonia also help people with disabilities, and that can only be done with AI.
Incorruptible and objective
Artificial intelligence lacks the human component, the emotion and the feeling. In many cases this is not particularly helpful, but sometimes it is, because a computer is incorruptible and reacts according to strict rules and specifications. Decisions made through corruption or personal sensitivities are almost impossible with the help of AI. In times of populist trends, fake news and similar unpleasant side effects, a certain amount of rationality can be anything but bad.
The well-known AI expert Yuval Noah Harari once said that he was more afraid of human stupidity than of artificial intelligence. There's a lot of truth in it. Of course, there are also dangers in AI, but there are also lots of great opportunities and possibilities.
AI is neither uncorruptable nor unbiased. Face identification still struggles with people who have very dark skin, though it has improved a long way since early attempts wouldn't register Africans as people. AI incorporates and perpetuates the biases of the programmers and the data it is given. Examples include police AI that pulls officers from wealthy areas and directs them to poor areas because of a feedback loop where fewer police in the wealthy area generate fewer crime reports and more police in the poor area generate more reports so once it starts it keeps feeding on itself. I forget whose, but one AI had to be cancelled recently after it was trained on social media and started spouting racist comments. Another pair of AIs who were being trained to optimize photos for digital maps had to be replaced after they were found cheating by altering the original images to give them a higher score when the originals were compared to their edits. It is the simple and true engineering principle: garbage in = garbage out. AI is as flawed as the people who make it.
Change is everywhere since the creation of the universe.
The best things for some of us humans is to watch and observe the changes from a vantage point. And try to prevent bad things happen to this planet and elsewhere.