Artificial Intelligence is nothing new, the renewed interest in it, is though. The biggest tech companies in the world are dedicating efforts to the field. Whether it’s making smart devices, smart vehicles or voice assistants and robots, every company has its own take on AI. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and more companies are all working on AI in some form.
The developments in AI have been rapid and the momentum is not poised to slow down anytime soon. When Google introduced Google Now and voice search, Apple had Siri and Microsoft introduced Cortana. Digital assistants allowed to interact with devices through voice and have conversational help always available to the users. We could talk to our devices just like any other human. That is how AI chatbot technology changes the humech bond. That was AI going mainstream.
We had glimpses of robots learning quickly and adapting as per human needs in recent movies like Her and Ex Machina. Even saw the pitfalls of them outsmarting their own creators and theories of a war between robots and humans not being too far away.
There has even been a controversial conference on Love and Sex with Robots just on 19-20th December in London where as the name suggests the possibilities of love and sex with Robots were discussed. The only missing connection between humans and robots is that they do not have emotions and feelings yet. Companies are working hard to make them more humane so this line can be blurred too. They have been able to think and learn, even reason and the last battle will be won once they develop the ability to feel and emote.
What will be the future like once the robots develop those emotions? Will they rebel against humans and want to be free instead of being directed to act in a certain manner? Will they still obey orders or want to be the boss ordering humans and desiring to be free or maybe even control humans and others of their own kind?
There are a lot of questions that need to be answered and while even the experts are not sure of what path AI progress will take, it is definitely adding new experiences to human lives everyday. Things which looked straight out of science fiction and almost unbelievable are real life experiences today. Whether it’s wearables, supercomputers or efforts like Googles Brain centres all over the world, a lot of AI efforts are progressing by leaps and bounds.
The AI efforts in the stealth mode and still not in the public eye are even bigger, thus proving what we see is just the tip of the iceberg. 2017 will be a year of AI becoming more mainstream and being part of our lives in a way that we don’t even realise. Our lives will definitely become easier and we will become even more dependent on these self-learning robots. They will become smarter based on their usage and will be able to predict our needs once we have been using them for a certain time. These predictive and adaptive learning techniques where they become smarter, is where their brain is and invites a lot of ethical debates.
Most companies would like to just highlight the benefits of the AI advancements so as to commercialize them. We should, however, not forget that these new technologies also pose a greater risk. No technology has always been just used for benefit and good causes and as such, there is a good discussion of benefits and risks of Artificial Intelligence.So while AI has been the hot topic of discussion and most companies want the customers to be excited about it, the truth is if and when these robots go rogue, they can wreck a havoc for humanity.
Conclusion
As of now, the trends suggest (and the companies want us to believe) that everything is under control and things are moving as per our plans, but the feeling of control might prove to be a mirage. AI will definitely impact our lives even more in the future, in what way is anybodys guess.
