Artificial Intelligence revolutionized the way, we functioned. Many bits of information is conveniently available through mobile devices. Cars can drive themselves. Advanced speed jets can transport someone from San Francisco to Tokyo in as little as five hours. A.I. continues to penetrate the very essence of who we are. As world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking once said: “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. It can take off on its own. Re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate.”
In an interview with Joy FM’s Nhyira Addo, A.I. and space expert Einstein Ntim said that technology will only continue to accelerate exponentially. “My grandmother died when she was 105. In her lifetime, she got to see the world go from no cars to cars, to airplanes, to mobile phones. All those changes she saw in her lifetime. We will experience in the next 10 years.” He’s right. Computer processing speed doubles every 18 months. Just 38 years ago, it took the size of a refrigerator to store one GB of data. Today, you can store the same amount of information on a thumb-sized flash drive hanging on a keychain. Cloud storage has made saving information even more efficient by storing large kilobytes of data in a virtually infinite space.
AI’s Silent Takeover on Humanity
In 1980, IBM unveiled its Model 3380 disk drive. It is the first of its kind capable of storing more than a GB of digital information. “Princeton computer-science professor Edward Felten explained that this tremendous growth in storage capacity would spur intelligence agencies to collect all available data—everything—simply. It’s cheaper and easier than trying to figure out what to take and what to ignore,” David Von Drehle wrote in a 2013 TIME article entitled “The Surveillance Society.” Also read How to Ensure AI to ROI
Ntim recalled in China, where he helped to scale up an automation system for a manufacturing plant who employed about 2,000 people. The system improved workflow, but slashed jobs are more than half. “These things are affecting our lives on an everyday basis when it comes to job losses. One thing is that opportunities are now made available through technology,” he said. “I paid my way through school at the London School of Economics by using a stock trading site on my phone.” The line between A.I.’s benevolence and malevolence is a very, very fine line to tread. “No, we won’t give A.I. this much power.”
Over in Silicon Valley, Google developers recently launched “Google Duplex”. It is a human-like computer program that can run errands like scheduling hair appointments and making restaurant reservations. “This program will perform the tasks well than a human which can’t suspect, she was talking to a computer,” according to a New York Times report. Google Duplex is a new feature that allows you to perform specific tasks on your phone.
