BEHIND IT ALL SHOULD BE...SAFE THINKING

We are hearing more and more information about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but many of us still don't quite understand what it is. 

WHAT IS A.I. ?

A. I. stands for Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is made up of computer systems that are trained to perform computer tasks like a human being would perform. These computer systems can speak like human beings (bots), identify pictures, objects and scenery like human beings, can learn and make decisions like human beings and as of recently, can empathize and will eventually be able to display emotions like human beings.  The ultimate goal of AI is to create machines (computers and robots) that can emulate human beings to carry out diverse tasks--except faster and with enhanced efficiency and precision through an automated process. There are three main types of Artificial Intelligences:

1.) ANI--Artificial Narrow Intelligence; A.I. chatbots capable of natural language generation, translation and answering questions like Alexa or SIRI, image and facial recognition software, Drones, self-driving cars.

2.) AGI--Artificial General Intelligence; Trained to reason and think like a human. Strong A.I. is also working on a way to train machines to discern human needs, emotions, beliefs and thought processes of other intelligent entities. To succeed, researchers and scientists would have to find a way to make machines conscious by programming a full set of cognitive abilities (neural activity). So far, they have created Deepmind, Alpha Go, ChatGPT; This A.I. can also diagnose eye diseases.

3.) ASI--Artificial Super Intelligence; Surpasses all forms of human intelligence and outperforms humans and develops thinking skills of its own or becomes self-aware like in the movie "I ROBOT". The latest ASI is Meta's Supercomputer which is an Artificial Intelligence Research Supercomputer (RSC) that can be used to train a range of systems to detect hate speech on social media, create Augmented Reality, design an interconnected series of virtual spaces from offices to online arenas and can power real-time voice translations to large groups of people so they can collaborate on a research project together. There is skepticism as to whether or not this type of Artificial Intelligence can be controlled.  Read more here

So, why all of the worry? Well, AI can be trained for good works like helping people with disabilities, detecting epidemics or crime before it happens, mapping routes for driving directions or detecting the potential for disease early. But AI can also be programmed for unethical and disastrous scenarios. AI raises important and societal questions such as the impact on employment for older adults and privacy invasion, the programming of specific codes for nefarious use, and the overall development and training of A.I. for within society. 

For example, AI can be programmed and trained to use misinformation and manipulated to do harm, trained to use bias and discriminatory data in the decision making process which can cause employment loss, rejected opportunities, cultural isolation, incorrect prison sentences or gender bias. Recently, many older adults who applied for employment at a tutoring company were rejected because of age. Age discrimination is illegal in the United States but many corporations are allowing this to happen. The tutoring rejection was due to unethical programmed data criteria entered into the AI Applicant Tracking System which  intentionally rejected female applicants 55+ and male applicants 60+. Read the story here or below.