A lot of myths surround Artificial Intelligence and I bet we have all heard of almost all of them in one way or another. Today, we scientifically and statistically debunk these myths. What is viable and what is not. What could probably happen and what could not. Herein are a few AI myths that we tried to debunk. Not to fully discredit the opinions of those in support of these theories but just to analyze how probable they are to actually happen. All in all, in as much as we have predictive analyses, you can never really conclusively know what the future holds.
- AI will be smarter than human beings
This theory is often advanced from individuals who measure intelligence on a linear scale when intelligence is actually non-linear. If this theory would be advanced, then it would mean that intelligence is actually one dimensional when in actuality, intelligence is multifaceted. While computers do have intelligence capacities that are higher than humans in certain areas such as calculations and capacity to recall, machines can never be more emotionally intelligent or strategic thinkers such as human beings. That totally debunks this myth that one day, AI will be overall smarter than human beings.
- AI is going to replace all jobs
It’s beyond reasonable doubt of AI and automation has the potential to seriously disrupt human labor and totally shift how the industry works – and in many situations, this is currently ongoing. However, perceiving this as a narrow and straightforward shift of labor from humans to machines is a dire misrepresentation and a severe oversimplification.
In the past, industrial revolutions led to drastic changes in the employment landscape which included events such as a mass shift from agriculture to factories in the nineteenth century. These meant that those more skilled in factories would be better placed to thrive than those in agriculture. Though the number of jobs vis-a-vis the human population has reduced, the number of jobs has generally stayed consistent and within range. The simple hindrance, which human beings overcame, is the change of focus from a predominantly agricultural workforce to a more industrious one. Similarly, it is very easy to adjust to a more AI-intensive human labor with a majority of the mundane tasks being overtaken by automation. This allows the human labor to be more skilled and help in innovation and improvements in the structure and quality of the industry.
- AI will lead to the enslavement (or destruction) of the human race by Artificial Intelligence
From The Terminator to The Matrix and even Ex-Machina, hundreds of movies have given us a story of how human beings could be overtaken by Artificial intelligence and enslaved for all eternity. So how viable is this concept and can it really work? Three factors make this highly unlikely:
No one in their right mind would think about creating or deploying an autonomous machine with the potential to “make up its mind” to hurt and turn against its human creators. This would entirely beat the purpose of the machine in itself.
Hypothetically, the ideal scenario would be that robots are primarily created to preserve human life even at their expense. An enslavement would mean that Robots autonomously develop self-preservation instincts and re-interpret commands to put their wellbeing ahead of their primary instruction. This is virtually impossible.
Third, creation and deployment of anything remotely autonomous would require high-level regulations and would cause massive public outcry especially if there was even a remote possibility of this technology overthrowing humanity.
Well, the benefits of AI outweigh the negative impacts by far. In as much as we have worries over everything, let us be sure to weigh our options and sift what we believe when it comes to the impact of AI.
