Artificial Intelligence as The Next Digital Frontier

The world is changing at a rapid pace – the increase in population and prices, the change in seasons and trends, yet the emergence of technology – Artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely discussed nowadays.

Technological Evolution: A Historical Perspective

In the early decade, computer, smart phone or tablet does not exist. As time goes by, living in the 21st century now, we can see there is a high demand in technology (AI). However, the exponential changed have raised deep concerns in the society. According to Ray Kurzwell, a scientist and futurist, has agreed that “yes, it absolutely is”, in the book “The Singularity Is Near” saying that “technology is progressing faster than ever before.” Therefore, this leads me to the question of how the acceleration change in artificial intelligence will impact on our society? Firstly, by focusing on the evolution and benefits of AI on how it makes the world a better place. Secondly, talking about the drawbacks of using AI on whether human will be replacing by robots.

AlphaGo: A Turning Point for AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) once again broke into people’s field of vision. In 2016, AlphaGo, a computer program developed by Google defeated the WorldGo champion Lee Sedol. The global debut of Alpha Go’s AI with “intuitive judgment” was a shock. This is the beauty of AI – “it enables the computer to accomplish some things that only human could do in the past, even better and more efficient than human, and this is the AI revolution.” A computer program or machine that learns, to help people and businesses to easily solve problems. Artificial Intelligence has helped us greatly in improving productivity, education and healthcare, etc. A research paper published by the McKinsey Global Institute has found out in 2016 “estimated around $8 - $12 billion was invested in the development.” This has proved that the powerful of AI has successfully captures a lot of merchant’s attention, companies such as Google and Apple have invested heavily and see economic potential of AI that could bring to their company. In fact, we could see the trend (pattern) where companies will follow one another in use and developing AI.

The Unchanging Nature of Change

The world around us does not stay the same, it changes all the time, if still stay in place, it would create feeling of alienation.As it continues to improve and become incredibly sophisticated, this lead to the fear, anxiety of AI. Furthermore, this question if one day machines will replace humans, where reveals the importance of Stephen Hawking raise the awareness of AI risk. This reminds us scenes in the movie, where the robots rebel against humanity and creating powerful weapons with ease. “It would take off on its own, and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate,” speaking to BBC in 2014. Therefore, “humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t complete, and would be superseded”. Also Elon Musk calling AI “a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization”. This once again has proved how fast the world is changing, on the other hand, it reveals the dangerous rise of automation.