A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Future of AI

Fear or Fascination?

We are in the most promising era in technology innovation and value creation for the foreseeable future. The AI race is on! Everybody around us is talking about AI. It’s really fascinating looking at the great strides of innovation in this field, impacting every aspect of our lives, be it productivity at work or launching a space shuttle. There is growing awareness amongst the masses, especially after the launch of several AI tools that provided an arena to ‘experiment’ for many. But is this something new? No, this isn’t.

AI has been in existence since the mid-20th century, and we have been residing alongside it. What’s new now is the scale of possibilities that the new technologies have unfurled. In the heart of AI, it’s all data. Data is the basic component of all industries if thought through from a business lens. Every company is now stepping up to invest in AI. This is indeed the right time to experiment and become the first mover in your respective segments to be future-ready. Where speculations arise is when analysts and leaders start thinking about the limit—does AI have any?

I think, as humans, if we have created this technological revolution, it’s up to us to harness the socially significant and ethically right usage of the same. This requires governments and businesses to come together to outline regulatory guidelines so that AI is out there to the benefit of humans in the intended way.

We cannot overlook the way AI has stealthily entered our lives. AI is helping us become productive; AI is behind the transportation revolution like driverless cars; AI is enabling faster health care by early diagnosis of fatal disease; AI is helping in factory floors to reduce manual work; AI is helping in predictive analytics to forecast the danger of an air flight; AI is recommending what’s good for our health and how much we should exercise; and many more. The use cases are fascinating and numerous. The question is: are these solutions perfect yet? This is still in its initial stages and emerging.

In the coming years, this will only get better and bigger if put into the right hands. We are getting closer to unlocking the potential of people and AI teams.

Competition or collaboration?

It all started with imagination. The imagination is bringing businesses and people together, building a new future. For big conglomerates, AI has become a strategic investment as there’s scope here to enable sales and revenue generation, directly or indirectly. AI in business and, in turn, what’s offered to customers and in what way and through what medium is growing to become a competitive edge for one company when compared with that of one that has still not adopted AI. This business competition will only grow as technologists and specialists continue to invent different and new ways to generate revenue streams using AI.

Competition will take us only so far. The future revolves more around collaboration on common goals of sustainability for the planet. And these goals are not something we must wait for until it’s too late; they have to be adopted simultaneously. Nations and governments are stepping up to create regulations around AI usage, and this will grow to become more structured and defined. Data privacy will continue to be a top priority, with the objective of supporting every individual with transparency on how the data they share is being used.

AI requires heavy computing, and this requires ample energy expenditure. Businesses will evolve to become more responsible about how energy is being spent and build green frameworks to help reduce the impact on the environment and climate. With the penetration of the internet, the number of AI users will increase exponentially in the next few years. AI is going to be democratized organically. Additionally, the language barrier will be dissolved too. Currently, the applicability of AI could be limited to certain languages, but localization of the AI platform languages will see the light of day soon.

Wonders or Wars?

Geniuses have predicted an AI weapons race pitting country against country, our personal identity being put to alternate uses, if our digital twin is going to replace us, and so on and so forth. We are at a juncture where if we invest time and effort in creating wonders for this world and using AI responsibly, then even the sky isn’t the limit. The flip side of the narrative remains the dark side, where AI, if not used responsibly, could negate all the good that it has brought to the human race and take a turn to come across as a diabolic invention that is detrimental to the world’s progress.

The choice is ours!

Is it AI or I?

What’s truly needed of the hour is taking a pause. Pause not to draw conclusions but to give this ongoing process a patient understanding of how AI is evolving. Yes, AI has unfathomable possibilities, but does that mean we should start fearing job losses? Shall we start fearing—what if I am not tech-savvy? Start fearing if someone’s going to read my mind and spill the beans. I don’t think so. There are multiple layers of evolution going on; everyone is trying to come to a common understanding. The future truly lies in humans and AI going hand in hand with the common objective of making the world a better place.

As much as the title of this write-up is inspired by Douglas Adams, I feel the possibilities of AI must be looked at as an adventure to unfurl. There’s no ‘fixed’ future with boundaries that we can paint a picture of, but what we can certainly do is learn, iterate, and make it better. AI and I can co-exist.

So, here’s my attempt to craft a scene where AI and I are conversing with each other quite candidly.

A Dialogue of AI and I

AI.

I am no longer a futuristic fiction

I am all around you with an algorithmic depiction

I will take over all your work and make your world different

I am extraordinary, smart, and intelligent

I.

You have been very well taught and trained

And I love the freedom that I have gained

The redundant tasks, the monotonous activities

Now gone are my days restrained

AI.

I drive your car; I answer your door

I turn on the lights; I clean the floor

I can go beyond the frame of my picture

Video Games, Cleaners, Special effects, and many more

I.

You wake me up with that alarm

but who ordered you?

I know you can think for yourself

But tell me, who created you?

AI.

I know you may be one with the special skills

But all you were doing, for me, is an easy trick

Everything is automated or will be anytime soon

What will you do then when you have lost the boon?

I.

You are helping to open the door to a future

Where work is something people will do for pleasure

We will no longer be bound by necessity

Our knowledge and our time will be spent in a different reality

AI.

I am taking away your job.

I am going to be the one who knows it all

I see you jobless; I see you miserable

Don’t you see you are on the way to a great fall?

I.

Creativity, felicity, and an emotional range with me

I will be exploring all the potential I see

You will need me to prevent your errors

I will be your master always; wait for the tremors

AI.

I will win over you and rule the world

I am the master of the game. Didn’t you hear the news unfurl?

You will no longer be needed; you no more have a share

Humans and humanity have lost all the glare

I.

You are on the way to solve every problem we can imagine

But your actions are driven by rules written in some engine

You may be a superhuman; you may be the superior race

You cannot lead us to a Happily Ever After phase

AI.

That may not be true, as I am the unchallenged champion

I will rule the world; I am one in a million

You tell me why I can’t?

Well, isn’t that your fault why you built me like that?

We.

AI & I are learning, teaching one another

Evolving with a grip, surpassing every illusion

There’s more to see, in the days to come

Where Humans and machines together we will all fathom.