The role of Artificial Intelligence in Future Technology

May 13, 2019

We stand at the brink of a new economy: a digital economy, where the global workforce will be deeply impacted by Artificial Intelligence(AI) and globally more developments are expected tomorrow. AI is the intelligence exhibited by a machine or software to perform a task which usually a human is capable of doing [1]. Today major areas of AI like Natural Language Processing, Speech Recognition, Robotics, Computer Vision, Machine learning and others, are showing exponential growth and making a significant impact in diverse sectors like space, health care, security, military, etc. With the ever-increasing amount of data, ubiquitous connectivity, high-performance computing, big data, and deep learning present at our disposal, AI is going to add a new level of efficiency and sophistication to future technologies.

Today, data is streaming in real time, fueled by the booming growth of digital devices, social media, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). These data make great dataset for training AI systems. In a few years time, AI will touch nearly all the industries on this planet and there are plenty of ways AI is and can transform certain industries.

AI system can help medical physicians deliver faster and accurate treatment by analyzing a large amount of clinical data like demographics, medical notes, recordings from medical devices and laboratory images [2]. For instance, AI can help in detecting epithelial ovarian cancer in stage 1A when it has a 94% cure rate [3]. Whereas, by a normal process, it is usually undetected or is detected in stage 3 or 4, when the symptoms start appearing and chances of cure start plummeting. Moreover, Elon Musk’s Neural Lace could be the next AI advancement in the field of healthcare. It is an ultra-thin mesh that can be embedded in the skull creating an interface between the machine and the brain. Gradually, it would become a part of the brain and help in treating brain disorders [4]. Researchers are hoping that in future AI may enhance the ability of a human to provide better healthcare services [5] and will enhance life expectancy of human civilization.

Historically machine learning algorithm has been used in health monitoring of spacecraft, navigation, intelligent control and object detection for navigation [6,7,8]. Nowadays private firms are becoming the protagonists rather than operating as a contractor in the space industry [9]. One of the notable examples is of SpaceX, in 2018 they launched 21 rockets in the space [10]. Blue Origin plans to start space tourism by 2021. NASA is using AI for trajectory and payload optimization to increase the efficiency of the next rover mission to Mars [11].

AI will extend the boundaries of human compatibilities and will help scientist to reach Europa, Jupiter’s moon where scientist believe there could be a subsurface ocean. NASA is currently planning to launch James Webb Space Telescope in the orbit around 1.5 million kilometers from the earth in 2020, part of the mission will be overlooked by the AI. AI is still gathering momentum in the space industry [12]. The coming years’ mission will be turbocharged with AI as we voyage in comets, planets, moons and explore the possibility of mining the comets [12].

With the impending unprecedented stress caused by global warming, natural disasters, and other human activities, AI can help us take concrete steps to better protect our environment. For instance, by using Youtube videos to uniquely identify and track the movement of animals, AI can help scientists to identify and protect the endangered animals [13]. In future AI can help in greenhouse gas reduction through proper traffic optimization, route planning of autonomous public transport and ride-sharing services [14]. It will augment agriculture with the help of automated data collection and take corrective action using robots to detect crop diseases which will eventually increase the efficiency and reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers. AI will also help in monitoring the coral reefs by processing the plethora of images collected by drones and NASA’s satellites [14]. This information can help in protecting the reefs from collapse. The intelligence and productivity gains that AI will deliver can unlock robust solutions to the environment’s pressing challenges like these.

Highly specialized machines like Deep Blue, Watson and AlphaGo are single-purposed AI systems whose intelligence is very domain-specific known as Artificial Narrow Intelligence(ANI) [15]. There is ongoing experimental work on Artificial General intelligence that would be flexible enough to learn without supervision and adapt to multiple and unexpected situations like humans. In the field of legal systems, it would implement concepts like “fairness” and “justice”. After decades, emotional robots won’t be a thing of sci-fi fantasy.

In other fields like cybersecurity, Artificial Neural Network will play a significant role by consistently accumulating intelligence on attacks, breaches, new threats, malware and given all this information AI can learn from it and detect abnormalities within an organization’s network and flag it quicker than a member of cybersecurity [16]. Harnessing AI, chat-bots will be more effective which will make a great transition from the Graphical User Interface (GUI) to the Conversational User Interface (CUI) [17]. Moreover, Automated vehicles will be tremendously substituted by driverless cars that would reduce road accidents and better fuel efficiency due to smoother braking and acceleration than human drivers. In the military, by harnessing satellite photo interpretation capabilities, AI programs could identify potential targets and threats. The next evolution that we might see in AI is Neuromorphic Computing, which will be similar to the human brain model. AI can be harnessed further to help in getting rid of the errors that human brains are prone to make [18]. Moreover, we might see the integration of quantum hardware and software with AI, to solve complex problems within seconds [19].

The automation by AI can bring about the unemployment crisis among humans since AI can outperform us in more and more fields [20]. Another concern is the potential abuse of AI by hackers, rebel states, and attackers. For instance, a commercial drone can be turned into a targeted weapon [21]. Moreover, Scientists believe after Artificial General Intelligence, next we might see is Artificial Super Intelligence, which would surpass human intelligence [22]. Such super intelligence might rule the world and see humans as a threat and a waste of resource.

There are trepidations held by people at the negative implications that super-intelligent systems can bring about in the future. But, as a mathematician, Kurt Godel illustrated that any logical system, including any mathematical one, depends on premises that simply can’t be proved within it — one always require an outside authority. For instance, a computer program works by defining rules for it from outside. Similarly, Artificial Intelligence isn’t a threat, for it must be programmed in that way first by the outside authority — humans[23, 24]. We can be more careful in our training sets and filter out answers that we deem acceptable. Such machines can be devised that reflect ethical values.

With driverless cars, drones dropping off packages, virtual assistance determining our tastes and exoskeletons supporting disabled there is no denying the fact that AI is going to continue finding applications in everyday life. Its usage has the potential to augment and assist human capabilities [25]. There is a high possibility that we’ll be communicating with bots like Woebot for fighting depression, without realizing that they aren’t humans. Additionally, nowadays big data, high computing, and deep learning are acting as a catalyst in the automation process, we may be seeing the democratization of AI in the next few years.

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