Imagine yourself laboring over fabric and wool, spending hours weaving, spinning, and threading simply to make an article of clothing for yourself. Pre-dating any accelerated development, this was how much of humanity’s labor requirements were fulfilled. Following the turn of the 19th century, humankind was ushered into a new age. Repetitive, menial tasks took much of our time, reducing the growth we could glean from each day. The industrial revolution changed our fate as we switched from hand production methods to new techniques involving steam power, chemical, assembly line, and mechanical manufacturing. Moving forward, our practices became even more optimized. We can create more advanced goods easily, even faster than before, crafting wonders of technology. Specific jobs are now best completed by Artificial Intelligence (AI), removing the burden from human workers and optimizing our society. They can fulfill menial tasks like factory labor, customer service, or teaching/tutoring. They can also expand our knowledge into fields that would otherwise be impossible to explore. There are potential downsides that will face the field of artificial intelligence and require careful consideration moving forward. Despite this, as humanity develops into more advanced and intensive technologies, artificial intelligence will be critical through job supplementation, medical breakthroughs, and mathematical simulations.

          Artificial Intelligence is technology shaped by machine learning, processing information and responding accordingly. AI has already begun lifting some burdens off factory workers and less complicated jobs. Robots can replace assembly-line workers, doing the same tasks over and over. They can oversee production quality and ensure that quotas are met. AI has the potential to make factories even more optimized, being able to alter production methods to adapt to changing circumstances more easily. AI can do more than just complete mundane tasks, however. It can make us healthier, learn to think like us and make us happier and more carefree through development in medicine, manufacturing, and more (Bradford). If AI can think like humans, it can think for humans and optimize many tasks that would otherwise require our intervention. As artificial intelligence has developed, it can now imitate human responses. It systematically filters customer service requests and reduces the human interaction required, allowing many to solve problems practically alone. When applying for a job, it is virtually guaranteed that your application is going through some sort of pre-screening process, eliminating your resume based on keywords (or lack thereof).

           AI has also managed to creep into our homes and pockets through smart assistants like Alexa or Siri (Bradford). You cannot deny that they are convenient. They can allow those less technologically advanced or less willing to search for information to gather it efficiently and get the support they need. It can perform short and simple tasks (i.e., basic assembly, calculations) where it would otherwise cost more for a human to do. Artificial Intelligence can complete simple business tasks (statistical analysis, alleviating some of the load on owners. Some new software is used to improve work-life in warehouses. It can detect safety violations, prevent workplace injuries, and make a safer work environment. This reduces the number of workplace injuries and ensures a better work environment.

          Artificial Intelligence has the power to assist humanity beyond just jobs, able to perform complex tasks that humans would be incapable of doing on their own. AI can run millions of simulations a second, gathering complex data and processing it to be more suitable for research and technological use. This may include physics simulations, ecological simulations, and even medical simulations. “Many promising emerging ideas require AI to be feasible,” however, AI can tie policy with impact. “This would likely be powered by digital ‘twin Earth’ simulations that would require staggering amounts of real-time data and computation to detect nuanced trends imperceptible to human senses” (Tewari). It can perform calculations that would otherwise take a human years, if not centuries, to complete. AI is already being used today to find solutions to complex mathematical equations, calculate physics problems, and process massive amounts of data. After all, humans can only computationally work through so many possible scenarios. It can digest and process immense data swathes beyond what was possible (Tewari). With AI, there’s the capacity to perform beyond what would take humans a long time and venture into the impossible.

          It can transform what concepts would have once been a distant dream into reality. Medical simulations can analyze complex data and find the best possible treatment in such a short amount of time. Doctors can then repurpose this gathered data to help even more patients. This is critical, especially as we need to fully understand how our biology works, with AI having begun to change that. “The medical industry has a robust amount of data, which can be utilized to create predictive models related to healthcare” (Stahl). AI has already begun to be more efficient than humans in some parts of healthcare, and it is simply a matter of time. It does this by creating a “twin simulation” of one’s body, allowing for processing massive amounts of data that would otherwise be missed (Tewari). The complex nature of our bodies can be deciphered in a fraction of the time it would take a human, with the ability to analyze and see every data point. Despite AI being new to the field of healthcare, it has already had a massive impact as “diseases are more quickly and accurately diagnosed, drug discovery is sped up and streamlined, virtual nursing assistants monitor patients and big data analysis helps to create a more personalized patient experience” (Thomas). Imagine going across the globe and receiving the same medical treatment from your robotic doctor as if you were at home. This would open opportunities for those ill to travel without the quality of their treatment faltering overseas.

          However, with the gathering of such data and the widespread use of AI, it has its challenges. First of all, there is a lack of human touch. AI needs to improve its understanding of working with another human, which could be better for customer support or teaching scenarios. Going back to the applicant rejection mentioned earlier, AI cannot have any sort of leniency towards small mistakes. AI is trained on data and thus is prone to interpreting that data with bias. This can be exacerbated by the immense repetition, making those minute differences in data even more pronounced. This may include discrimination against minorities as there is simply a smaller presence of them in the data. This training also comes with immense energy usage, which can strain power grids and contribute to global warming. “One training that teaches an AI to understand human language creates 626,155 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over 3.5 days. That has about the same environmental impact as five cars" (Bradford). AI risks being hacked or abused, with people taking advantage of their reach, power, and data for their gain. Hackers can use the data to steal someone's identity or money or sell it for a profit. 

          As a result, the regulation of AI has been a hot topic for debate. After all, it would prevent the unintentional abuse of AI. Many have even gone so far as to say that firms being irresponsible with their algorithms should be held legally responsible. Despite attempts at regulation, AI can still be intentionally manipulated for malicious means. All the regulations in the world cannot prevent misuse by humans via personality-based micro-targeting or the creation of fake news (Haienlein and Kaplan). Employing AI with a careful dedication to ensuring ethical practice and consistent regulation is incredibly important for our future.

Conversely, there have been concerns surrounding AI regarding whether it will replace human jobs. While this is true, it will decrease the cost of many products while likely creating more jobs than it replaces. In general, it can improve the quality of human life. The integration of AI also comes with the dreaded query of whether AI will take one's job. Yet, experts tend to agree that this should not be of any concern going forward (Bradford). Humanity has a long way to go before most jobs are genuinely at risk of being replaced. Consequently, it will not be a destruction of our current system but instead an alteration. “The biggest shift may be in what we get out of work, a change akin to the reshaping of labor in the wake of the Industrial Revolution" (Bradford). That’s what artificial intelligence is, a new revolution.

          The AI revolution will forever change the course of our history, just as the industrial revolution did one hundred years ago. It has already eliminated many of the menial tasks plaguing our everyday lives. It can complete factory labor, customer service jobs, or even tutoring. AI will expand our understanding of the universe and our bodies beyond what was ever possible before. While there are many concerns about the safety of widespread utilization and how that may infringe on our privacy, liberty, and equality, we are taking the proper steps (akin to our legal system) to ensure our protection. Nowadays, one can sit back, have an AI assistant adjust their home’s temperature, lighting, and entertainment with just the sound of their voice, and select from a curated list of AI-generated content. Denying that AI is the future is akin to saying that the industrial revolution was not the most significant development of the 20th century. The technology is not going away anytime soon, with the benefits far outweighing any potential downsides, so it is in the best interests of all to embrace it, albeit somewhat tentatively.

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Bibliography

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Bradford, Alina. “Will Robots Take Your Job? How Artificial Intelligence Will Change the Future of Work.” Reader's Digest, 27 Sept. 2022, Accessed 22 Oct. 2022. 

Haienlein, Michael, and Andreas Kaplan. “A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence: On the Past, Present ...” Research Gate, 2019, Accessed 22 Oct. 2022. 

Stahl, Ashley. “How Ai Will Impact the Future of Work and Life.” Forbes, 12 Oct. 2022, Accessed 22 Oct. 2022. 

Tewari, Gaurav. “Council Post: The Future of AI: 5 Things to Expect in the next 10 Years.” Forbes, 12 Oct. 2022, Accessed 22 Oct. 2022.

Thomas, Mike. “The Future of AI: How Artificial Intelligence Will Change the World.” Built In, Accessed 22 Oct. 2022.