The first part of 2023 has proved how far technology has come and how rapidly it has transformed, especially in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).
What were once just the perfect ingredients of a sci-fi movie have been baked and pulled out of an oven to show that humans can have their cake and eat it, too.
More ironic is that the race to AI domination among tech companies itching for a slice yielded the idea that the technology could replace many human jobs, which is currently selling like hotcakes.
It's evident that the AI bakery offers various confections, whether it's ease in everyday living or getting tasks at work done quicker. The notion of “let it do it for you” has become more palatable to the human taste.
However, allowing AI to make everything “a piece of cake” is less sweet than it sounds and has left many with a bad taste.
Recently, Time reported that about 400 000 jobs were lost to automation in US factories from 1990 to 2007. This was without the help of AI, and a group of economists has estimated that 42% of the jobs could be gone forever.
The rise in adoption of AI also conveniently arrived at the time of massive layoffs by the world's biggest tech companies, credited to numerous factors, but how coincidentally is it really?
To those fearful of the potential job loss brought on by an AI-driven future, there's no need to stress - it is already here.
AI has already begun to gain a foothold in our everyday living, from robots that clean your home, do your dishes and various other day-to-day tasks - smart but not creative, right?
Wrong.
Creativity was one of the few phenomena that separated us from AI. However, we’ve recently lost that advantage. AI has advanced to the stage of being able to rival the most historical artists that ever lived, recreating their masterpieces in mere seconds.
Recently, the long-running adult animated comedy noted for its satire, South Park, took a dig at the technology and the AI chatbot ChatGPT.
Without giving too much away to fans needing to watch it, the episode centred on one of the characters using ChatGPT to create AI-generated replies to his girlfriend, eventually leading to him being caught and, again, using the platform to rewrite a “happier” ending to the episode.
While worth a chuckle, part of the episode was actually written by ChatGPT and even credited alongside one of the series creators, Trey Parker.
In another instance, AI was asked to rewrite an episode of the popular sitcom, The Office - the results of which were posted as an online meme, which excited fans to see how accurately (but not perfectly) the technology was able to draft its own script for the show.
These cases have depicted incredible feats AI can achieve. However, the daunting part is that the technology is very much still in its infancy.
At this stage we’ve only witnessed the tip of the iceberg of the capabilities of AI.
Still, in the months that have passed, it has already achieved so much while learning that it can only be anticipated that the technology will become better at what it does - more than you could, with years of sitting behind your desk, taking a selfie to share how your day is going …
Well …
AI has managed to generate selfies of ancient civilisations that could have never dreamed what a camera was, so even for the historical contributions homo sapiens have offered the earth - will AI ever need us?
Humans have already caused damage to the planet, evident in global warming and the scores of issues caused by us. If AI were in complete control of everyday tasks, it’s a given that productivity would increase immensely, becoming more and more self-sufficient.
We need AI in the modern world, but when will the question arise of “does AI need us?”. Scores of films and series offer a glimpse into an AI-dominated world, and with data points all around us, through our smartphones and other technology, AI could easily take control of these through a simple internet connection.
While still in its infancy, we can only hope that AI favours our existence as its creators, with the hope that the world doesn't turn into a sci-fi or horror flick for us.
* Kyle Venktess is a freelance content producer for IOL Tech.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL or Independent Media.
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