Artificial intelligence does not just help speed tasks in many professions it can help you understand a complex topic, give you ideas for almost anything from what to wear to what you can eat for dinner.
Things you should know
AI Has Replaced Some Humans
Artificial intelligence technology is in the voice-controlled virtual assistant on your phones whom you ask to suggest dinner menus, music or movies. It is the chat bot you engage with on some websites.
As these applications can hold text conversations with users they are popular and large companies and organizations that have large swathes of data use them to generate reports and answer questions.
AI applications answer questions by learning from vast quantities of existing data such as online text and images. No human being not even the best receptionist, customer service personnel or assistant will regurgitate images, graphs, PDF’s and simple summaries like an AI app so, over-time, AI that can perform tasks which usually require human intelligence in a quick way, have taken away jobs from humans.
On the bright side for humans, AI processes large amounts of data by identifying patterns and following detailed instructions about what to do with that data. This is a good thing in areas such as medicine, where scientists use AI to help research disease, speed up diagnoses and identify new treatments.
AI is having an Effect on The Environment
The powerful computers needed to run AI programs require lots of power and water. Also, the demand for generative AI services has also meant an increase in the number of data centers which power them. This increase in demand is feared to be having a negative effect on the environment.
The huge constructions sites that house the thousands of computer servers, the use of substantial amounts of energy and the large gallons of water to keep them cool is sending cold shivers among environmentalists.
Some large tech companies are and have invested in ways to reduce or reuse the water needed, or have opted for alternative cooling and energy sources but some fear that AI will nonetheless, still worsen the water and energy supply around the world and ultimately the environment.
AI is At Present Controversial
As many apps are dedicated to creating content in the form of images, video and music from simple text prompts they are controversial in that they use existing data; data which is on the world wide web and may have been obtained without consent. For many, especially creatives this feels quite predatory to their property.
The property being, art work, photographs, blog posts, short stories, poems, songs, films and the like. All content that AI developers have been accused of using to train systems without consent or compensation to the original creator.
