Image: Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to bring significant benefits, but it also represents a considerable challenge. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com.
The idea that artificial intelligence (AI) can challenge the human brain is at the heart of the concept of "singularity", popularized by Ray Kurzweil (1948-) American engineer, researcher, director of the engineering at Google.
This futuristic hypothesis is associated with the idea that machines, powered by advanced artificial intelligence, could surpass human intellectual capabilities. In this concept, machines could potentially reach a point where they would be able to improve autonomously, creating a circle of exponential improvement.
Some experts imagine that this could lead to an accelerated transformation, or even a merger, of humanity with technology, giving rise to a higher and potentially uncontrollable intelligence.
This hypothetical future, described as a point of no return, is still very far away, although some experts believe the singularity could occur in the coming decades.
Humans still control the situation, they are the ones who give orders to so-called “intelligent” tools. But burgeoning artificial intelligence is already being used in a variety of applications, such as chatbots, voice assistants, image recognition, disease diagnosis, investment decisions, process manufacturing, surgical robots, route optimization, etc.
In certain areas, we are forced to note that ChatGPT has achieved remarkable performance. Indeed, it gives the impression that we have a learned person in front of us. This is why, since going live in November 2022, ChatGPT has become an indispensable tool in all areas, especially for content creation.
In addition, Google has become a big mess and finding the precise information you need is extremely painful if not impossible in a reasonable time.
ChatGPT is a simpler, nicer and faster solution than searching the web. With a conversational agent, we keep control of our thoughts (common thread) without the risk of getting lost.
But be careful, there is a risk, you should not completely delegate all tasks to ChatGPT. It's important to maintain free will and use critical thinking, because ChatGPT doesn't really understand what you're saying. It is only based on its learning data and the context that it will write a word or a sentence. Probabilistically, words appear one behind the other based on the previous word. In other words, he has no consciousness, he simply guesses the word he is going to write only after having chosen the previous word. AI is devoid of malice and creativity, unlike humans who are capable of interpreting hidden intentions.
It is therefore necessary to study in detail how conversational agents work and to compare them by asking them identical questions. In other words, AI is a blind tool, while humans are artists.
The first industrial revolution, characterized by the introduction of steam engines and spinning machines, began in the 18th century. It led to the disappearance of many manual professions, such as weavers and blacksmiths. These jobs were replaced by machines.
The second industrial revolution of the 19th century was characterized by the introduction of electricity and the automobile. It also led to the disappearance of certain manual professions, such as unskilled workers.
The third industrial revolution of the 20th century was characterized by the introduction of computing, telecommunications and robotics. It led to the disappearance of many manual professions, such as those in the manufacturing industry.
With each technological revolution, many jobs were replaced by machines and others were created. Over the course of these revolutions, manual workers have had to develop other skills, ever more quickly.
The fourth industrial revolution, which is underway, introduces artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and augmented reality. This transformation will impact many sectors of society but this time it is not only the lower social classes who will suffer.
Indeed, many intellectual professions are already partially or completely invested in AI. Among these professions we find business lawyers, radiologists, consultants, telephone advisors, hotline experts, legal assistants, financial analysts, and many others. In 2023, AI does certain tasks much better than the most efficient humans in these professions.
On the other hand, plumbers, carpenters, repairers, gardeners will probably be the last professions to be replaced by a machine because they require a certain form of creativity. Very often, these people must take initiatives, outside the scope of their profession, which require creativity to adapt the task to a completely unexpected context.
AI at the moment is not designed for these kinds of decisions.
AI, without malice, will reintroduce a form of justice between useful professions and very superficial professions which are often an imposture. Intermediate professions, located between the hyper abstract and the hyper concrete, will be “challenging”.
It is likely that AIs will continue to need help from humans to make decisions that require moral judgment, creativity, empathy, or understanding of social context.
If we completely delegate our intelligence to machines by succumbing to laziness, the answer to this question may be terrible. Brainless humanity would then move towards generalized mediocrity and the “singularity” hypothesis could well arise.
AIs are powerful tools, but they have their limits. They are not able to think creatively or innovate. They can only provide answers based on the data they were trained on. For example, an AI that has been trained on a dataset of product prices will not be able to predict the price of a new product.
These tools, augmented by AI, will take advantage of our inclination to be lazy. But we have a huge advantage in overcoming this challenge: consciousness.
Unlike AI, humans have a unique relationship with the entire universe. He knows he is part of a whole. The ability to adapt is an innate characteristic of living beings. AI is limited intelligence, while humans are infinite intelligence. Its DNA code was trained with all the data in the universe. When faced with an unforeseen event, humans are able to react appropriately thanks to this ability.
Machines are very far from acquiring artificial consciousness, however the fourth revolution currently underway is progressing at lightning speed. Its destiny remains uncertain, but it will propel us towards an unprecedented future, the configuration of which remains to be defined.
Artificial intelligence: the explosion of gigantism
When AI models train on their own data, they go mad!
Emergence of artificial intelligence: Illusion of intelligence or intelligence?
The horseshoe crab, a living fossil!
Biosignatures or presence of life in the Universe
How do machines understand, interpret and generate language in a similar way to humans?
How does an artificial neural network work?
Origin of life on Earth: Panspermia theory
Origin of life on Earth: White smoker theory
Why 37 degrees Celsius?
Thermodynamics of the sandpile
Are we alone in the universe?
Trace of frozen life in Siberia
Ice cores tell us about our past
Life evolves in the shelter of glaciations
Organ regeneration, the salamander
Cosmic rays and the mutation of species
Mephisto, the little worm of the depths
Discovery of solid buckyballs in space
Bipedalism in hominids
Kamchatka giant crab
The passage between the inert and the living
From particles to biochemical life
Egocentric vision, the man at the center
Megapod uses volcanic heat
Ardi is 4.4 million years old
Natural selection, the birch moth
The explosion of life in the Ordovician
Liquid water, an accelerator of chemical reactions
Neandertal
Asimo the future humanoid
Conditions for the appearance of life
Fermi's paradox or Plato's cave
The Tardigrade, the immortal animal
Toumaï, 7 million years old
Border between inanimate and living
The incredible life of the abyss
Cyanobacteria create toxic gas
The short history of the evolution of life
The smallest frog in the world
The explanation of the Little Ice Age
Ashen light, the proofs of life
Bioluminescence of living organisms
Beyond our senses, the great scientific revolutions
The primitive soup