When sitting down to work on this essay it occurred to me that I didn’t have a definitive opinion on if I personally thought Ai was good or not. This is not due to being completely ignorant on what’s going on when it comes to information circling Ai, but just a lack of truly sitting on to think about it too deeply. When putting more thought into what Ai is to me, I think it can be used in a plethora of good and well meaning ways, while also causing harm in a number of others. For now, I won’t focus on the negative aspects of Ai, instead I’ll be taking a closer look at how it can benefit people.
When doing my research I stumbled upon an article called, “AI—The good, the bad, and the scary,” by Florence Gonsalves, et. al. The article went into how Ai can benefit those with physical disabilities. When I think of Ai I can’t say my mind goes to mechanical arms or wheelchairs but when thinking about it more, these are things that need to be programmed and can vastly improve the lives of many people. “AI and robotics can open doors for people living with physical disabilities. We’ve seen the promise of assistive robot arms and mobile wheelchairs helping elderly adults regain independence,” (Gonsalves, et. al.). It’s something that can be really inspiring because without Ai it’s hard to say these advancements would have been made, or be as good as they are now. In that same vein self driving cars do that same for people with a lack of mobility. Not everyone enjoys being stuck at home and self driving cars and the Ai they process allows them to travel when they otherwise might not have been able to.
Ai can also be used when brainstorming. With where Ai currently is, it is possible to have almost human-like conversations with it and bounce ideas off of it. People can get very stuck in their own ways and may need another perspective on how something can be done which can prove very useful to scientists. “These models are no longer just about automating tasks — they are versatile support tools that people can tap into for brainstorming, practicing tough conversations, or even seeking emotional support,” (Gonsalves, et. al.). Innovation is important and sometimes people just need a little bit of a push to discover something new or find a way to improve something that already exists. Ai can be this for many people, and also due to its greatly developed conversation skills it can be a tool for people who may struggle with conversation as it is. Talking to real people can be daunting for some and Ai can be used as a tool for some to get practice with learning how to hold a conversation and getting comfortable with complicated social interactions. While I could see how this could also go wrong and turn into a problem, it’s important to also acknowledge the possible benefits.
In another article I consulted from Forbes called, “10 Wonderful Examples Of Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) For Good,” (Bernard Marr), the article talked about how Ai can be used for reducing Inequality and poverty. The authors do take time to acknowledge that in this same area Ai can do harm and exclusionary but when used right Ai can be quite the opposite. “Smart text editor Textio, that makes job descriptions more inclusive, helped one publisher grow its percentage of women recruits to 57 percent, from just 10% previously,” (Bernard Marr). The job force can be a very difficult place to find inclusive settings and even when trying to be unbiased hiring teams still have internal biases. Ai, when programmed with the idea of correcting biases, can create a much more inclusive work environment without sacrificing anything in between. In terms of poverty the article stated, “Imperial College of London is training AI to Identify inequality based on street images of living conditions in cities, with the aim to ultimately use this information to improve the situations,” (Bernard Marr). Working to better an environment and support the people that work there can be a very positive thing and Ai can potentially help make it even easier to do.
Another article called, “Advantages and Disadvantages of AI,” (Nikita Duggal), talks about a little bit more straightforward advantages of Ai, the main one standing out to me being reducing human error. I don’t believe that people should be replaced but I do think that working alongside Ai could help produce faster and more efficient work. “The decisions taken by AI in every step are decided by information previously gathered and a certain set of algorithms. When programmed correctly, these errors can be reduced to null,” (Nikita Duggal). This area of Ai I feel is a bit of a hard subject to find good in as in many case’s I think people look at Ai reducing human error as Ai replacing human jobs and I’m sure some people in high positions look to do that. However, if working in tandem I think that it’s not all that harmful and would actually greatly benefit many different people in the long run.
There are many different ways that Ai can be beneficial while also there are possibly as equal as many or more ways to be awful. When it comes to Ai I think it comes down to the people behind it. People who want to do good will find ways to utilize Ai to benefit others. Specifically helping those with disabilities is a wonderful thing and I find it hard to find flaws in using Ai to do so if it’s helping improve the lives of others. While researching it was easy to see that many different aspects of Ai can work and I’m sure I learned about all the negatives that they can do but I do think it’s worth taking a look at the good things.