The New Revolution in Tech: Is AI the New Internet?
AI - The next revolution
Two decades ago, the world experienced a quantum leap through the mass adoption of the Internet. We transformed industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, and so on. However, from detecting lung cancer early to helping radiologists prevent fatal accidents, artificial intelligence (AI) is the next revolution that will start a monumental transformation transcending many industries and affecting our daily lives. If the 2000s were the Internet, the 2020s would be AI. Here is why.
Where are we now when it comes to AI?
While the technology has been theorized since the late 1990s, it was not until recently, with new computing advances, that we successfully implemented this technology in the real world. Nevertheless, thanks to the Internet and improvements in computer chips, data collection and computation power have increased exponentially. AI somehow influences and changes people's lives, even if it is not usually visible or noticed. From the recommendation system suggesting new movies on Netflix based on your watch history or viewing habits to the machine learning algorithm quietly classifying you and your friends in group photos for better organization, these are some of the small examples of automation done by this technology, but what about the big picture? The impact of AI is unparalleled in healthcare, business, transportation, and many more fields, taking us one step closer to solving the biggest problems in all industries.
The impact of AI
At the industry level, more businesses and startups are beginning to employ AI in areas critical to generating value and profit. AI adoption among large firms has climbed by 50% since 2017, and global private investment in AI surpassed $65 billion last year, demonstrating the growing interest in the technology. According to the "State of AI" report, AI is becoming more valuable in various areas, including highly sophisticated infrastructure such as national power networks for efficient electricity generation and automated supermarket warehouse optimization during pandemics. It has also taken biology by storm with speedier simulations of human cellular machinery (proteins and RNA), critical in the pandemic's medication discovery and vaccine research. Let us delve inside to look at the leading players who are pushing the technology in new directions to comprehend its significance better.
The key players of AI
Developers and organizations are attempting to incorporate AI into their services and solutions. However, they will need to rely on the research and investment of the key players already on the battlefield.
Perhaps, the most critical contributor to the impact of this technology is Tesla. While Tesla may appear to be a regular automobile manufacturer, it is far from it. There is no question that Tesla is at the forefront of technology companies investing in AI.
Because of Tesla's autopilot software, which uses deep learning to drive the car, the company reported one crash for every 7.5 million kilometers traveled in the second quarter of 2021 while drivers were using Autopilot technology. By comparison, according to the most recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a vehicle without autopilot technology crashes every 700,000 kilometers in the United States.
Google is the next big tech corporation to incorporate AI into most of its products. Google's search engine has evolved, but the search results improved dramatically after machine learning algorithms were implemented. To optimize its predictive search algorithm, Google gathers information about you, such as your GPS data and search history. The search engine uses artificial intelligence to guess what you are looking for, and the results improve over time. Google also employs AI to prevent spam emails, and they have recently incorporated intelligent answers to their chat and email platforms to anticipate what needs to be typed next. Microsoft is also a significant player in this field. The business recently established a new AI-based healthcare division intending to develop predictive tools that may assist in detecting diseases on a large scale and prescribing the best therapies and interventions.
Amazon collects information about your interests and purchasing behavior using machine learning. Then, they personalize your store feed by suggesting new items suitable for your specific needs, resulting in considerable revenues. The recommendation engine at Amazon.com generates 35% of the company's income. Furthermore, based on your listening and viewing habits, Spotify and Netflix recommend fresh discoveries and new movies or songs.
The future of AI: Utopia or dystopia?
We have come a long way, but the state of AI today barely scratches the surface of the volume of applications it will be capable of in the future. So, is AI the new Internet? While the widespread use of the Internet has made it easy to see its effect, it is difficult to see the changes because of AI, as the technology secretly works behind most products. Despite the price and other hurdles to successful deployment, AI is morphing into a powerful and adaptable technology with much potential that should not be overlooked. On the contrary, AI, like every piece of technology, has the potential to be exploited in the future. As a result, more ethical problems concerning AI's use are being raised, and brands that extensively leverage the technology must now use data more ethically. Our personal information is more likely to be misused as it becomes more available to governments and global corporations. To avoid a dystopian future, we should be cautiously optimistic and skeptical. AI has troubling implications for the military, privacy, and jobs. We can avoid a dystopian future by establishing policies addressing AI's negative consequences.
What complicated problems can we solve using it, defying the challenges we are facing now? Maybe we can cure cancer with it or solve the ongoing climate crisis. AI's future looks utopian and bright, but the brighter it becomes, the more shadows it will cast.
