Chinmoy Barma
(chinmoybarma33@gmail.com)
With the three industrial revolutions, the world around us fundamentally changed. They had a profound impact on society, transforming agrarian economies into industrialised ones as high demand for technology substituted capital and energy for labor. Steam propelled the original industrial revolution, electricity the second, machinery the third, and now artificial intelligence is propelling the fourth industrial revolution.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science and technology that focuses on creating systems, machines, or software programmes capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence.
Fortune Business Insights reported that the global QI market size was USD 428 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow from USD 515.31 billion in 2023 to USD 2025.12 billion by 2030, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.6%.
In 2018, NITI Aayog released ‘National Strategy on Artificial Intelligence’ (NSAU), which highlighted the potential of AI to solve social challenges faced by its citizens in areas such as agriculture, health, education, and its pure economic returns. In NITI Aayog’s report ‘The need for responsible AI’, released in 2021, it was estimated that AI has the potential to add USD 957 billion, or 15 percent of the current gross value, to India’s economy in 2035. Thereby, impacting a vast number of industries and changing the way we work, live, and beyond
Many people fear that AI will lead to significant job displacement; they worry that AI-powered machines will replace human labor. The fear is obvious and legitimate. According to the World Economic Forum, AI would take away 85 million jobs globally by 2025, but it would also generate 97 million new jobs. It will not be justified to say that AI will take our jobs; people using AI to do the same job will.
There are some valid privacy concerns too, as AI systems can collect and analyse vast amounts of data. This data can be misused if it falls into the wrong hands, thereby violating Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The digital personal data protection bill 2023 can be a step towards working in the complaint mechanism, transparency, continuous monitoring, data minimization, user consent of AI systems, etc. to protect the privacy of citizens.
Another concern is that AI algorithms can inherit biases present in the data they are trained on, leading to discriminating outcomes. The concern here is valid as AI is being used nowadays for content, automation, etc., and the concern grows further when it is used in legislation, the judiciary, hiring, etc. The fear of ‘ChatGPT’ generating pro-US answers to the questions asked is very logical, as it’s owned by ‘OpenAI’, a company based in the US. Such biases can divide society, attack a country’s sovereignty, destabilise a region, etc. For intra-border biases, it’s important to have country-specific AI systems that understand the region better, and for inter-border biases, we can use machine learning as a subset of AI systems to feed regional information and train it to eliminate biases.
Ethical challenges arising from the very use of AI can have repercussions on society. According to a Capgemini report, 85% of the surveyed organisations in India have encountered ethical concerns from the use of AI, ranging from economic impact to humanitarian. A high-level expert group in the EU released ‘Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI’, which is a non-binding document that proposes a set of seven key requirements that AI systems should meet in order to be deemed ‘trustworthy’. Such a set of guidelines and considerations constituting an ethical committee consisting of various stakeholders will help eliminate the concerns.
The concern of AI advancements disproportionately benefiting the wealthy, exacerbating economic inequality, and leaving the marginalised behind us is scary. Recent developments at Neuralink, a brain-chip start-up founded by Elon Musk, have obtained permission to kick off its first human trial. This technology, with the help of AI, poses a threat to further aggravate inequality and give one unfair advantage over another.
Stephen Hawking raised concern that the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. The development of AI is still in the developing stage and far from realization. We should use the potential use of AI as a sandbox before using it fully in the important spheres of our lives. Collaboration between academia, civil society, and regulators is essential to ensuring that human-centric AI empowers humanity. If we see this as Advaita philosophy does, it refers to the idea that Brahman alone is ultimately real, while the transient phenomenal world is just an illusory appearance (Maya) of Brahman. AI, in a way, is created by human beings (Brahman) and can be seen as a modern attempt to mimic the act of creation (Jiva). Jiva is the creation of Brahman, and hence we can say the fear of AI taking over the creator is debatable.
The debate over what’s real ‘art’ has been vagued by artificial intelligence. Some argue that AI-generated art, music, and literature may devalue human creativity and culture, making it difficult to distinguish between AI-generated art and human-made art. There are major concerns associated with them, such as ethical issues, copyright issues, etc. But the value of ‘art’ itself lies in the creator’s experience, emotions, values, etc. Art is indeed a means of transferring emotions and energy and is an expression of the artist. AI-generated art lacks all of it. It can never replace original art, but AI-generated content can complement human creativity, providing inspiration and tools for artists and creators rather than creating their work. Another significant advantage is the potential for the democratisation of art, as access to technology allows anyone to create works of art. While AI systems can generate art or contribute to scientific discoveries, they lack the depth of human experience and the emotional connection that comes from human creativity. The uniqueness and richness of human expression should be preserved and valued alongside the advancements brought about by AI.
We are standing at a crossroads while engaging with the unfolding AI revolution. By charting a course that prioritises ethics, transparency, and the well-being of humanity, we can unlock the immense potential of AI while safeguarding our core values. The question now is: will we rise to the occasion and navigate this AI frontier with wisdom and care? Are we equipped to strike the delicate balance between innovation and responsibility?