Rise of Artificial Intelligence | UPSC Mains Essay Preparation PDF Download

Science-Technology

Artificial intelligence refers to intelligence demonstrated by machines compared to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals. From Marketing, Banking, Finance, Agriculture, Healthcare, Gaming, Space exploration, and Autonomous vehicles to Chatbots Artificial creativity, and even social media handles recently, it has become a part of our pop culture and everyday lives in ways we never thought possible earlier. It is not science fiction anymore. It drives meaningful innovation and assists human endeavors but simultaneously requires regulated, responsible use lest it should outrun its mandate.
The power of AI is being harnessed relentlessly across the globe with businesses, researchers, and innovators consistently exploring its practical applications and economic potentials. Looking around ourselves gives clarity about the immense potential that AI holds within itself to empower human life. For example, in the Banking and Financial Services Industry, AI is used to enhance the efficiency of anti-money laundering programs with considerable success. It also has proved its effectiveness as a risk management tool for banks, analyzing and flagging credit and fraud risk, as well as customer churn prediction, which is a precious data point.
The healthcare sector has also adopted AI. The massive amount of data collected by the industry to drive scientific discovery is increasingly being used to make sense through AI applications. The complex data is simplified, and inferences and insights are derived through the use of AI for the development of medicines, equipment, disease analysis, and treatment of optimization to cure ailments. AI can be useful in medical image processing and improve diagnostics by better analyzing CT scans, MRIs, and other images.  Surgical robots control their movements' trajectory, depth, and speed with great precision and perform repetitive procedures without fatigue.
AI is also revolutionizing the landscape in the insurance industry. It is being introduced to streamline processes and reduce turnaround times, and improving profitability. Even at a personal level, AI is helping in the form of virtual assistants. From Alexa, Watson, Cortana to Siri —digital voice assistants have become the trend today.
On the other hand, regular reports warn us about an impending automation apocalypse.

Jobs at Threat

In 2013, a highly cited study by Oxford University academics called ‘The Future of Employment’ examined 702 common occupations and found that routine work such as telebusiness, teleservices, sports referees, and big data-oriented jobs of analytics, tax assessment, etc., are more at risk than specialized and individualized ones like psychologists, dentists, and physicians.
According to The Future of Employment report, routine telemarketing runs a 99% risk of automation, and so does mechanical processing of large amounts of predictable tax assessment data. Robots will likely take over the repetitive tasks in law, with paralegals and legal assistants facing a 94% probability of having their jobs computerized. Fast-food cooks also face an 81% probability of having their jobs replaced by robots like Flippy, an AI-powered kitchen assistant who is already flipping burgers in a number of CaliBurger restaurants.

Jobs less at threat

Martin Ford, futurist and author focusing on artificial intelligence and robotics, and the impact of these technologies on the job market, economy, and society, classifies resilient jobs in three areas.

• The first is of professions involving genuine creativity, for instance, working as an artist, designer, scientist, strategist, architect, planner, etc. Ford does not forget to caution in the same breath, “For now, humans are still best at creativity, but there’s a caveat there. I can’t guarantee you that in 20 years, a computer won’t be the most creative entity on the planet. There are already computers that can paint original works of art. So, in 20 years, who knows how far it’s going to go?”
• The second area is occupations that involve forging a close connection with people: for example, doctors, nurses, advocates, or business roles that require the building of relationships with clients.
• The third area is of unpredictable and contingent jobs– for example, plumbers and electricians who attend, on-call, to emergencies in different locations.

So, those at least risk of automation may include therapists, programmers, supervisors, installers, and repairers of machines, occupational, recreational therapists, healthcare providers, and social workers. However, while jobs in a creative domain or people-focused industry may remain afloat for the next few years or so, it’s tough to predict what will happen some decades later into the future. So, we should be wary of downplaying just how much computers and robots might change the working world; and think about survival in an automated world.

Need of the hour

The 2020s must, therefore, be a decade of redeployment rather than unemployment. Presumptions about the indispensability of human beings will be self-destructive because machines are already doing things we thought only humans could do. They’re composing original music, for example, and beating professional players at complex board games like chess with creative moves.
They’re even helping us with our relationships with God. While the clergy only has a 0.81% probability of automation, algorithms might one day replace even the ordained, according to data from The Future of Jobs. There are already apps like Confession, which offer “drop-down menus for tracking sin.” So, the pressing need of the hour is to continually learn new skills and upgrade the existing, to match pace with inevitable automation. AI has unleashed a great opportunity for a whole new set of jobs to get the most out of machines. The human mind has aced the overall species of life on earth; it will master machines too.

Combat measures: reskilling and upskilling

Technology plays a fundamental role in the creation of successful products and services. But even for physical products, in many cases, it’s the accompanying software that makes all the difference by lending that extra edge. The point to be noted is that companies require constant updating of skills in their workforce to use novel, ground-breaking software. As a result, training and continuous skill development are some of the most important tools for organizations to achieve long-term success. Training not only upgrades skillsets but also raises several other parameters, namely motivation, efficiency, benchmarks, and inter-personal relationships.
Providing people with training opportunities is one of the most effective ways of retaining talent. Today, talented and qualified professionals enjoy the luxury of choosing where they want to work. So, unless business leaders take proactive steps towards training, reskilling, and upskilling the workforce, they will be prone to facing a "talent shortage."
Futuristic organizations like Amazon have integrated AI and robotics for resources and increased productivity. They use skilled workers for nonrepetitive work –monitoring and management of technology, logistics, processes, trouble-shooting, and so on. So, through reskilling and upskilling humans to complement the tasks performed by cognitive technology and to ensure that the work of machines is effective, fair, and transparent, a wide range of better job opportunities can be created.
Government agencies should collaborate with industry partners and educational institutions to customize programs to prepare workers skilled to thrive in an AI-driven world. The financial incentives for governments to create such programs are high; without them, unemployment costs could be considerably high.