Artificial Intelligence (Part 2)

Pros & Cons

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

The advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI)—specifically ChatGPT is probably the single biggest development in recent years. It has truly been a game changer in many ways—regardless how we view AI.

Let’s look at some of the ways it has impacted our lives—good or bad—and take a deeper dive into the pros and cons that have been identified. Let’s also begin to address some nagging questions about the future of AI.

As far back as the mid-90’s I recall one of my favorite pastors commenting during a sermon that technology was increasing at an unprecented rate.

The new technology was advancing faster than the old was moving off the shelves (paraphrase). AI may be the resulting baby that is still in it’s infancy—but growing at an alarming rate…

History of AI

The arrival of ChatGPT in November of 2022 has proved to be nothing short of a technological Tsunami. In less than a week more than a million people were using it. Currently, it is being used by almost 190 billion.

Benefits of AI

Businesses worldwide, both large and small, are increasingly using artificial intelligence to boost their profit margin and enlarge their footprint.

Here are a few examples of genres and industries that are benefitting from artificial intellingence and ChatGPT by adding to their efficiency and footprint, thereby boosting the bottom line for the business.

● Customer service: Many companies are utilizing ChatGPT as a chatbot to initiate customer contact and respond to common inquiries.

● Education: Many students are now receiving personalized tutoring by ChatGPT.

● Content creation: ChatGPT is now the go-to writer for copywriters, content creators and even journalists—not just to draft and generate creative ideas, but write, edit and even critique itself.

● Businesses: All kinds of professionals are using the chatbot to automate tasks like drafting emails or writing code.

● Healthcare: Chatbot is being used in medical literature analysis, medical records, clinical guidance, and even disease dissemination.

● Entertainment: ChatGPT is becoming more integral for generating movie scripts and video gaming—to name a few.

Who would guess the above bulleted information was adapted from a May 2023 article?

Or who could imagine how much more advanced AI has become today—more than one year later.

Freelancers and small businesses are making more money with less effort simply by integrating AI.

Almost exclusively search engines widely utilize AI.

A growing number of companies are seeking to employ AI certified people, and paying them more than those without AI qualifications.

In December of 23’ author Jennifer Wales of The Medium wrote, “As per Access Partnership Survey; 42% of employers are looking for people with Artificial intelligence development qualifications. This number is expected to rise to 51% in the next five years.”

Concerns

• Estimates by the World Economic Forum (WEC) and others believe AI will replace up to 85 million jobs by 2025, and 65% of retail jobs could be replaced by that year.

• PwC estimates by the mid-2030s, up to 30% of jobs could be automatable, with slightly more men being affected in the long run as autonomous vehicles and other machines replace many manual tasks where their share of employment is higher.

• Short term risks such as disinformation.

• Long-term risks such as loss of control.

• AI may cause human extinction, ChatGPT creator Sam Altman and other tech leaders warn.

Even the creators of AI are concerned.

AI creators Sam Altman and Elon Musk both lamented on the evolution of machine learning—which they helped to create—warning that it could lead to the extinction of mankind.

Don’t miss the next article as we ask AI about the future—about Jesus, and more…

To be continued …

Grace and peace to you,

Rick