Rise of Artificial Intelligence
The rise of artificial intelligence has become the talk of the world. Artificial intelligence is around our lives on the everyday basis. There is no way that you go by one day without the help of an AI. Artificial Intelligence can be as big as a 5-foot robot, or it could just be a computer system on your device. For example, your email has an AI, this AI helps you separate your spam mail and your primary mail. These types of AIs’ you don’t really notice, but they do help you out in your everyday life. There are tons of benefits that we get from creating and using artificial intelligence, but there will always be a downside to using something. The benefits of artificial intelligence will shine the brightest, but the uses of artificial intelligence can put our society to danger as well.
Artificial Intelligence is still a growing matter as we speak. There isn’t a time where artificial intelligence isn’t getting smarter. There are so many great things that we can do with artificial intelligence. One of the greatest things that artificial intelligence can do is assisting on surgeries. As a robot (artificial intelligence), there is no way that it can make simple mistakes. These simple mistakes count as shaky hands during a surgery. Having shaky hands during a surgery can lead to some horrifying sights. Robots aren’t capable of having these slight problems, as long as these robots are given what to do they will follow and do whatever they are programmed to. Right now, these robots are only assisting the needs of a human surgeon, but as time passes scientists hope to surpass the need to be controlled by a surgeon. In the article, “Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery Shortens Recover and Reduces Risks”, the author, Allan Roger, mentions the development of Trauma Pod program which is a “program that seeks to use robotics to project the skills of surgeons to precisely where they’re needed on the battlefield.”(Roger).
The growth of artificial intelligence in the surgical field has been becoming more useful, but the one thing that these robots can’t do that doctors can is judging. By judging, I mean that these robots won’t have the knowledge or ability to make the right moves sometimes. Since they are robots, they are made and used for the one thing that they are programmed to do. Without the ability to make calls and judge the situation these robots can put some people in danger. In the medical field, you never know what can happen which is why there are doctors to be the judge of that situation. If the robot, which is given one task, makes a bad call because it doesn’t know what to do, it could risk losing a person’s live. Another bad thing about having artificial intelligence conduct our surgeries is that it can be quite expensive compared to traditional surgeries. In the article, “Robotic Surgery Offers Patients No benefits over Traditional Surgery”, written by Lisa Weidenfeld, it is mentioned that in a study that “cystectomies could add as much as $20,000 and that after one month complications were nearly 50 percent more likely in traditional, rather than robotic surgery.” (Weidenfeld). With this much money being added to the total cost, is it really more effective than having a regular surgeon do their jobs. Unless there is a way to make these robots perfectly and cost efficient, it isn’t going to be the next big thing.
Not only does Artificial Intelligence assist in surgeries they have also been a big factor in finding the cure for cancer that is talked about in the article, “Artificial Intelligence Can Help Find a Cure for Cancer”, written by Jay M. Tenenbaum. Cancer is one of the deadliest, if not deadliest, diseases that we have going around. In the article Tenenbaum explains that cancer is tremendously hard to cure because each type of cancer that one person gets is different from everyone. It’s hard to cure cancer with having one drug because cancer depends on the individual’s situation. In the article it’s said that “a drug that works on 50 percent of patients tested may or may not be better for any given patient than one that works on 20 percent.”(Tenenbaum). This is where the help of artificial intelligence becomes a work of magic. Having artificial intelligence means that we can make things super easy because computer programs can make the jobs of managing data way easier. Compared to a regular worker, robots will not get tired and there wouldn’t be problem of having too much information. Using artificial intelligence, we can understand every person’s case just as much because these computers are helping us sort everything out about each person. Since there would be millions of different cases, having robots do this work is essential. Having artificial intelligence working of the cure of cancer is a great help because it makes everything a lot easier for the researchers and doctors. Researchers can program these robots to plan “thousands of complex, multistep treatment strategies that ethically balance the needs of the individual” (Tenenbaum). Researchers and doctors no longer have to worry about the need of each individual when these AIs can do it for them. These doctors and researchers will be able to focus of their own thing while the robots do the work of having planning, organizing, and analyzing.
Not only can artificial intelligence save lives from cancer, but they can also save the lives of those who might be in danger of earthquakes. Artificial can be a big help in the medical field with surgery and research but, artificial intelligence can now help people predict the next big or small earthquake. Earthquakes can be one of the worst natural disasters and with the help or artificial intelligence we can make it less deadly. Earthquakes can take up to thousands of lives and destroy hundreds of buildings, but with artificial intelligence helping us track and analyze the seismic data we might just be able to save most of those lives. To show how fast and easy artificial intelligence makes analyzing seismic data, in the following article, “A.I. Is Helping Scientists Predict When and Where the Next Big Earthquake Will Be”, written by, Thomas Fuller and Cade Metz, it is said that, “graduate students used a neural network to run an earthquake analysis 500 times faster than they could in the past”(Fuller and Metz). With the help of this fast technology we might be able predict when the next earthquake is going to happen. If people are informed of an incoming earthquake residents can take precaution by doing simple things like evacuating everyone away from the area. Just by evacuating the area, all those lives won’t be put into danger. The next thing that can be saved or damaged less are buildings. Although damage to the buildings are inevitable, it’s possible for people to have less damage just by following a few precautions that you can find online. The last thing that artificial intelligence will help us save is money. Before you evacuate, you’re able to bring every valuable that you have and saving lots of items that may be broken from an earthquake. You can go from losings tens of thousands to half of that. Although you still might be losing money, you will still be saving thousands of dollars.
Now that we’re on the issue of money, one thing that has become clear is that artificial intelligence will be used a lot more in different work fields. Since artificial intelligence is a robot that needs no sleep, breaks, vacations, or even a pay, they have become a big part of labor. Since robots need none of these small things like a pay and breaks, you would assume that these robots will take over every job and leave everyone jobless. This may seem to be a problem, but artificial intelligence in the laboring field gives everyone around them an advantage. In the article “Artificial Intelligence Can Spark Job Growth”, written by Joseph Michael Newhard, it is shown in many ways that artificial intelligence will be a good thing for us in the future. First, if robots are to take our jobs this just means that more jobs will be needed in the “engineering and management” fields. Robots can only do so much with these labor jobs. They are meant to do one thing and become stuck to that one job. This means that if we need more robots to do these small and repetitive jobs, we’ll need engineers to create them. With the demand of engineers, it’ll spark job growth in just that one field. Humans have one thing that the robots don’t and it’s the creative power that we all have. Artificial intelligence is made to do one thing and they wouldn’t be able to take jobs that require creativity that easily. Another way that artificial intelligence in the labor industry can benefit us is that it makes cheaper goods. Having robots doing labor will create cheaper goods because companies/businesses wouldn’t need to pay workers anymore. All that these companies have to do is to make a few purchases of robots to take these repetitive jobs. By doing so, this means that the company will be able to sell their goods for less because they wouldn’t need to pay their workers anymore.
Although we can benefit from artificial intelligence working for humans, it doesn’t mean that everyone is satisfied. It is inevitable that artificial intelligence will take our jobs and become a better worker than the person that had that job. This does mean that we get a few advantages from this epidemic, but it forces everyone to change their way of life. In the previous article, Newhard mentions that jobs in “engineering, management, maintenance, marketing, sales, and so on” (Newhard) will have more jobs. These jobs that are mentioned by Newhard aren’t meant for everyone, such as teenagers. We have seen many teenagers work for fast foods and retail, but if robots take those jobs then these teenagers are left with nothing to do. They are basically forced to wait until they are adults to apply for jobs that they might not even like because robots have already taken their jobs. Many world renowned people have said that AIs will take our jobs, but it doesn’t matter because we’ll just work around it. For teenagers this would be a problem because it’s not normal for a teenage to be working at an engineering firm. In the article, “The Real Threat of Artificial Intelligence”, written by Kai-Fu Lee, not only will jobs for teenagers be affected but,“bank tellers, customer service representatives, telemarketers, stock and bond traders, even paralegals and radiologists will gradually be replaced by such software.” (Lee). That is most likely thousands and thousands of jobs being lost to robots. Having robots take these jobs means that it forces everyone to pursue the “creative” works, which a lot of people may not like. In another article, “Will Robots Take our Children’s Jobs?”, Alex Williams explains that a lot of the jobs that our kids may want to be, will be taken. For example, if your kid aspires to become a surgeon, it might be harder for them in the future because there are already robots that assist in surgeries. There are already plans to have robots take on the surgery alone, so this means that there might not be a chance in becoming a surgeon.
One of the creative jobs that artificial intelligence cannot take over is teaching. Teaching is one of the jobs that AIs can’t really take over, but they can help and support it. In the article, “How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Teaching”, written by Beth McMurtrie, it’s shown that with the help of artificial intelligence, teachers were able to get a better feedback from their students. As a student myself, if a teacher posts a discussion question and nothing is required for me to do, I wouldn’t do it. With programs such as Packback, it helps teachers force kids to do the prompts and to do it well. I do think that this is beneficial to teachers and to students. Students will be able to benefit off this because at the end of the day they are still learning. Using programs provided by artificial intelligence, it makes the job of teachers who have to teacher over a thousand kids easier. Without these helpful programs, it’s extremely hard to grade everyone and to know if everyone understands the topic/class.
Although artificial intelligence is a helpful source in college, it can become troublesome for kids. In the article “Computers ‘do not improve’ pupil results, says OECD”, written by Sean Coughlan, it is shown that having computers and softwares will not actually help students learn or improve performance. In the picture below, it’s shown that the schools that don’t have as many computers are a lot better than those who have a lot.
It would make sense that these kids with tons of technology aren’t doing as well as those who have less because these are kids we are dealing with. Kids already have a hard time concentrating and if you give them a piece of technology to do their work, it’ll just make it twice as hard for them. Artificial intelligence used in college is way different from this because professors have a hard time tracking what everyone is doing, but in middle or high school there’s one teacher for a max of 35 kids. Artificial intelligence in the education field is used more for organization and analyzing, but in middle school this wouldn’t be needed because there’s enough time for these teachers to help everyone.
In conclusion, there are many ways that artificial intelligence can advance our society, but there will always be setbacks. Artificial intelligence can help us with surgeries and maybe become the surgeons themselves, but the risks are high because there is no sense of judgment. Jobs would also be taken by these robots, but it does mean that we’ll have cheaper goods and raises in other fields. This can be a good thing for some people and a bad thing for others. Artificial intelligence is able to help us tremendously, but it all comes down to how we use it at the end of the day.
Work Cited
Tenenbaum, Jay M., and Jeff Shrager. “Artificial Intelligence Can Help Find a Cure for Cancer.” Cancer, edited by Jacqueline Langwith, Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010823209/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=26771d53. Accessed 9 Nov. 2018. Originally published as “Cancer: A Computational Disease That AI Can Cure,” AI Magazine, Summer 2011.
Allan, Roger. “Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery Shortens Recovery and Reduces Risks.” Medical Technology, edited by Carol Ullmann and Lynn M. Zott, Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010864208/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=252f9cc7. Accessed 8 Nov. 2018. Originally published as “Robotics Give Doctors a Helping Hand,” Electronic Design, 19 June 2008.
Weidenfeld, Lisa, and Joseph Uchill. “Robotic Surgery Offers Patients No Benefits over Traditional Surgery.” Medical Technology, edited by Carol Ullmann and Lynn M. Zott, Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010864209/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=6fd60051. Accessed 9 Nov. 2018. Originally published as “Robotic Surgery Popular, Expensive, but Is It More Effective?” Medill Reports, 6 Mar. 2012.
Fuller, Thomas and Cade, Metz. “A.I. Is Helping Scientists Predict When and Where the Next Big Earthquake Will Be”. The New York Times 26 Oct 2018. Web 7 Nov. 2018.
McMurtrie, Beth. “How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Teaching.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 Aug. 2018, p. A14+. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A553116493/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=058ae4c6. Accessed 9 Nov. 2018.
Newhard, Joseph Michael. “Artificial Intelligence Can Spark Job Growth.” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/RHFXAU860117222/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=0c4c4d20. Accessed 13 Nov. 2018. Originally published as “Robots Are Not Your Economic Enemy,” Foundation for Economic Education, 19 June 2017.
Lee, Kai-Fu. “The Real Threat of Artificial Intelligence.” New York Times, 25 June 2017, p. 4(L). Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A496697826/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=f697e8fb. Accessed 13 Nov. 2018.
Coughlan, Sean. “Computers ‘do not improve’ pupil results, says OECD” BBC 15 Sept 2015. Web 9 Nov. 2018.
William, Alex. “Will Robots Take Our Children’s Jobs?” The New York Times 11 Dec 2017. Web 9 Nov. 2018.
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