How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Us More Human
We hear so much about the downsides of Artificial Intelligence; how it can be weaponized, how AI might overthrow humanity or try wipe us out entirely or suppress our free will. Those are plausible outcomes and they do need to be considered given the profound impact AI can and will have, on our species. Yet AI could also make us well, understand us, better. How?
Understanding Consciousness
Right now, we don’t really understand what consciousness is, how it comes about and how it evolves. We’re learning more, but we’ve yet to really get it. But we’re learning more precisely because of our development of AI. Today, AI and it’s subsets such as neural networks, which are key along with machine learning and natural language processing, to creating AI that can do more than one primary task. We are in the age of Narrow AI, in that it may be very good at spotting cancer or fighting parking tickets, but it is not at the point that is has any sense of “self” like humans. That is General AI and we may never get there.
Become More Creative
Some research is showing that humans are becoming less creative. This is a bit concerning. I believe, based on my work, that humanity is in a liminal phase when it comes to our relationship with and how we integrate technology, into our lives. If, as is predicted, AI will take over the more mundane tasks of our work and lives, perhaps we will have a chance to be more creative.
Through teaching AI driven robots, such as the seminal work done by Hiroshi Ishiguro in Japan, we are teaching them about creativity. Which means we must understand creativity more ourselves.
Evolve Our Sociocultural Understanding
Humans have been leveraging tools for over 70,000 years. This co-evolution is known as technogenesis. But most technologies we’ve developed have been to enhance and support our physical world and lives. AI enters into the realm of cognitive augmentation a key aspect of what I term the Second Adaptation of humans. Key to AI and tools that augment humans in the digital world, is better understanding our society and culture.
We already know that AI carries inherent gender and racial biases. This impacts our sociocultural systems around the world. And as we are globally connected as a species unlike ever before in our history, so we must better understand our society and cultures to build better AI. As a result, such learning can play a role in gender equality and the road to eliminating one of humanities stupidest social constructs; racism.
Make Work More Interesting
One key advantage of AI today is that it can learn quickly and take on repetitive and boring tasks. In terms of labour, this means we can use AI to augment our daily work and then focus on more interesting aspects of work that AI cannot yet do. AI can help provide answers, but in the end, we need to layer in human context in the final decisions of what we do.
This could mean more time to learn new skills, improve our adaptability skills and collaboration. The rigid hierarchical management processes driven by the first industrial revolution will fade away, replaced by ever evolving roles and collaborative approaches to leadership and development. Work may become much more rewarding and interesting.
Over time, we may also learn how to work in greater harmony with nature and our environment as we use AI to help us solve and manage climate change. We will likely evolve new economic and monetary models and it is likely that progressive countries will introduce the concept of Universal Basic Income.
These are but some of the ways that AI can help us evolve and grow as a species. But it will also take a more united approach in our global society to see the dangers AI also presents and to manage them. All technologies are a double-edged weapon, it is a basic principle of technology. As we evolve AI alongside side us in the ongoing technogenesis of humanity, we may find we end up understanding our selves better. That’s a good thing.
What do you think?
