DAVantage

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
A VARIABLE OF THE FUTURE

        Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a tool that is gaining ubiquity and is the focus of numerous contentious discussions. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2016) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD, 2017), AI is defined as the ability of machines and systems to acquire and apply knowledge and to carry out intelligent behaviour. This ability, which is distinct from human intelligence to some extent, is applied to machines and devices such as robots or computers and is also related to the intuition for utilization, such as the ability to learn or solve issues.

        By dint of recent advances, several AI milestones have been achieved. The development of this robotics system has undeniably helped individuals solve their problems in the most time-saving and convenient way. Along with what a lot of people might consider a breakthrough, others have raised concerns about the threats that this technology shall bring to humanity. 

        Artificially intelligent robots were first introduced to the public in science fiction throughout the first part of the 20th century (Anyoha, 2017). By the 1950s, a generation of scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers had become culturally acclimated to the idea of artificial intelligence (or AI). One of them was Alan Turing, a young British polymath who investigated the mathematical potential of artificial intelligence. “Why can't machines solve issues and reach choices in the same way that humans do, by using the knowledge at their disposal along with reason?” Turing said. In his 1950 paper Computer Machinery and Intelligence, he described how to create intelligent machines and how to assess their intelligence. This was the study's logical structure.

        Five years later, Allen Newell, Cliff Shaw, and Herbert Simon's program Logic Theorist served as the foundation for the proof of concept. McCarthy convened eminent scholars from a variety of professions for an open-ended discussion on artificial intelligence—a phrase he invented at this very conference. The sentiment that AI was attainable was shared by everyone, despite the conference participant's lack of enthusiasm. The significance of this event cannot be undermined as it catalyzed the next twenty years of AI research (Anyoha, 2017).

        Fast forward to the modern era, artificial intelligence is leading the way in technological development. A few industries where it has been applied include medicine, education, stock trading, robot control, law, scientific research, video games, and toys (SDS Team, 2021). Also, the development of AI in the twenty-first century has been quite remarkable. Face recognition, natural language processing, audio recognition, text creation, language translation, drug discovery, and other accomplishments of artificial intelligence are just a few (AI Achievements, 2021). Artificial intelligence has undergone mind-boggling advancements since it was originally discussed in the late 1950s, and it is safe to claim that humans’ most personal life changes are now being influenced by it.

        AI has already shown that it has the potential to change every aspect of life and advance scientific research. Humans’ decision-making, planning, and information-seeking processes now all automatically include AI, such as opening phones by using face recognition, sending emails, online shopping, online banking or using social media. Students, for example, have been using ChatGPT or other applications to find the most suitable answers to questions in the fastest way. 

        Scientists also record AI breakthroughs in the healthcare system. AI is already being used to make accurate diagnoses of some illnesses such as cancer at an early stage. Recently, Google researchers collaborated with Northwestern Medicine to develop an AI system that can identify lung cancer with more accuracy than radiologists (Docwire News, 2019). This system, which analyses computed tomography (CT) images to forecast one's chance of getting the disease, was trained using a deep-learning algorithm. Besides this, AI also plays an important role in assisting doctors in better diagnosing and understanding the problems of their patients. Take mental health as a case. In the current society, mental health disorders are becoming widespread, time-consuming and highly expensive to deal with. Specialized mental health situations, such as the opioid crisis, are extremely chaotic and require unique approaches to provide patients with the right therapy. Luckily, cognitive behavioural treatment based on AI is available to assist. With the use of AI-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, this newly developed approach helps therapists to better identify depression, eating disorders, and substance addiction and helps give appropriate therapies (Analytics Insight, 2021).

        Another area in which AI has had significant development is the agricultural industry. This sector contributes significantly to the economy, which makes it one of the most important industries as well as heading towards automation (Talaviya et al., 2020). As the population keeps increasing in recent years, it is clear that traditional methods could not provide sufficient supplies to fulfil requirements. Since the development of AI, a revolution in agriculture has been sparked, which has helped to protect crops from various threats such as overpopulation, job challenges, and food security problems. Taking into account AI’s importance, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has also reaffirmed the inclusivity of AI and applied this technology in its program to combat hunger and food crises (FAO, 2020). Nowadays, this industry has utilized AI to detect animal or human breaches that may destroy crops and quickly send out an alarm, use drones to record real-time patterns of those crops, and then give predictions and crop-planning methods for farmers. 

        However, despite outstanding breakthroughs, there have been vivid debates on the way AI would cause threats to humanity, especially regarding the legal and ethical aspects of this robotics system.  

        First is the violation of human rights. In 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged its member states to put a moratorium on the sale and use of artificial intelligence unless a clear, concrete and effective legislation system is in place. It also underlined that the development of AI could violate or cause threats to international human rights (OHCHR, 2021).  

        As a fundamental human right, privacy is necessary for one to live in dignity and security (OpenDemocracy, 2018). Yet in the digital world, a lot of personal information is gathered and may be used to profile and make predictions about users’ behaviour. Take the face recognition system as an example. This technology is now being adopted in the criminal justice systems of different territories, including Hong Kong, China, Denmark and India (Mhlungu, 2023). The police in Hong Kong have taken advantage of this technology to identify who joins what protest in order to capture the protestors (Zi Teng, n.d.).

        Freedom of speech is another right that is in question. In a recent publication on algorithms and human rights by the Council of Europe, it was observed, for instance, that YouTube and Facebook have implemented a screening system to identify violent extremist content. No details, however, are available on the procedure or standards used to determine whether movies include "obviously unlawful content" (OpenDemocracy, 2018). One cannot help but applaud the attempt to curb the spread of such information, but the lack of transparency around content moderation raises concerns since it might be used to curtail legitimate free speech and impede people's freedom of expression.

        Second, AI biased and discriminating input information has proven as a major issue throughout its development. The word “bias” has not been defined by the United Nations but is often defined as an unfair action of supporting or opposing a particular person or thing (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). As AI algorithms are created by humans, anyone who either intentionally or unintentionally inserts bias into the algorithm may easily do so. AI algorithms will yield biased results if they were developed with a bias or if the data used as training sets for the algorithms was biased. This reality may have unforeseen repercussions, similar to those brought on by discriminating hiring practices and Microsoft's racist Twitter chatbot. Research has revealed, for instance, that males find it easier to view advertisements for highly paid positions on Google than their counterparts. Research conducted by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency in May 2017 also emphasized how AI might make discrimination worse. When social biases are reflected in data-based decision-making, it reproduces and even strengthens such biases. Academics and NGOs have also frequently brought up this issue, and they recently adopted the Toronto Declaration, which calls for measures to stop machine learning systems from facilitating discriminatory acts (Schwartz, 2021).

        Witnessing the rapid development of AI from the past to the present, as well as taking into consideration all the pros and cons of this technological branch, one question remains intriguing to the general public: what does the future hold? In the long run, general intelligence, or a machine that is more cognitively capable than humans in every task, is the desired outcome for AI. Yet, it does not appear likely achievable in the next 50 years (Anyoha, 2017). Even if the capability existed, the ethical concerns would act as a significant roadblock. Moreover, AI is not yet common knowledge to the entire world, and humanity is unable to foresee the future it would bring - what other scientific gateways would it open, would it replace humans in jobs and increase the risk of unemployment, and would it hinder human interactions and communications? Despite the unpredictability of AI, however, one thing remains predictable, and that is humanity’s anticipation of this technology in the future, and sense of alertness when it comes to discussions and debates surrounding AI. Humanity now knows that the world will be reaching grounds deemed unimaginable and unforeseeable in the past thanks to the integration of AI, and hopefully, humans will be ready and well-equipped enough for this upcoming predictable unpredictability in the future.

        It goes without saying that humans would benefit from AI by making the most of their time and freedom. Yet, it also has the potential to create a nightmarish society. The future of the society we wish to live in rests on finding the correct balance between technological advancement and the preservation of human rights. To do it right, we need more collaboration between state actors—governments, legislatures, courts, law enforcement—private businesses, academic institutions, NGOs, international organizations, and the general public. Although difficult, the work is not impossible.

Author: Vu Phuong Linh, Phan Nguyen Quynh Nhi, Hoang Kim Tran Khang.

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References

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