E-Paper
Guest Column: The conundrum of Artificial Intelligence
The contentious part about AI comes with the ethical issue. It is being realised that when sophisticated and advanced technologies are subjected to ethical tests, it is a fuzzy zone
The other day, I was drawn to a rather surprising newspaper report. It was about performance of Chat GPT in IIT advanced entrance exam. The tool had scored much below par and so failed to clear the exam. On further probing, it was revealed that it had shown similar result in NEET and CLAT entrance exams, especially on analytical and logic section of the exam.
I recall, some two decades back, there was a buzz about then reigning World Chess champion Gary Kasparov being defeated by IBM computer deep blue in the first few rounds. However, ultimately Kasparov managed to up his game and was declared the champion.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been dominating our mind spaces in the last few years. It has been usefully employed in medicine, financial sector, banking, business enterprises, law, defence, nuclear energy , space programmes and many more. Scientists are especially enthused about its applications in biological sciences where it has immense potential in the health care field and genetics. It can prove to be a very useful outreach tool in underserved and far-flung areas where there is paucity of medical services. All in all, the potential is immense and mind boggling.
Coming to the basics, what is AI? It is simulated human intelligence. Human beings have devised programmes and algorithms, which are fed into machines to give consistent, reproducible and repeatable results over various periods of time. It has various components, including basic automation, machine learning and deep learning. Realising the immense and untapped potential, a lot of money and effort is being pumped into it by leading organisations to have an edge in future.
Various experiments and studies have been conducted to gauge the efficiency and accuracy of machines vis a vis human. The surmise is that so far tasks which are repeatable and reproducible machines work wonders with their speed and accuracy, but when it comes to subjective element, AI falls short as in decision-making for a complicated surgery where a robot may not work as well as an experienced surgeon. Another situation which we face all the times is while using Google Maps, while driving. Though being of enormous help, they are not fool proof as in the case of youngsters who were driving in unchartered territory at night and were led into a water body and tragically met their nemesis. We may recall the story of Frankenstein Monster, a fictitious character, who created so much havoc and brought regret to his creator.
The contentious part about AI comes with the ethical issue. It is being realised that when sophisticated and advanced technologies are subjected to ethical tests, it is a fuzzy zone. This unbridled march of AI has led to serious concerns at the highest levels of governments, so much so that at an AI summit recently held in UK, participating countries decided to take a pause, till such time as ethical formulations are devised. It may come as no surprise that Collin’s dictionary word of the year for 2023 happens to be artificial intelligence.
Hence, while the pros and utility of AI is undeniable, the cons and potential dangers cannot be overlooked. The increased frequency of cyber frauds leading to financial swindling is alarming. So is the case with fakes and deep fakes. Added to this is the distress caused to many due to their jobs being taken away by machines.
We may say with trepidation that future is promising but a bit scary. We don’t know in the quest for devising super race of Homo sapiens, we may churn out a Frankenstein.
