In the Age of AI

 The video "In the Age of AI" taught me so much about artificial intelligence and how fascinating it is. Artificial intelligence is intelligence that is demonstrated by machines, instead of humans. The reason why artificial intelligence was created is because machines have a bigger information storage capacity than the human brain. This means that machines are capable of providing more data than humans and can store an amount of intelligence that a human can't handle. The information I learned about artificial intelligence is quite shocking. 

China is the country that currently uses the most artificial intelligence. China relies so much on machines to the point where multiple jobs are getting taken away from humans and the government is invading people's privacy. 

For example, people in China shop in stores without cashiers and pay for items using facial recognition, instead of credit cards. The use of facial recognition takes away millions of cashier jobs in China, making it harder for people in China to find minimum wage jobs. Drones also deliver packages in China, which takes away millions of delivery jobs in China. Furthermore, people in China pay for their food with facial recognition, taking away millions of jobs in the food industry. Artificial intelligence is taking away millions of minimum wage jobs in China, giving humans less of an opportunity to find a job. 

Aside from taking away millions of jobs in China, the use artificial intelligence is allowing China's government to invade people's privacy. For example, facial recognition is able to catch people in China that are jaywalking. The artificial intelligence machine scans peoples faces that are jaywalking, allowing the government to look at people's faces on the machine, so they can track them down and punish them. 

Artificial intelligence is also able to provide a person's social credit number in China by, once again, using facial recognition. The government rewards people for a high social credit number and punishes people for a low social credit number. I believe that having the ability to reveal a person's social credit number through a machine is scary and an invasion of privacy. China is using facial recognition to not only take over human jobs, but to invade the privacy of Chinese citizens to reward and punish them as well. 

Even though there are a lot of negative aspects about artificial intelligence, there are also a lot of positive aspects about machine learning. Machine learning sparks human creativity, which could find solutions to major issues, such as climate change and cancer. For example, MIT professor, Regina Barzilay discovered that analyzing enough data from the computer could predict early stage conditions to breast cancer. The Massachusetts General Hospital was able to predict the women that needed breast cancer surgery, thanks to Barzilay's techniques in deep machine learning and artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is saving people's lives by having the ability to detect early stages of cancer. 

Besides curing cancer, artificial intelligence has also made it possible to have driverless vehicles. How crazy is that?! Artificial intelligence has made it possible for computers to complete visual tasks, such as driving on a road with other cars. All the driver has to do is sit in the drivers seat and allow the vehicle to do all the driving. Engineers are predicting that people are going to be using driverless vehicles within the next few years!

Watching "In the Age of AI" was so eye opening for me because it made me realize how technologically advanced our world is becoming. The amount of jobs and tasks that artificial intelligence machines have taken over in China amazes me. It is so impressive that a machine can perform the same tasks as humans in just seconds. It is also impressive that a machine can save a person's life by detecting early stages of cancer and make driverless vehicles possible. Although, artificial intelligence scares me because of how much privacy the machines take away from people. The government can find out so much information about a person just by using facial recognition. Artificial intelligence has its pros and cons, but overall, I believe that artificial intelligence is making our world more technologically advanced for the better.