Artificial intelligence (AI) is not coming, it is already here and has already become an essential part of our lives – for better or worse, says one of the world’s leading experts on AI, Professor Toby Walsh, who is the chief AI scientist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
The professor, who has authored several books on the impact of AI, explains that the technology is already being used in our daily lives and impacting the choices we make. In online shopping apps, for example, it influences what we buy. When we apply for jobs, AI has a say in whether we get shortlisted for the job, and even on how we vote.
It can be unnerving. But he also sees the upside.
“Without AI, medical technology wouldn’t have come so far, we would still be getting lost on back roads in our GPS-free cars, and smartphones wouldn’t be so, well, smart,” he says.
But as we build more intelligent and autonomous machines, he stresses that we need to think about the bigger impact AI will have, not just on all of us individually, but also on societies and the planet.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Straits Times, Prof Walsh explores the various issues raised by the use of AI, including the ethical considerations and unexpected consequences AI poses: Will automation take away most jobs? Is it possible for AI to make fair, objective decisions? Will AI intelligence overtake human intelligence? And what lies in store for “Homo digitalis”, the people of the not-so-distant future, who will be living among fully functioning artificial intelligence?
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