Are we being irrationally panicked about AI? 

Himika Akram reporter  

Over the past few years, a lot of discussions have been going on about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential to steal jobs from us, because of its fast growth, sophistication, and popularity.  With the rapid proliferation of some AI generating tools like ChatGPT are making, and continuously being increasingly sophisticated; employees are being worried about the future of their careers.  

But is this fear valid? If you ponder over this for a while, I am sure you would feel most of our fears and concerns are exaggerated. The creativity that human beings are adding to their work, AI tools are not wired to do that. The intuition human beings are equipped with, it is unlikely that artificial intelligence tools can match that level. There would be situations when human workers are required to make their own judgment. This is the area where AI has a high chance of failing measurably. Hence it can never replace human beings to a huge extent. AI intelligence can detect fraud, for example, but how to interpret those results; that would still require the intervention of human beings. AI tools and robots are not equipped with skills like emotional intelligence, leadership or building rapport. 

Let us take AI generated paintings for example. They lack creativity and personalization. They are too perfect, which takes away from the aesthetic value a handmade painting would have. Most importantly, AI generating tools cannot make a painting for you out of thin air. It borrows other people’s artworks and then creates a picture for you, which is not even ethical. It could be an amalgamation of different artworks created by different artists and then it will produce a result and would give it to you. AI generated paintings are just not sophisticated enough yet, which can replace a painting an artist has drawn after spending weeks or even months. The experiences, emotions, thoughts an artist would add to his or her paintings; AI cannot do that. Those are readymade pictures and lack the sophistication of a handmade painting.  

But having said all of that, it does not mean AI is a villain. Technology could always be a blessing if we learn to combine it with human skills and instead of panicking over it, we can embrace the invention to reduce our workload; just as we did with the command over Microsoft Excel. Only with the application of some formulas, Excel tool can save us from weeks’ workload; is that a resource or a threat for you? Similarly, if we learn the advanced modern technologies, keep ourselves updated, and invest some time to acquire new skillsets, we can survive perfectly alongside the technological advancement. But AI can not replace human jobs fully; this thought is highly exaggerated, and the power of AI is overhyped in many cases.  If you look for a shortcut for everything, chances are high that the way will cut you short. AI can be a blessing for humans, if used with correct knowledge, but not a replacement.