The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) programs has sparked apocalyptic predictions ranging from mass layoffs to human extinction.
Public skepticism about the potential benefits of AI is highest in Western countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France and the United States, home of Silicon Valley, according to the latest Artificial Intelligence Index from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. increase. By contrast, the vast majority of people in China and India, the world’s two most populous countries, felt that the benefits of AI outweighed the drawbacks.
As with any major technology advancement, the impact of AI will vary. But “like it or not, AI will always be around,” Forbes said. “AI can greatly improve our world if developed and used responsibly.”
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Here are some examples of how AI can bring great benefits.
Mind reading for health promotion
“One of the biggest potential benefits of AI is helping people stay healthy so they don’t need to see a doctor, or at least not as often,” he said. PWC said. AI is already being used to detect diseases earlier and “more accurately”. For example, AI software can interpret mammograms and convert patient data into diagnostic information to determine breast cancer risk “30 times faster” and “99% more accurately” than a human doctor, thus eliminating unnecessary biopsies. reduces the need for
US researchers are also developing an AI decoder that can convert brain activity into a continuous stream of text, a “breakthrough that enables the first non-invasive reading of human thoughts.” technology,” reported The Guardian’s science correspondent Hannah Devlin. The advances, outlined in a paper in Nature Neuroscience, raise the bar for new ways of restoring language in patients who have communication difficulties due to stroke or motor neuron disease.
Analysis of climate data
As a tool, the Boston Consulting Group said AI is uniquely positioned to help manage the “complex questions” surrounding climate change and its impact on environmental, social and economic systems around the world. AI programs can “collect, complete and interpret large and complex datasets on emissions” and “help identify areas most at risk.”
More specifically, AI can be used to predict the hazards of long-term events such as sea-level rise and near-term extreme events such as hurricanes. For example, the World Economic Forum reports that an application from San Francisco-based company Pano AI can scan video feeds from mountaintop cameras to “detect wildfire outbreaks, alert homeowners, and help firefighters extinguish fires. to support,” he reported.
Infant blindness detection
Recent AI-driven breakthroughs may pave the way for more effective detection of the leading causes of blindness in children. A study published in The Lancet Digital Health reveals how an international team of scientists and clinicians developed a deep learning model to identify infants at risk for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) bottom. The condition is caused by the growth of abnormal blood vessels in the retina of premature infants and can lead to blindness if left untreated.
“The symptoms of ROP are invisible to the naked eye, which means that the only way to identify symptoms of ROP is to observe an at-risk infant with an eye exam,” said University College London, who co-led the study. said. However, an AI tool trained using thousands of images of a newborn’s eye “is as effective as a senior pediatric ophthalmologist at distinguishing normal retinal images from those with his ROP.” It turned out to be something.”
decipher animal language
AI and machine learning have long helped analyze and translate human language, but now researchers are taking big steps to decipher how animals communicate, allowing experts to study ecology. and conservation efforts could go a long way. For example, in 2021, researchers used audio recordings to identify a new species of blue whale in the Indian Ocean. “Each blue whale population has distinct vocal signatures that can be used to distinguish and monitor different ‘acoustic populations’ or ‘acoustic groups,'” the international team said in Nature. explained in the article.
The California-based nonprofit Earth Species Project (ESP) is also using AI to identify patterns in large datasets of visual, verbal, and physical communication in animals. CEO and co-founder Katie Zakarian told the World Economic Forum earlier this year that the progress so far “is rapidly moving us toward a world where two-way communication with other species is possible.” Told.
help with grief
AI-powered technology is also being used to “develop chatbot avatars of deceased relatives to preserve their memories and ease their grief,” Euronews reported.
In 2021, an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that detailed how a freelance writer trained an AI chatbot to impersonate his deceased fiancé gained widespread attention. Less than two years later, with advanced AI programs such as ChatGPT, “grief tech” is a rapidly expanding field.
California-based company HereAfter AI invites users to upload the audio, images and videos of their deceased loved ones to the app to create a “life story avatar” that chats in the voice of the deceased on demand. . Another California startup, StoryFile, “records video and audio prior to a person’s death and makes it interactive through the power of conversational AI and holographic his avatar,” Euronews reported.
Lucy Selman, associate professor of palliative and end-of-life care at the University of Bristol, told the Financial Times that tackling grief in this way “doesn’t do anyone any good.” Research is needed into the ethics of such AI-powered technology and whether it’s harmful in slowing or prolonging grief, but it’s an “interesting advance,” she said.
protect the river
Proponents of AI argue that AI has a variety of positive uses. And now, wildlife experts have identified a new animal. They say the kind of facial recognition technology used in airports could be applied to prevent invasive fish from colonizing British rivers. Concerns are growing that pink salmon may establish breeding colonies in British rivers, threatening native Atlantic salmon and destroying fragile ecosystems, The Telegraph reported. Norwegian experts have similar concerns and have developed AI river gates to keep fish out. The software is trained to recognize the distinct characteristics of intruders. If the AI determines that the fish coming up the river is Atlantic Salmon, the gate will open. If it is determined to be a pink salmon (with its characteristic humped back), the gate is kept closed and the fish is transferred to storage tanks and returned to the sea.
Introduced to Russian rivers in the 1950s, pink salmon were rarely observed in British rivers until 2015, but 200 have since been spotted, and last year saw their first smolt (juvenile salmon) in two Scottish rivers. ) was discovered. In Norway the number will reach 100,000 in 2021 and could reach 1 million this year.
