Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved from a niche area of technology to the mainstream of culture. Today, this technology eases many basic tasks, but raises serious life-and-death concerns.
AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, more than the current annual output of China and India combined, according to accounting research firm PwC.
In recent months, AI adoption has spread to institutions as diverse as universities, factories, media companies, governments, and even amusement parks.
Here are some answers to basic questions about this technology.
What is AI?
AI simulates human thinking and learning abilities to perform tasks.
Computers and other machines equipped with this technology can be used for a variety of purposes, such as serving dinner, packing boxes, recommending personalized advertisements, and writing college-level essays.
Sorvik Das, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who specializes in AI and cybersecurity, characterizes AI as “a broad umbrella term.”
“AI is our attempt to develop technology that mimics human cognition,” Das told ABC News. “The pace of development is pretty fast right now.”
The term was coined in the 1950s and was especially developed by Alan Turing. Turing devised a test to see if human interlocutors could distinguish between conversations with other individuals and conversations with machines.
Over the decades that followed, AI became more sophisticated as computing power increased.
This technology manifests itself in our daily lives through social media and movie recommendation algorithms, phone unlocking systems that rely on facial recognition, and personalized search engine results.
“The seed has been around for a while,” Chris McComb, a professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and director of the Human + AI Design Initiative, told ABC News.
Why is there so much interest in AI these days?
After last year’s release of an improved version of ChatGPT, a conversational bot, AI gained mainstream attention, reaching 100 million users within two months.
ChatGPT instantly responds to user prompts on a variety of subjects, generating essays about Shakespeare and travel tips about specific destinations.
In March, Microsoft released a version of the Bing search engine that provides the responses provided by ChatGPT’s latest model, GPT-4. Rival search firm Google unveiled an AI model called “Bard” in February.
Text bots, known as large-scale language models, have sparked clashes within university classrooms, newsrooms, and television studios over their use and abuse in creating original works.
Art Generator, on the other hand, instantly generates fresh artwork based on your written prompts.
“We just crossed a hill where AI seems to be doing a lot more than it used to,” Das said.
What are the potential benefits and risks of AI?
Proponents of AI say the technology could increase productivity, automate unpleasant or mundane tasks, and give us the opportunity to focus on creative and innovative endeavors.
“AI allows humans to focus on higher-value activities,” Adam Ray, founder and CEO of AstrumU, an education-focused company that uses artificial intelligence, told ABC News.
The technology performs a range of tasks “that are impossible for anyone to handle efficiently at scale,” Ray added.
But critics warn that AI could accelerate the spread of deceptive information such as misinformation, hate speech, and deepfake videos and audio. Some experts have warned that the technology could even threaten human existence.
In May, hundreds of business leaders and celebrities sounded a solemn alarm about the threat of mass extinction posed by artificial intelligence.
Experts agree that it is important to discuss safety and the implications of using AI.
“We have a lot of experts thinking about the social, safety and policy implications — the right policies needed to use this technology safely and productively,” Brendan Englot, director of the Stevens Institute for Artificial Intelligence (SIAI), a cross-departmental AI focus at Stevens Institute of Technology, told ABC News.
He cites cars and airplanes as two examples, adding that “every new wave of technology presents similar problems,” adding that it “brings the arrival of new machines and tools that can have positive impacts but also carry risks.”
There are still many uncertainties about AI, but one prediction is certain, Lei said.
“The only constant about AI is change,” he says.
McComb said AI is worth researching, especially when it comes to small tasks that make everyday life a “more enjoyable experience,” but it’s important to be able to verify the results.
“We are very social creatures,” he added, “and there are fundamental things about relationships and human dignity that we, as human beings, have to protect.”
ABC News’ Melissa Gaffney contributed to this report.
