For decades, science fiction has presented us with often exaggerated visions of artificial intelligence (AI), feeding our imagination with machines endowed with a conscience of their own. However, the future of AI seems to be moving in a more realistic and pragmatic direction, with specific and personalised applications making their way into our daily lives. In this article, we explore the different ways in which AI could be used in the coming years.
The first form of AI use would be the personal assistants in our smartphones.
These nomadic AIs would initially be unified for all users, but as we interact with them, they would personalise themselves according to our preferences, habits and specific needs. A popular example of this idea is Jarvis, Iron Man's virtual assistant in the Marvel films. While we can't expect an assistant as sophisticated as Jarvis' in the near future, the idea of intelligent, personalised AI on our smartphones is certainly a realistic prospect. (Very much looking forward to seeing what Apple, which always puts the customer experience first, might come up with as a follow-up to the Siri concept).
The second form of AI use would be reserved for businesses and would be dedicated to specific areas of activity.
Indeed, it would be counter-productive for a company to share its industrial secrets with other market players. In this context, companies would develop their own AI, tailored to their specific needs, to help them optimise their processes, make informed decisions and improve their competitiveness. This use of specialised AI would contribute to an increase in efficiency and productivity in various sectors.
The third form of AI use would be integrated into our everyday software and tools.
Imagine word-processing software that suggests improvements to our writing (already the case in Beta versions of the Office suite), graphics software that generates design ideas (already the case for the Adobe Max suite), or a search engine that understands our needs and provides relevant answers (it is already possible to download plugins for an AI search interface). These integrated AIs are already making our day-to-day work easier, while working in the background to intelligently assist us.
While some Hollywood visions of AI may seem fascinating, even frightening, the reality is often far more pragmatic.
Often, reality even surpasses fiction in terms of technological advances. Take, for example, facial recognition applications, which were once considered science fiction, but are now used on a daily basis in many situations, from security to social media management.
It is also important to stress that a Big Brother AI, i.e. a centralised AI that controls everything and monitors every aspect of our lives, is not a realistic or desirable prospect. Users and regulators are increasingly aware of the importance of protecting privacy and avoiding any form of excessive control. The various players, both at government and corporate level, need to put in place measures to ensure that AI is used ethically and responsibly.
Ultimately, the future of AI seems to be more about personalised and specialised applications, rather than abstract generalisations. Personalised AIs in our smartphones, AIs dedicated to businesses and AIs integrated into our everyday software are realistic prospects, if not already a reality, that could radically change the way we live and work in the years to come. It is essential to remain vigilant about the ethical and legal implications of these developments, while taking advantage of the opportunities and benefits they can offer.
Jean-Philippe Paviot, for BackBoneStudio
Reference :
- The AI Index report, which provides up-to-date data and statistics on the state of AI in several areas, including applied AI and personalised mobile AI. Available on : https://aiindex.org/
- "Virtual personal assistants will become more personalised as we use them. They will learn from our preferences and habits to better meet our needs." - Sundar Pichai, Google CEO. (Source: TechCrunch)
- "Companies that use specialist AI to refine their processes and make informed decisions can benefit from reduced costs and improved efficiency." - Dr. Didier Sornette, Professor of Finance at ETH Zurich (Source: Forbes)
- "Integrating AI into our everyday software can improve productivity by reducing repetitive tasks and providing intelligent suggestions. - Dr. Fei-Fei Li, Co-Director of the Institute for AI and Vision Sciences at Stanford (Source: MIT Technology Review)
- "It is essential to establish sound ethical principles to guide the use of AI, in order to protect privacy and avoid abuse." - Dr. Kate Crawford, Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research (Source: Wired)
- "AI will not be an omnipresent, all-powerful threat, but rather a tool that we can shape to meet our specific needs." - Dr. Yoshua Bengio, AI Pioneer and Turing Award Winner (Source: World Economic Forum)
