Trendswatch 2017 - Rise of the Intelligence Machine
Ethan Lahm
This article, brought to us by the 2017 edition of Trendswatch and an anonymous author, begins with a basic understanding of the prime subject, computer intelligence, and artificial intelligence. This concept is described as both an important and perilous thing for humans to use on an everyday basis, as it may be cheaper to use AI for programming or thinking for projects, but also leads to unemployment and less human interaction. The author explains that some AI programs have been able to pass the Turing test, proving that when faced with other humans, the program cannot be differentiated from another human. Other examples include winning Jeopardy games, being able to detect signs of breast cancer in women, and helping students as a teaching assistant for their university courses. The author also provides downsides such as the unemployment of existing staff due to artificial intelligence being able to take over their workload. And while this may be a sad thought, our author also explains that this con will be inevitable, as artificial intelligence is projected to be the only practical management tool going into the future.
I find this article extremely frightening. I understand the applications of artificial intelligence and what can be made and improved with the system, but I believe that taking over work and ability from humans is a step in the wrong direction. Just as a museum or gallery is displaying human subjects, emotions, and feelings with the work that they display, I feel it would be almost hypocritical to start using an artificial intelligence to take over the staffing needs of the establishment. While every establishment is more than probably going to take a route that involves streamlining their management and engagement practices, I believe that it is shameful to use an artificial intelligence instead of placing trust on those that love the work. My only question for this article involves whether or not the cons will start to outweigh the pros of artificial intelligence in the future. And I do believe that this question applies to most fields, not just curatorial practices. If issues of unemployment and lack of human creativity begin to show more prominently with the use of artificial intelligence, will there be room to remove this process from society?
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