While the world is focused on humanoid Sophia’s journey, we would like to revisit the true definition of Artificial Intelligence. AI is a concept or a technology that is shared by academia, industry and government. Strictly speaking, AI is not a sentient being or an individual. And without any doubt, A.I does not have a specific gender.
The relation and differentiation between AI and humanoid robots like Sophia is dubious. Of course, some of the most advanced robots are powered by AI as AI helps humanoid robots to learn from the surroundings, interact with people and operate independently. But there are many AI platforms and inventions that are not even linked with robots.
AI Can Help Us
The most controversial question of whether humanoids can be human overlooks an important point. The problem is not whether Artificial Intelligence could help humanoids gain human-like features. Indeed, robots should not play the part of humans at all. Artificial Intelligence can help humans to resolve problems without playing a sentient being in the society. AI developers can support fellow beings by working on problem solving aspects of AI and enhancing productivity.
A.I at Its Infancy
AI is still at its infancy. Therefore, it’s not yet capable enough to attain human-level intelligence, compassion or any of the many fundamental qualities of humans. Empowering AI with human qualities will just create new problems rather than solving the existing ones. Moreover, the idea misrepresents AI in front of the global community. It forces them to think about the outcomes of developing AI further.
Many futurologists believe that it’s more important to advertise the benefits of Artificial Intelligence instead of shifting the focus to models of humanoid robots that actually don’t solve human problems. Robots of the present are rather perpetuating gender perceptions and disclosing data-driven biases.
The technological community in sync with global society should focus on developing purposeful AI systems. There are many issues like transportation issues and complex health care, business problems such as improving technical expertise in different disciplines and boosting productivity etc. that AI technology can work upon. The global community doesn’t need an AI technology that stirs utter confusion. Instead we need a technology that can nullify prejudice based on gender and uses data sources to learn, grow and work wonders with the human counterparts.
Importance Of The Debate
Using AI-powered humanoids to horrify the AI experience and forcing fellow humans to think that robots will someday take over their lives sabotages the development of AI. It stops people from embracing the astonishingly personalized benefits of AI. Moreover, for technologists and futurologists who have dedicated their lives to uplift human society, it will be a major setback. It will prevent them from real invention and technical progress.
Let us not undermine the significance of this debate. It’s important to talk about the ethics that should be followed while developing Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. It will ensure that we don’t miss the opportunity that could change our lives positively. Therefore, before we start making claims about AI-powered robots accommodating into society, let’s calm ourselves. We have to believe that AI creators will work together relentlessly to rectify the basics of AI technology.
AI advocates from different sectors like public sector, academia and industry will develop extensive ethical standards and will commit to them. Additionally, engineers who create different AI systems must ensure their products will be able to learn, understand bias and will not make the same mistakes that were done by humans in the workforce and society. After all, tech leaders should focus on improving human lives rather than making AI more human-like.