Who would you trust with your life, a human or a machine?
Where once we would laugh at that question, we now have to take a second glance.
IBMs Watson, probably one of the most well-known supercomputers in the world, is quickly topping his game-skill abilities and becoming a medical genius.
Artificial intelligence is moving into fields like radiology – where there currently is about 30,000 radiologists providing analysis each day – and is taking center stage in interpreting image results.
Smart surgical bots are also showing up in all kinds of places, including orthopedic knee replacement and Lasik eye surgery, though at current merely assisting rather than completing the surgery on its own.
But how long before that changes?
According to a report compiled by professor of management practice at London Business School Lynda Gratton, and futurologist David A Smith, in just a few years we could be seeing job titles like:
- Human to machine interface programmer
- Avatar manager
- Robot counsellor
- Old age wellness managers, and
- Synthetic life designers
While we’ve always predicted that technology will take over repetitive and laborious tasks – many are gone already – what is surprising about our future is how much artificial intelligence will be integrated into what we currently do.
Are people prepared for both the good and the bad that go along with it?
A computer or robot is only as good as it is programmed. Yes, it can grow and change; artificial intelligence is bringing that into place. But fundamentally, a machine will never be able to fully understand the human condition. All the intricate details that make us unique individuals.
Because let’s face it, humans make mistakes, but technology does too.
Yes, safeguards are in place to prevent humans from making critical errors. And while technology is only in its beginning stages of what its true potential will be in the coming years, we all realize that it’s the Wild West out there, and technology needs its fair share of safeguards too.
