A huge wave of interest, myths and fears about artificial intelligence (AI) has been rising for quite some time. According to researchers, society is just on the crest of this wave, because the fiction in old Hollywood movies about killer robots and cyborgs is starting to come true, just remember the movie "Short Circuit" with the slogan "Number Five is alive!", where a small combat robot on a tracked chassis, one of five, is exposed to a high voltage shock and it awakens some intelligence, the robot begins to explore the world in its own way. It's only been about a quarter of a century since the movie was released, but already there's no sci-fi in what's happening on the screen.
There are two basic definitions for artificial intelligence:
The science and technology of creating intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs;
The property of intelligent systems to perform creative functions, which are traditionally considered the prerogative of humans.
So a full-fledged AI that could solve creative problems, i.e. one that would meet the second definition, has not yet been created, and so far there are no clear ideas on how to create it. Getting a computer to do a creative task is extremely difficult. At the moment, it can only process huge amounts of information, and solve certain tasks according to a previously programmed algorithm.
If we consider the first definition of AI, at the moment a lot of devices, programs and machines that fall under this definition have already been created, and in this case, we can say that humanity has been using certain fruits of work on the creation of artificial intelligence for a long time. Every day we hear about the manifestation of AI and machine learning as a set of powerful tools for the intelligent analysis and synthesis of various information, including the understanding of human language and pattern recognition. A prime example is the use of artificial intelligence in self-driving a car without human assistance.
At the same time as all the positive possibilities of AI, we have a certain caste of respected thinkers saying that we should be extremely vigilant in the growth of AI capabilities, because super-smart and thinking machines are capable of developing a deadly contempt for us, leading to the destruction of humanity. These same machines, can also, from their "great (programmed) love" for humanity, decide that they must take over the Earth and ensure the peace, tranquility and prosperity of humanity. And maybe the health and satiety of people in this case will even grow under the control of intelligent machines, but it is unlikely, nevertheless, that any human being would like such a state of affairs.
There is also the belief that overdevelopment of AI is simply impossible, because machines will never be able to think the way humans do. Meanwhile, very well-funded companies claim the ability to provide almost any AI solution for your business today. It's worth noting that if some people think that no AI system can kill us, it's certainly worth remembering that robots and various control systems will take all of our jobs and could soon leave most of humanity out of work. Although it is clear that in this case the robots themselves will produce enough goods for everyone, and the minimum needs of the unemployed will be met. Nevertheless, the presence of huge masses of idle people could lead to unpredictable and serious social conflicts, shifts, and problems.
There is nothing strange about the desire of intelligent people to break through the information noise and get to the bottom of what AI is and what it can do for us, and whether we really have to worry about robots leaving us unemployed or killing us sometime while we sleep, because in the end everyone wants to live peacefully.
Many of the companies are already using various AI capabilities, all that remains is to make this intelligence work fully in our interests. The most likely negative variant of development will be the theory, where the power of AI can become an evil genius of man and under the dictate of this evil genius AI will be able to do evil, but of course not by itself, but as a consequence of the will of man. For evil itself cannot be the goal of a super intelligent "being," such a "being" would never act just to create evil as such. Humanity can only fear that by its "will," the AI will try to force people to behave as it sees fit, not as people will want them to behave.
In the search for a distant future, we should not forget some of the everyday tasks that AI already solves... First, AI will allow us today to create systems that are free of human prejudices and biases, which will eliminate all corruption, sympathy and antipathy, and so on. Second, AI provides powerful functionality that is already being used in the workplace by humans themselves. Third, intelligent machines are the only tool we will have to process the vast amounts of data that are growing around us like a snowball. AI will be able to analyze, interpret and make sense of data on an enormous scale that our own minds cannot process. And frankly speaking, people are not interested in sitting around day and night processing dry numbers, we are interested in drawing conclusions and making decisions based on correctly processed and submitted information (which is what AI does today).
As a result, we have reduced use of human resources and transferring them to AI, which allows us to spend less time on routine work and leaves more time to think about ourselves as humans and solve creative problems that no computer can yet solve. And we are talking here not only about scientific and technological tasks, but also about all the other creative tasks set and solved by people and only people: how to build, draw, dance, sing, cook more beautifully, how to show more love to others, how to give them more warmth, how to bring up children better, and so on. These are the kinds of questions people would be able to think about more if AI were to remove us from routine tasks, the processing of dry information, and even the production and delivery of basic material goods.
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