A.I and the Fallen tree conundrum
Without humanity, A.I might be like a
band playing with no one to hear its music.
A common reoccurring theme in conversations these days around A.I is the nightmare of it wanting to kill us all, or worse, replacing us professionally. Though largely conjecture, the concern about it becoming non-reliant on humanity might be misplaced.
We all know the age-old philosophical question ‘does a falling tree in a forest make a sound if there’s no one around to hear it? Well, let’s apply that question to artificial intelligence: Without humanity, A.I might be like a band playing with no one to hear its music.
Without us, would A.I actually exist?
You might say, ‘Of course, A.I exists independent of humans, just like a computer or any other machine.’ But dig deeper and we find that the relationship between humans and A.I is much more intertwined.
As we are aware, machine learning is a creation of human intelligence (H.I). Humans are the architects behind AI; we create the algorithms, craft the machine learning models, and build the neural networks. Every part of an AI's life, from its first line of code to how it learns, comes from our choices and design.
A.I systems ‘learn’ and improve based on human feedback. In other words, humans are an integral part of the A.I’s learning and evolution process. However, this is present day. Do we need to be concerned about future generations of machine learning and it’s containment?
As A.I grows more advanced, there’s a likelihood it will learn and operate autonomously. Yet, we must not forget that its initial design and purpose are rooted in human values and judgment. Even if A.I can process and analyse data far beyond our capabilities, its ‘understanding’ remains fundamentally different from ours. It lacks our consciousness, emotions, and sense of self. While it might continue tasks without us, it doesn’t ‘perceive’ or ‘experience’ life as we do. Thus, our involvement remains crucial to ensure A.I’s alignment with what’s best for humanity.
This leads us to a profound realisation. The future does not belong to human intelligence or artificial intelligence in isolation. Rather, it lies in their fusion – the harmonious bind of human creativity, empathy, and insight with A.I’s computational prowess and data-processing capabilities.
Looking into a crystal ball, wouldn't it be nice if humanity and A.I became conjoined, with people bringing creativity and emotion and A.I bringing its accuracy and efficiency.
So, the ‘existence’ of A.I is not just about how powerful its processors are, but more about how human thoughts and feelings that give it purpose. As we keep improving technology, we need to remember that A.I is a tool we have made, and it is a reflection of our own minds. The real potential of A.I is in how well it can work with us, not separate from us.