AI can be taught to recognize human emotions like frustration, it cannot empathize and has no ability to feel
It has been around for three score and eight years. But its presence has been making recent inroads in many offices, educational institutions and, lately, at least one television newsroom.
Artificial Intelligence or AI, the recent lexicon in print and broadcast newsrooms, coined in 1955 to introduce a new discipline of computer science, is rapidly and radically changing the various areas of our daily lives as the market for AI technologies is demanding and flourishing.
Some say these innovations give computers the ability to analyze enormous amounts of data, spot patterns, and come to educated conclusions or predictions, frequently outperforming human capacity.
They say by utilizing AI, we can solve complicated issues, improve procedures, and create new opportunities across numerous industries.
Others say it can help improve accuracy and decision-making: AI augments human intelligence with rich analytics and pattern prediction capabilities to improve the quality, effectiveness, and creativity of employee decisions.
Its proponents say regardless of whether AI is considered a threat to the world, it is estimated to contribute over $15 trillion to the world economy by the year 2030.
One report states approximately $6.6 trillion of the expected GDP growth will come from productivity gains, especially in the coming years.
Major contributors to this growth include the automation of routine tasks and the development of intelligent bots and tools that can perform all human-level tasks.
Most of the tech giants have been using AI as a solution to laborious tasks.
And they warn that companies that are slow to adopt these AI-based solutions will find themselves at a serious competitive disadvantage.
Proponents say performing repetitive tasks can become very monotonous and time-consuming, but using AI for tiresome and routine tasks can help us focus on the most important tasks in our to-do list.
Now, down to the brass tacks, as we try to beat deadlines in a tension-filled newsroom, print or broadcast.
The advantages range from streamlining, saving time, eliminating biases, and automating repetitive tasks, just to name a few.
One of the most significant impacts of AI on the workplace is increased efficiency and productivity. AI-powered tools can automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, freeing up employees to focus on more strategic and creative work.
Obviously AI has drawbacks which include job displacement, ethical concerns about bias and privacy, security risks from hacking, a lack of human-like creativity and empathy
What may be seen as the minuses for AI at this point?
Although AI has been tasked with creating everything from computer code to visual art, it lacks original thought.
The absence of empathy.
Skill loss in humans.
Possible overreliance on the technology and increased laziness in humans.
Job loss and displacement.
Some have voiced alarm over AI which has been growing, with leaders from various sectors voicing concerns about both the increasing power of AI and its role in society.
Surely, proponents would advance the benefits of AI, like 24/7 availability.
Other computer technologies operate round the clock, and companies have benefited from the high availability of such systems — but only insomuch as humans have been available to work with them.
Jordan Rae Kelly, senior managing director and head of cybersecurity for the Americas at FTI Consulting, has said AI’s ability to make decisions and take actions independent of human involvement in many business circumstances means the technology can work independently, ensuring continuous operations.
Unlike humans, according to these proponents, AI systems don’t get tired or become distracted.
They’re able to process infinitely more information, and consistently follow the rules to analyze data and make decisions — all of which make them far more likely to deliver accurate results nearly all the time.
But there are also disadvantages of AI, particularly in the newsroom where well-meaning and competent editors and layout artists have the creativity and the empathy – as when they work on fonts and points as well as page designs while beating the newsroom deadline.
Newsroom editors can ask a reporter in the field to follow up a question to merge with other details from another run, which can be absent in the new technology.
Such holds true as well in broadcast newsrooms, according to some experts, where empathy, as projected by news readers, can be very glaring.
We quote some experts here, that although AI can create everything from computer code to visual art, it lacks original thought, stressing “It can only know what it knows. It can’t think outside the box, no pun intended, and is limited by what it can ingest.”
AI essentially makes predictions based on algorithms and the training data it has been fed; and although machine learning algorithms help the machine learn over time, it does not have the capacity humans have for creativity, inspiration and new ways of thinking.
Chief security officer at Gigamon, maker of cybersecurity technology, Chaim Mazal has said “It’s not going to replace critical thinking; it’s just going to be another arrow in our quiver.”
Others point to the absence of empathy, in that while AI can be taught to recognize human emotions like frustration, it cannot empathize and has no ability to feel.