The Artificial Intelligence Revolution
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to reshape the world of life, transforming society, education, politics, art, and everyday life.
A few days ago, along with my wife, I visited a Peruvian and Japanese restaurant called Martin Mulatto. As the name of the place caught my attention, I asked the manager where the name came from. He told me that it was an adaptation of the name of a religious figure named Martin de Porres (1579–1639), who lived in Peru during the times of the conquest, and had become the first mulatto saint in America. What’s peculiar is that Martin had a very special ability: he could be in two places at the same time. This capability, which seems like a supernatural matter, is known as bilocation.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you could be in two places at the same time? How would you feel if you could attend an important meeting while you’re sleeping, playing a soccer match, or taking your kids to the park? It would be something like being in two places at the same time. Even in several places at once (ubiquity). Sounds fantastic! Or maybe overwhelming.
Can you imagine? With technology, it’s already possible. An avatar — yours — could replace you in many meetings and participate using a synthetic voice, like your own. At the end of the meeting, Chat GPT would present a summary of the topics discussed so you can review the commitments and make the relevant decisions. However, it’s clear that these types of tools, along with their implications, raise fears and pose ethical questions that we must confront, as we have the task of humanizing technological processes.
The dream of Artificial Intelligences (AI) taking center stage in society, art, and people’s everyday lives has come true. In late 2022, Leader Lars, a politician from Denmark, was running for a seat in Congress, representing the Synthetic political party. It’s been natural for a citizen to aspire to represent a community as a member of Congress in a democratic country — I say natural because I can’t find another term — but for an AI Chatbot to do so is quite novel.
Leader Lars is an AI-based Chatbot that people can talk to through the Discord social network. Lars answers questions about Danish politics, analyzes data, makes proposals, and suggests reforms. Moreover, he can converse with hundreds of people simultaneously. Although I must admit, it seems like an excellent idea for Artificial Intelligence to replace inefficient and ineffective politicians in Congress. The case of Leader Lars is not unique in the field of international politics. There are also other AI-based candidates such as SAM in New Zealand and ALISA in Russia.
As AI-based politicians gain prominence, it will be crucial for governments and regulatory bodies to monitor the development and use of these technologies. The goal is to ensure ethical standards are maintained and that AI is used for the betterment of society. However, this task will require the participation of citizens and the oversight of various public and private entities.
In the field of art, artificial intelligences are also making their way. This is the case with DALL-E, an AI that can generate images and transform photographs using different techniques. It can create montages, replace and merge images with high quality. For example: Jason Allen, a video game creator, won a digital art contest using Midjourney — an AI that generates images from words and textual descriptions. With this application, he created “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial”, a quite astonishing image.
AI is here to stay. The emergence of GPT-4 Chat — after its previous version, GPT 3.5, had great success in the global community — allowed AI to enter everyday life. GPT Chat can converse with any type of person using natural language generation. Its properties are multimodal: it can generate text, video, audio, and images. What’s next for this type of technology is the creation of applications and extensions for various digital platforms, as Microsoft has been doing with Windows 365, its Edge browser, and Bing search engine.
With the AI boom, a new type of occupation has also emerged: prompt engineer. A person specialized in making detailed requests through texts to an AI, to create images, writings, videos, and music. The accuracy of the responses provided by AI is related not only to the amount of data and information they have absorbed but also to the way and precision with which a user makes requests. For this reason, users must strive to better understand machines, as well as the way they process data and language.
AI has the potential to reshape the world of life. For this reason, establishing interdisciplinary collaboration between AI developers, ethics specialists, lawmakers, and other stakeholders is increasingly important. Designing frameworks and guidelines for the responsible use of AI will help ensure that societal benefits are gained, and risks are minimized. Technology is ambivalent, and therefore, depends on the ethical qualifications of its users. In this process of techno-social transformation — where advancements are increasingly rapid — we must work to ensure that technologies continue to serve humans and do not become another mechanism of social exclusion.
It’s a fact that there are concerns about implementing GPT Chat in the field of education, as excessive use of natural language processing tools can lead to a decrease in people’s ability to read, write, and understand language. Unscrupulous individuals may even use these language models to spread false and biased information. However, despite these concerns, AI has the potential to bring significant benefits in the fields of healthcare, agriculture, transportation, and environmental conservation. Furthermore, in the educational realm, it can help improve efficiency in writing, data analysis, and research. The challenge, in this regard, lies in developing strategies that allow citizens to take advantage of the democratization of technology to refine their linguistic skills and critical thinking in relation to how certain technologies are used.
Technophobia is not the way. AI can positively impact the ideal pursuit of the common good. A strategy that fosters trust and facilitates the ethical use of technologies based on AI models relies on the development of explainable AI (XAI). XAI aims to create AI systems that can provide comprehensible explanations to humans about their decisions and actions, making it easier for users to assess the appropriateness and reliability of the technology. The final say still belongs to humans, as technology can project the best or worst in us. We are always choosing.
I invite you to think and discuss some questions. If you’re up for it, feel free to leave a comment.
- How do you envision the role of AI in shaping the future of politics, and what ethical concerns do you believe should be addressed as AI politicians gain prominence?
- In what ways do you think AI can revolutionize the world of art, and how can we ensure that human creativity remains a vital component in artistic expression?
- Considering the potential benefits and risks associated with AI in education, what strategies do you suggest for balancing the use of AI technologies while nurturing critical thinking and language skills in students?
