How Your Data Is The Driving Fuel For Artificial Intelligence

Have you ever wondered why tech giants are allowing you to store your data on their servers for free ?

Or rather think about how social media can identify your friends and you in your pictures automatically? 

They are giving us their servers for free cloud storage in gigabytes to store all our different kinds of documents, photos, videos without even asking for a single penny.

It's not just the target advertising that these tech giants are interested in but they want something more from us. They want our data for developing Artificial intelligence. 

AI in simple terms is nothing but machines being able to interact with the environment just like as we humans do. To make this possible and interact with the surroundings the machine has to learn about different objects that exists in its environment. 

Learning is not easy for a machine. Machines currently don't have the same ability to learn as we humans do.To learn about how to identify different objects in the world, we first need to understand how we humans learn. 

Let us take a scenario of new baby in our family. We have to introduce every new object that the baby comes across for couple of times to make sure that the baby recognises the object, next time when he/she sees one.

But machines are not intelligent beings like us humans, at least not till now , so to make them identify an object, suppose a bird, they need algorithms, it's a fancy word for a set of logical steps, and to develop these logical steps for a machine to identify a particular object, the algorithm developers need lots and lots of data. 

They need data about the same object in different positions, backgrounds, weather etc to create the most efficient and effective algorithm. So that in future these machines can identify these objects on their own by running the algorithm that are being designed today.

Collection of such large amount of data was not possible before the era of smart phones and cloud computing. It is now in this era that we have all the three technologies required, the collection of data from smartphones and laptops, the storage from such large storage servers and processing of algorithms from advance hardware .

Now as from the above paragraph it is clearly evident that effectiveness and efficiency of machine learning is directly dependent on the data. 

Though these tech giants can capture lots and lots of data on their own but why they want our data? 

The only reason is that they can have it for free and our data is more realistic and authentic, we are not capturing data, we are just clicking moments from our real life trips, gatherings without having to focus that it will be used to train the machines , thus making it very authentic rather it being like a test sample. 

Though it is not completely wrong for them to use our data for the progress of AI, but are they really telling us this? Are they buying our data from us? A simple answer is No, they are collecting it for free, keeping us in an illusion that they are giving us something( cloud storage) for free. 

Another big question is that, are they only using our data just for the benefit of human race, or can they manipulate us to do things by learning about us from the patterns in our data and figuring out our lifestyle, habits and personalities 

It is a very delicate topic and everybody will have his/her take on it , so I would like to leave you with this thought to think it for yourself.

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Artificial Intelligence, a boon or bane !!

When anyone thinks about Artificial Intelligence(A.K.A) AI, the first thing that comes to mind is the image below, courtesy, the movie terminator. And our mind starts thinking about the the struggle for survival from the machines.

Well to be clear what AI is all about, let us first study its definition, it says, "the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages." In simple terms its just saying having computer systems that can interact with the environment just like we humans do.

Now, let us understand exactly are we currently using AI, I'm sure the device on which you are reading this article is a good example of AI. Though it is still in the nascent stage but it can do a lot for us and seems quite useful too. 

So what are we looking forward to with the development of AI, machines, cobots and much more complex systems that will be designed to solve complex problems or even help in day to day tasks, from driverless cars to automated shopping (customers able to purchase without the need for cashier or check out stations). From automation in accounting to someday being diagnosed for illness by a machine, to getting served breakfast in your bed. Possibilities are endless.

Obviously, all the above makes sense and feel that this revolution can only bring happiness in our lives. Now, let us consider the shortcomings and where it can turn into a chaos. Being a person from technical background, I can tell you that working of these machines will be completely dependent on algorithms. In simple terms set of instructions fed into them to perform the required tasks.

What if the algorithm doesn't work the way it should supposed to, chances of it are huge, as it is impossible for an algorithm developer to get everything right, every single time in every single situations. Where this takes us is that though machines can always acquire intelligence but not the presence of mind. So if they have not learned about handling a new situation then they will surely fail. So to some extent you can agree that completely machines can't be trusted for critical tasks as their failure might create a havoc in someone's life.

Certainly, we can use and employ these machines for different kind of tasks but we will not be able to eliminate the humans. Any new situation will always need a human to understand it and make these machines learn about that new scenario.

The most important topic which I would like to address in this article is our jobs, as these tech giants will develop these systems, certainly people who are doing mundane jobs which are less critical, like record keeping, cashiers, house help, drivers, account book keeping will lose their jobs, if their bosses will be able to afford these machines. Only people with higher intellect will be able to survive in such conditions. Normally, when such revolution takes place the people who are well educated, change their job profile. Remember the time when computers arrived? There was a huge fear among the people of getting jobless and all of the system going paperless, however it didn't happen the way it was thought. It created more jobs but with a more sophisticated profiles.

Initially it might be difficult to adapt to the new working environment but slowly people do adapt to the new change and start working according to the new system. Every new system comes with a new guidelines, and so we as humans will have to understand, adapt and evolve.

Like today we have flexible working hours, we can work from anywhere we want, this happened with the advent of high speed internet, likewise  we might see a different era of working style, though still unpredictable but surely it will be different from what we have now.

One thing that will be of utmost importance in the times of AI will be cyber security, because if machines are working then surely hacking is possible and to make them protected we will need lot of experts who can protect these machines from getting hacked. So AI might generate lot of jobs in the field of cyber security.

Another important issue would be our privacy, as these machines will be able to recognize visual and hearing patterns, so they will be able to see and hear things, this might also generate new jobs on how to keep the machines not compromising  our privacy , nobody wants to compromise their personal life at any cost. 

As these machines will provide and take care of lot of things in the future, so we might also be having a different experience with the entertainment. Virtual reality systems will get common, having a 3D, 4D or 7D experience would be of different nature, which right now we can just imagine. VR world will give us lot of jobs and entertainment during those times. 

I feel the people who will not be able to be a part of developing systems, will become part of maintaining these systems. Just like servicing them, fixing heating issues, small issues which will not require an intervention from an engineering expert. Just like today we have a difference between an Automobile engineer and a common car mechanic.

One thing that might be difficult to address will be maintaining empathy in humans, as day by day our interaction and dependency will increase on these machines, lower will be our tolerance for any kind of nonsense. As these machines will adapt to our needs in a perfect order, so interacting with humans who might not be able to understand our need or provide us with the services we need, might be considered useless and we might not even prefer interacting with them.

Over all as far as I understand the upcoming scenario, we have to be hopeful and let this change take place gradually. Also we will be required to learn new disciplines and keep the present knowledge intact specially in case of medical professionals because if these machines will not be able to figure out the proper diagnosis, we will certainly need human expertise.

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