Arshad Manzar
The compilation of the fourth industrial revolution is becoming increasingly evident. We are progressively shifting towards a more technology-dependent society and economy. One of the most prominent advancements in technology is artificial intelligence, commonly known as AI. Artificial intelligence “refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions” (Investopedia). The machine learning process behind artificial intelligence is designed to optimally make calculations and rationalize in order to take actions that have the best chance of achieving a specific goal.
As AI becomes more advanced, companies and organizations are progressively using it to formulate solutions to various modern problems. One of the more useful applications of artificial intelligence is occurring in environmental protection. As climate change impacts and natural disaster predictions become more urgent, scientists are discovering the potential of AI in this field. With AI, tech researchers have developed a computer with enough processing power to compile and accurately evaluate the vast collection of data being stocked for decades. The machine learning of AI can then be used to assess the information and make accurate predictions of future natural disasters and provide scientists with a relatively advanced model of the climate around the world.
Furthermore, AI can provide the tools necessary to monitor pollution and identify sources of air quality and water quality issues much faster. It can automate the analysis of images of power plants to get regular updates on emissions. With the use of micro-sensors, AI can also register a more precise analysis of an area. For example, in the case of a gas leak, micro-sensors, equipped with AI, can effectively identify the source of the gas leak and allow for more targeted remediation. In addition, AI can assist with reducing the pollution in the water and the atmosphere. Relatively new companies are beginning to focus on building robots and vehicles that can significantly reduce their harmful gas emissions with their use of electricity, AI, and more sustainable energy sources. Furthermore, companies are also beginning to develop autonomous floating garbage trucks powered by AI. One such innovation is The Interceptor. The Interceptor is a solar powered trash collecting barge that requires no human to operate it and is solely commanded by AI, autonomously.
Various innovations, as a result of AI, and their rapid application has created a fragile atmosphere in the balance of necessity and greed. As AI becomes increasingly popular, several economic concerns arise. One of the more heavily discussed issues is the effect AI will have on the human workforce, and how this may foster more economic inequality. Many data analysts believe that as AI becomes more accessible, the need for human services will decrease resulting in the upper classes of nations bolstering their economic status while the lower classes of nations lose their jobs to the newly developed machines. The worry of an increased economic gap raises great concern about whether the advantages of AI outweigh its potential disadvantages. In addition, as we become more reliant on AI, cyber-security threats are projected to increase. This is because as technology gains relevance, vulnerabilities and access points will appear, making it significantly easier for hackers with malicious intent to take advantage of these vulnerabilities. For example, if a hacker were to gain control of a pesticide dispersal system, the results could be tragic. They would have the ability to spray more chemicals into the crops, poisoning or killing them. This, along with the risk of denigrating human services are significant issues raised by the public about the effects of an increased reliance on AI. Therefore, it is critical that we assess the economic and societal advantages and disadvantages of AI before we begin making significant changes in how technology interacts with the environment.
Questions: Is there any way we can regulate the use of AI in order to decrease the risk of any potential threats caused by it? Do you think the advantages of AI outweigh the disadvantages? Can you think of any other ways in which AI can help our environment, or ways in which AI can harm our economy? What are your predictions for the future of AI?
Citations:
25 comments:
I believe that the use of Artificial Intelligence should be completely out of the picture, and we shouldn’t even consider it an options. Although there are many advantages of Artificial Intelligence, such as predicting air pollution and other environmental benefits, AI will reduce take up jobs people can have. Although this is a positive for big companies and corporations, it is very bad news for middle class workers and the general public. If AI were to takeover the jobs of the general public, this would leave many people jobless and homeless, bringing back the Great Depression. Even though I highly discourage the mass production of new technologies relating to AI, I believe the the future does have a place for it because as time goes on, humans try to make things more efficient. Finally, I believe AI should not be the further because I have seen enough Sci Fi movies where AI takes over the world; we don’t need that.
Many people think that AI is this new innovation that is just now being used, but it has been used in so many aspects of our lives and we don't even realize it. Within our devices, AI is the backbone of almost everything from our face ID to using google maps and Siri. Introducing AI in terms of tracking our environment is just another aspect of the large expanse of AI use. With such a big and far-reaching innovation, it is expected that costs may hike up and a little hyped, yet if it can work in helping us preserve the environment for the future then maybe it's worth the extra attention. Already seen by satellites and weather trackings apps, technology has benefitted us greatly with environmental studies, so who knows what further innovation might mean. Maybe it could be the answer to halt the crisis of climate change through tracking technology and give us a narrowed down list of actions to take.
I am quite excited for the use of artificial intelligence in the near future. Although concerns arise with the use AI and malicious intentions, there will be a surplus of jobs within the computer science industry. This allows for the opportunity of education of the lower class. This will further improve societal standards and way of life for all. Hackers have always been a problem with the use of these complex technologies, and so the expansion of AI into the environmental sector does not necessarily scare me. The benefits of using outweigh the cons. With such calculated efficiency, AI will be a huge advantage to the environment.
I still find it crazy to believe that artificial intelligence has grown to the point where it is in many people's homes and phones. A concept that seemed so far-fetched in the past is an everyday convenience now. Although artificial intelligence is just beginning to process "emotions" as humans do, it is quite fascinating and scary to see them "evolve" when you keep movies like the Terminator and I, Robot in mind. I believe that AI can be used for task that are primarily too mundane, dangerous, or complex for humans to perform, which is why I think they are well suited for pollution tracking and managing. Because exploration into the field of artificial intelligence has only started recently, when considering the history of technology, further innovations and inventions will not only be revolutionary, but costly as well. Although those working low-paying jobs are at risk of losing their livelihoods, artificial intelligence also provides many job opportunities as young inventors and college students enter into this field. The technology and ideas they come up with will benefit humanity and the health of the environment, serving a greater good. Even if artificial intelligence is still young, it has enough potential to solve climate change and possibly save humanity (if it doesn't destroy us and take over that is).
I think AI is a great idea, especially in the environment. It can achieve things efficiently in a way humans cannot. However, there are several disadvantages. These AI units, specifically in the ocean, could heat the ocean and introduce chemicals that do not belong in the ecosystem. This could cause fish to die and significantly affect an ocean. Additionally, if one of these AI units lost battery or charge and died in the ocean, they would sink to the bottom, adding onto the pollution problem. However if these can be addressed, I would welcome AI with open arms. I think they can address situations humans could only dream of achieving. I did not take into account the economic consequences of AI, as it can take many jobs. If AI was just used to achieve things humans cannot, that would reduce unemployment due to AI. As of right now, I don’t think AI should be introduced as an environmental component.
I think using AI to better our environment is a great idea in theory, but could be disastrous in action. In this situation, hoping for the best, but planning for the worst would be necessary. For example, if the technology dies or is hacked, the chemicals within the units could pose a threat to the environment that it’s in. As mentioned, I am also concerned about their effect on the economy. AI could replace jobs that the human workforce traditionally operates, so the new technology could potentially place millions out of their jobs. Despite all of this, I am optimistic that Artificial Intelligence can successfully be further implemented into the environment.
I think AI would be of great use for our environment. So far the AI used now has been convenient for most people. Emissions will be decreased immensely and new technology would be developed. However there are many disadvantages to AI. If AI takes over many computer jobs would be taken away. Also if the technology breaks down then the chemicals can harm our environment. Also the batteries for AI technology need a place to be discarded after it is used up. If they are just thrown away the chemicals can create pollution throughout cities. Technology in our society and environment today has been worthy and has helped in many different innovations. I believe AI could be beneficial to our environment, we just have to make sure it does not harm our environment.
AI have the potential to complete jobs very effectively, even more effectively, than humans, and because of this, we should utilize them. But there’s a difference between utilizing AI and depending on AI, the latter’s case spells bad for humanity. When it comes to protecting the enviornment, I believe AI would be very good at preserving it. AI could potentially be able to monitor organisms and environmental factors better than humans could, unrestricted by extreme enviornments. However, entrusting AI into all the aspects of life - especially things that make humans human, like self-expression in art, law, or social media - would threaten people’s role in life and the power of control. We shouldn’t fear AI because it is something we create. Allowing AI to create, empathize, or self-prioritize would mean that we loose control of our creation, so we must put solid boundaries on what AI is created and used for. If we overstep boundaries we ourselves place, then AI will be something to fear.
Until then, I support using artificial intellegence to help monitor the enviornment. Sometimes a little extra intelligence, even if it is artificial, goes a long way.
The possibilities of artificial intelligence seem limitless, although it is necessary, in my opinion, to limit them. If they become more widespread, it will lead to a large loss of human jobs and therefore cause many additional problems from this. Further, I believe that AI must be used in ways that could not cause extreme harm if, for some reason, someone were to hack the technology. If we place proper regulations and protections on the development of AI technologies, I feel the future of these could be very bright! AI could help to clean up ecosystems by reducing pollution and trash and it could more efficiently and concisely perform functions like laying fertilizers and pesticides on farmland. For the most part, the benefits of AI do outweigh the risks and nations should begin to look into the implementation of this technology in the foreseeable future.
It’s not a stretch to say that AI is the future. I’ve ways known that AI could help humans in various ways, but I didn’t even consider the impacts on the environment. With the state the world is in right now, AI could be a real game changer. While others may complain that AI will lead to humans losing their jobs, AI will fill the duties of professions that humans do not want to take up. This is seen through the example mentioned, the Interceptor. There is no harm in AI fulfilling the unwanted roles in society. I believe the advantage of AI outweighs the disadvantages. Not only will this help the environment, but also the economy as well. Countries will be able to produce more goods for people to buy without worrying about destroying the environment.
I’ve seen too many dystopian films to feel completely safe soured AI. Movies like the Terminator and I, Robot makes me question how dependable and reliable AI should be. While it is helpful and can fulfill tasks that most humans don’t want to do, there is a risk that AI could replace human jobs and increase unemployment rates. However, this poses as a risk on how much we can trust the ability of AI to complete tasks that usually need humans to do. We already depend a lot on technology to save human lives, if we put too much trust into this, there is always a risk of malfunctioning or power outages. AI can still however, provide help concerning the environment. We can use their help to monitor climate change and habitat loss while humans can’t do it on the clock 24/7. This can allow humans to have more time to do other things and provide a machine’s eye view rather than a humans who could potentially make mistakes.
The prospect of including artificial intelligence in a person's lifestyle is a polarizing thought. On one hand, the introduction of artificial intelligence would be beneficial to the environment as it has the potential to conduct clean up at a faster and more effective rate than humans could. However, I feel that if the usage of AI bleeds into a person's everyday life, this could pose an issue in terms of job availability. For example, if we switch over to using AI to conduct grocery store checkouts, a bagger's job would be taken away. I think that if we were to limit the usage of AI strictly for large scale cleanup, it would be sufficient.
In this day and age, artificial intelligence is becoming more prominent. AI can even help the environment. It can help explore new areas of the ocean. This would help scientists have a broader perspective on where they can focus on picking up trash and cleaning up pollution-filled areas. Also, scientists have developed nanotechnology that they can insert into people’s bloodstreams, which can help fight diseases and such. Overall, AI will benefit the future in my opinion.
I think that the development of AI should be further applied to environmental purposes such as waste clean up like is being done by The Interceptor. These areas are often overlooked and mostly ignored by humans, meaning that application of AI here will not only help the planet, but ease fears of AI eradicating the need for human labor in the workforce. While I too worry about their increasing wage gap increased technological development could have between developed and developing countries, I think that these technologies can do more good than harm and are a valuable investment both environmentally and economically.
I believe AI has a myriad of potential applications to protecting and improving environmental health. So far, AI seems to have proven successful in improving the environment, and hasn’t really experienced difficulties such as hacking or attacks. If AI can be secured enough, the advantages can definitely outweigh the potential disadvantages. Economically however, it’s concerning that this could force unemployment rates to soar in developing countries. Either way, AI will likely be prominent in the future.
I think that AI has a lot of potential if we perfect it. We could be able to predict natural disasters long before they happen and evacuate people in the affected area. Essentially, we may be able to avoid casualties all together and progress as a society. The development of these AI technologies may also lead to new developments that could provide with the best possible solution to a problem. However, it is going to take a long time for AI to be perfected, and until then we have to keep doing what we are doing now.
I think AI could have a part in self driving cars which could really help the environment. I'm pretty sure i also read an article on how AI could help to curb the effects of climate change. Yup here it is "In India, AI has helped farmers get 30 percent higher groundnut yields per hectare by providing information on preparing the land, applying fertilizer and choosing sowing dates. In Norway, AI helped create a flexible and autonomous electric grid, integrating more renewable energy." AI could be used to maximize the sustainability of our resources.
I believe that the use of AI is a smart idea when specifically related to the environment. It can efficiently get things done in a way more productive than humans. However, we must consider the various disadvantages to artificial intelligence. These AI units, especially within the ocean, have the ability to heat the ocean and introduce certain chemicals that can potentially damage the ecosystem. As a result, fish could die and significantly affect the species richness and evenness of the ocean. In addition, if one of these AI units ran out of battery and died in the ocean, it would result in ocean pollution because the dead unit would just sink to the bottom of the ocean. Despite all this, if humans manage to develop and improve their technology, I believe that artificial intelligence would be a great addition and benefit to ecosystems.
Ah the age old artificial intelligence question. These days AI is used everywhere in our society and many people fail to realize just how much we rely one it. That being said, fully autonomous intelligence is something to be cautious of. I would hope that there would be remote shut down codes encrypted within the programming incase of freak accidents (ex. every sci-fi movie ever) but otherwise, AI would be a fantastic addition to environmental science. AI can monitor developments at a precise and extremely quick rate. This would fine tune our ability to predict weather patterns, eruptions, earthquakes…the possibilities are endless. AI would harm our economy in that it would replace humans for many jobs, but it could also provide thousands of job opportunities for computer programmers. We should definitely consider implementing AI into environmental science specific studies.
Despite the potential economic disadvantages of AI, I think the environmental advantages (and also some economic advantages of AI) outweigh these disadvantages. AI can help us prevent environmental degradation in ways that human labor cannot, and this idea can also be applied to other fields outside environmental concerns, too. I believe AI would help us humans advance all in all as people can direct more of their effort and time into solving more issues as AI can handle other environmental problems. I believe that AI can even help our economy as people can pay more attention to reducing the lifestyle disparity throughout the world because as said before, AI can handle other problems so that humans won't have to worry as much about these AI monitored problems. My prediction for the future of AI is that it will be developed further, but there would probably be some more government regulation on it so that it can be better protected from the hands of malicious users.
Honestly, the whole concept of AI running the world scares me a bit. I honestly don’t know whether we can regulate the use of AI in order to decrease potential threats to us. I think that cautioned use of AI can be a great thing, but I’ve read too many dystopian YA novels to completely trust AI. I think in certain aspects, it can be extremely useful, and it has the potential to become a powerful resource. However, I don’t think mankind has come to the point where the complete and total use of AI is necessary. As we continue to implement AI devices into our lives, like smartphones and Amazon Echos, it seems less scary, but I still this AI is something to be cautious of.
Though AI can pose a threat to the population, we all really have to step back and look at the different perspectives and attack the situations at all different angles. Some pros to AI include increased efficiency, higher production rate, less use of labor working jobs for humans, and some cons include increased unemployment rate and lack of knowledge of what the AI could really be capable of. I believe that if we needed to decide whether or not we should continue the construction AI, we need to all look at it big picture. For me, I believe that AI will pose a great benefit to our production of several varieties of foods, goods, anything. I feel like the main cons are just due to emotional unsettlement, but not really having any evidence of them posing a threat. Once they do become to develop a mind of their own, we can simply just discontinue the production of these AIs and leave it where it’s at.
While AI might be a scary concept to many, it has numerous real-world advantages and applications. AI is already used in so many of our everyday tools, such as Google Maps and Siri, and there is still more to come. However, although AI is a great tool and can help us in many ways, I think we should make sure we have a way to regulate it. If it becomes too powerful, you never know when the latest sci-fi movie will become a reality.
Though it may seem dangerous at first, Artificial Intelligence can be extremely beneficial when used correctly and not misused. Already, self-driving cars are being coded to make life-threatening decisions and must do so if they represent the future of the automobile industry. The danger comes, however, when these robots are with human empathy and uniquely human emotions. This cannot be allowed to occur, and regulations must be set in place so that this is not possible. Still, the innovations surrounding Artificial intelligence are too important to ignore. In the fields of medicine, automobile industry, and transportation, robots can eliminate the effects of human error, making the world a much safer place. Yet, the risks should not be forgotten, and regulations must be enforced with no exceptions for this ideal situation to work for everyone.
I believe that the advantages of Artificial Intelligence outweigh the disadvantages. AI can look at a situation without emotion or personal gain and make the best decision for the environment. I think that one way to regulate AI to decrease risk of potential threats is to have multiple set identifications to unlock and access the AI and have fail safes installed to shut it down in case it is tampered with. Some people worry that AI will take away jobs, but instead of firing workers, companies should train their employees to work with the machines so that layoffs will not need to happen. Technology is going to keep moving forward and employees should move with it. I predict that AI will continue to become more prevalent in our every day lives. Hopefully we will soon have self driving cars that will take us from place to place and reduce traffic, and more robots tasked with cleaning the oceans. I believe that technology should keep moving forward in a way that helps our environment.
Post a Comment