When you hear the words "Artificial Intelligence", what are the first four things that come to your mind? (p.11)
Over the last couple of years, Artificial Intelligence became a buzz term describing a technology that holds great potential to advance human creation and destroy it. Even though I believe the term is too broad to describe in four sentences, here are some of my initial thoughts:
AI is the future of creativity. Similar to how digital video production changed filmmaking, or electronic music editing enabled new genres, AI can work with humans to create new kinds of creativity.
AI is not magical – it exists within the context of our socio-political environment. The way we collect data and categorize it influences AI's outcomes. Thus, we must consider the social aspects of this technology. This reminds me of Kate Crawford's definition of AI as "neither artificial nor intelligent. Rather, artificial intelligence is both embodied and material, made from natural resources, fuel, human labor, infrastructures, logistics, histories, and classifications" (p.8).
Consequently, the true danger of AI is not that it will become sentient and take over humanity. Rather, we must be aware of its potential to enlarge and amplify our current social issues.
AI's ability to make sense of data and act upon it can (and will) help human innovation to save the planet and create a better world.
Think about the devices and/or digital services you use daily. Write below a list of the top three that are present in your life (p.23)
WhatsApp
Chrome
Spotify
Have these things ever surprised you by guessing something about you that you didn't expect?
No. At least not lately. I already take for granted how autocorrect works on Chrome or how Spotify playlists work. That said, I do believe these technologies are amazing. In a way, my music taste is no longer solely mine but a co-creation of myself and the Spotify algorithm.
Take a moment to see if you can identify what function AI plays in the following list
Email inbox – sorting email, detecting spam, autocorrect, autocomplete, email search, and more.
Check deposit – computer vision (analysis of the text on the check).
Texting and mobile keyboard – autocorrect and autocomplete.
Netflix – content suggestion, choosing thumbnails, data collection for future content development, etc.
Google search – content suggestion, autocorrect, autocomplete, content filtering, etc.
Social media – content suggestion, content filtering, etc.
Automated message – text classification, text structure classification, etc.
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