We’re pretty complicated, and that’s what makes us special.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is fantastic at making binary decisions through processing data. If you can break down a task into data, AI will be able to learn it. However, despite being the current zeitgeisty technology, it is not good at all at improvising or ‘thinking’ abstractly. Artificial Intelligence algorithms are literally trained to be a Jack of none, master of one.
Unlike the binary logic of an algorithm, our decision making systems are multi-dimensional. Humans can feel, imagine and dream. They are emotionally driven, and will flow between rational and irrational states. They’re imperfect, but everyone is unique and can create things that no one else can.
My extremely unscientific visual of Human (left) and AI (right) decision making
With current computing logic, human intelligence and artificial intelligence should not be compared and seen as competitive. In fact, they are fundamentally different and should be seen as complimentary. I love the term Augmented Intelligence, as this shows the compute power being used as a tool to support and empower people, rather than a human redundancy mechanism. There is no denying there will be disruption to the roles and tasks that we do, but with the ‘right’ ethical code and change management, this should be seen as a positive evolution for us all. Of course, the ‘right’ approach here is very much up for debate.
The future of this technology is uncertain as it is progressing at such an incredible pace, but I am hoping for a future with more tools to augment our intelligence, and outsourcing our data processing tasks to focus on what makes us unique. AI should be the axe or saw, and not the lumberjack or carpenter.