February 15, 2022

"Although AI will not kill us, it will make us incredibly bored. We may soon find ourselves living in a world ruled by unconscious machines intent on making us less human by confining us to a life that conforms to their algorithms."

AI and superintelligent machines are the greatest threat to humankind, depending on how you look at them. Computer scientist Alan Turing wondered and began to believe that machines could have an unlimited impact on humanity through a process that mimicked evolution in the 1940s when Alan Turing first raised this question.

AI is on the verge of upending our world. Moreover, AI offers opportunities to complement and supplement human intelligence and enrich people's lives and work. On the other hand, prominent scientists and thinkers have expressed concern about a 'technological singularity.' The term "technological singularity" refers to the belief that artificially intelligent machines will supplant ordinary humans in the future.

Is AI weakening our capacity to think?

AI machines are comparable to other human beings in terms of decision- and action-making abilities. Devices cannot compare to other devices due to AI technologies' degree of autonomy.

Elon Musk stated that AI would overtake humans within the next five years. He expected that AI would be far superior to humans by 2025.

The world will not end in five years, but that does not mean everything will go to hell. According to Elon Musk in an interview with the New York Times, it simply means that things become unstable or weird. The world will be strange when computers outperform humans in intelligence. He stated that Google's DeepMind is his primary concern. He explained that AI's inherent nature would crush all human players in the interview.

Is it destroying our capacity for reason?

When machines began performing manual labour, people became less physically active, and a sedentary lifestyle resulted in weight gain. Jobs in the modern era require a higher level of education and are more complex. Today's employees must adapt quickly and continue to learn new information. Our brains work harder during leisure time due to the proliferation of social media and the accessibility of a diverse selection of books. We interact with people we've never met through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram through social media platforms.

AI enables humans to develop additional brain areas, while AI solves problems that we do not have to. Moreover, Machine intelligence is advancing significantly faster than human intelligence. Meanwhile, each Human is a creative individual who will create thousands of new jobs, and we will never have a chance to become lazy.

Conclusion

Is AI causing humans to become lazy? It depends on the individual. While technology is a beautiful invention that simplifies our daily lives, entirely relying on it and not using our brains can make us lazy.

Since the arrival of AI, human living standards have improved significantly; we no longer need to memorize or solve problems manually. AI causes humans to use their brains less, which causes us to become overly reliant on technology. We cannot deny that AI is an incredible tool; it is the pinnacle of automation.

Image source: Unsplash

Dr Nivash Jeevanandam PhD,
Researcher | Senior Technology Journalist