AI has always been a topic of interest among the public for its potential to push the boundaries of what machines can do and its ability to transform industries and society as a whole. In late 2022, the topic of AI has risen back to the public eye ever since the introduction of ChatGPT, a chatbot made by an AI research company, OpenAI. It’s able to understand and interpret human language, which can then be used to answer your questions and generate content around it. It was so popular that according to OpenAi themselves, it had 480,000 downloads in its first 5 days upon launch across IOS and android, beating Bing and Microsoft Edge.
This goes to show the rapid pace in which AI is being developed and how so many people are using it in their everyday lives. Now, AI has advanced to the point where it could generate realistic images, videos, voices, to even music. With this, the use of AI can lead to productivity and efficiency in various industries such as finance and manufacturing. It also enables the development of innovative technologies such as self-driving cars and life changing medical applications. However, with so much power AI has, it can have some dire consequences and there are some who can and will use it for greedy and nefarious purposes.
A big and common worry people have regarding AI is it might take over their jobs because of its ability to output more consistent and efficient results without needing any break, while also being more cost-effective than just hiring a person. Not only that, some people might use it to fake various amounts of content like images and music to either monetize it or use it to paint someone or something in a bad light without the public really knowing if it’s real or not. Because of this, a lot of countries and their governments have decided to take action and make bills to restrict and limit what AI can do. “President Biden issued an executive order in October about A.I.’s national security effects as lawmakers debate what, if any, measures to pass. Japan is drafting nonbinding guidelines for the technology, while China has imposed restrictions on certain types of A.I.,” said an article from the New York Times.
With all things said and done, the future of AI is looking bright; it has the possibility to change society as we know it. Whether or not it will bring good and bad changes, it’s too soon to tell. However, it is still exciting and important to see what more AI has to offer, as it might change how we all live.