Will artificial intelligence take over the world?

WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TAKE OVER THE WORLD? A perspective

By 

Sana Hassan

In a futuristic world, a very intelligent group of scientists create a powerful intelligent software. This
software is equipped with a single task: How to solve the world’s problems? The software comes to the
conclusion that the problem of this world is “too many people”. It hacks into countries’ security
protocols, launches nuclear missiles all over the world, killing the humankind. This is the plot of a science
fiction T.V show. And our understanding of the A.I (Artificial Intelligence). But is artificial intelligence
really going to take over the world? I don’t think so and here’s why.

A.I. is task specific

The A.I is software, an algorithm which is designed for a specific task. Like speech recognition soft-
wares, spell-check soft-wares, biometric systems and much more. We are surrounded by A.I all day. Do
we feel that our security is compromised because of an A.I? Or because of the corporations controlling
these A.I?

They are learning machines

An A.I is a learning machine. It learns from whatever is provided to it. They are powered by extensive
computer codes. They have the ability to draw results, make connections based on the information already
provided to them. Sure, they can learn new things. But that does not mean that they can master human
intelligence and take over the world. A. I are only intelligent because they can learn. But just because they
can learn does not mean they are more powerful than humans.

Take a smartphone for an example. Imagine you bought a new phone. You set it up and start chatting with
your friend on it. Now the cell phone studies your typing patterns and stores them. The next time you use
it, it starts giving you suggestions for the next word quite accurately. Now does that mean that this
software knew what you were thinking? No, it just knew your past behavior. And it simply just built on
that. That is exactly what an A.I is.

A.I. as necessity

Up to the present, artificial intelligence has only improved our lifestyle. We have digital security systems.
Self-driving cars, drones, facial recognition soft-wares, chatbots and much more. That is all artificial
intelligence is supposed to be: An Intelligent Assistant. Soon, A.I would no longer be a luxury. It will
become a necessity.

A.I. as a threat

The danger lies in the use of A.I. The people may abuse A.I to create distress and destruction in the world.
The A.I is capable of wonderful things and we have seen that. But it is also equipped to steer the world
towards global extinction. Any software loaded with destructive commands can destroy our world as we
know it. The solution is not to keep a check on artificial intelligence. It is to supervise all the people and
the big corporations who have the access and ability to manipulate these digital entities for personal gains.