Artificial Intelligence, or AI as it is known, is the buzzword and a trending technology that promises to transform the way we live, be entertained and work. AI may not be apparent on the surface but it is there in the background and it is influencing our everyday lives.
Robots
Robots are nothing new. However, AI evolves and infuses robots with more intelligent capabilities. Take the case of Alibaba's chain of restaurants in China that now use robots instead of waiters. The restaurant saves on wages it pays to waiters and customers enjoy the benefit of quick services, better food, and lower prices. The elderly and infirm need help with some routine tasks and depending on someone is expensive. Humans can also prove to be unreliable whereas robots can provide assistance that will help elderly people enjoy independent lives. Robots can also monitor their physical and health conditions and alert doctors if necessary. Robotic manufacturing process results in products that have better quality and yet are priced lower. AI does improve quality of life at different levels for different people.
Healthcare
Healthcare is becoming more expensive by the day and with so much pressure on doctors, it is not surprising that a number of cases are misdiagnosed. Artificial intelligence and its subset machine learning can learn to quickly analyze medical data and arrive at diagnosis faster than doctors can and, sometimes, even identify issues that doctors can miss. That is about hospitals and patients. Talk about normal people and the smart wearable is an AI-powered device that tracks your condition and helps you to maintain good health or even improve it.
Reduces efforts
People engage in everyday activities such as shopping online, switching on or off appliances in their homes and offices, emailing and a hundred other things where routine tasks must be repeated every day. Artificial intelligence helps in every way. Shop online and the sites remember your preferences and make recommendations. Open your email account and the intelligent software will divert spam and even classify mail according to rules you can set. Drive in traffic and AI will help find the shortest routes or the least congested ones. Traffic management systems benefit by helping authorities gain predictive capabilities about rush hour traffic and other matters to smoothen flows. The good thing about AI now and machine learning is that systems learn from individual owners and adapt responses. If you wish to search for a product online, you need not pick up a smartphone and type in the keywords. Just speak them to Alexa or Cortana. You can hear or view news and media that you want with AI there in the background. Everyone knows about Google's self-driving car project and it is just a matter of time before they become a regular thing on roads. You issue a command and the device does the rest. If you use a credit card you may no longer have to enter a PIN. Just showing your face will be sufficient. Will it make people lazy or will they use the saved time and effort for something better? While some jobs could be lost due to AI, humans will be able to do things that AI can not now do.
Crime and fraud
Shopping and emailing are mundane, compared to crime. You could be the next victim and the perpetrator could go away scot-free. Not so with AI. AI is increasingly being used by financial institutions to detect anomalies in transactions and to identify attempts at fraud. AI in traffic or security cameras can easily identify people from faces and even sharpen up blurred photos to help law enforcement agencies. If life is safer and will be even more so, it will be largely due to AI's contribution.
Lawyers and law
If one talks about crime then lawyers are not far away. A typical lawyer must gather plenty of evidence, go through razer blade stealth (13) documents and then extract kernels of information that could help their client. It is a painstaking task. AI comes to the rescue by doing all this and with precision that a human is not likely to achieve.
How does AI actually impact lives?
As can be seen, AI is in all spheres of activities ranging from industrial to commercial to domestic and even military. How does this wave of AI impact lives? For one, people are freed from the drudgery of carrying out routine and time consuming tasks. They can use their brain power to do something better and more intelligent as well as satisfying for the soul. More people will enjoy the facility of much improved healthcare services. People may see their lifespan extended. Offices become more productive with intelligent robotic assistants taking notes or carrying out routine functions thereby reducing load on employees and freeing them to do more productive as well as satisfying tasks.