It’s 2019, and AI (artificial intelligence), is everywhere. From our homes to our cars, at school and at work, we can’t escape AI. Do we really know what AI can do to aid us in our daily lives? Although research is ongoing, we can’t be completely sure.
As defined in Techopedia, AI is an area of computer science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans (1). AI can aid in the area of speech recognition, learning, planning, and problem solving. We can find many AI tools in our toolbelt, from Amazon’s Alexa to Apple’s Siri. These “human robots” have almost as much brain power as humans do, without the emotion.
AI helps humans in their daily lives by acting as a virtual assistant. It provides many services to humans who don’t have a reasonable amount of time to complete them on their own. Tools such as Siri and Alexa can use voice commands to set alarms, schedule appointments, surf the web, or even control the music you listen to. In the workplace, AI can be used to automate processes such as customer service call centers, allowing humans to perform more meaningful tasks. AI can also be used in data science to analyze trends in data sets to help predict statistical information (2). 
While there are upsides to AI, there are downsides as well. Criminals, such as hackers, can use AI systems to hack into a mainframe, such as a bank, to steal confidential consumer data, which can be used inappropriately with the use of AI tools. AI could also lead to the spread of fake news and propaganda. Also, phishing scams can be made much worse with the use of AI.
All in all, we may not be ready for AI to take over the world, but we have to live with these advances as they become more and more prevalent in today’s world. Technology is always evolving, and so is the need for automation. Employing AI tools helps cut down on labor costs, due to the fact that AI tools can perform most jobs that humans can for half the price. There’s also the fear that AI will someday take over and overpower the human intelligence. While we try our best to design these systems so that this can’t happen, there’s no guarantee that it won’t.
Sources
(1) https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/17/15-ways-artificial-intelligence-and-automation-can-help-us-get-better-at-work/#4b0332449569
(2) http://fortune.com/2018/02/21/artificial-intelligence-oxford-cambridge-report/