How AI Is Revolutionising The World

Artificial intelligence (AI) allows computers to learn and solve problems like human beings. It is reshaping the world in significant ways, transforming industries, changing the nature of work, revolutionising how we interact with technology, and profoundly impacting every aspect of our lives. AI’s influence has become so pervasive that it is altering the way we live, work, and communicate. Its miraculous ability to automate jobs, analyse vast amounts of data, and make predictions is changing our society in ways only a very few technologies did in the past. Today, AI has become too important to ignore. This article is about the key areas being transformed by AI and the concerns, challenges, and solutions in the brave new world dominated by it. As AI develops at lightning speed with every passing day, being able to keep up means staying ahead of the competition and relevant.

Key areas

Let’s start with healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic became so deadly because of the lack of a vaccine that could defang the coronavirus. And it took months for the scientists to come up with the vaccine. But AI is making vaccine and drug discovery easier, more efficient, more effective, and less resource-consuming. How? AI-powered tools like machine learning help in designing molecules with specific properties, optimising their structures for efficacy and safety, and accelerating the drug development process.

Besides, AI analyses biological data to predict how a drug might interact with various biological targets, helping to understand potential side effects and optimise drugs. AI assists in designing more efficient clinical trials by analysing vast amounts of data, identifying suitable patient populations, and predicting potential outcomes, reducing the time and costs involved in trials. It also improves their effectiveness and streamlines the process, leading to faster and more cost-effective treatments for various diseases. Similarly, AI algorithms analyse chemical structures and predict the likelihood of a disease, enabling us to take early precautionary measures.

 Transportation is another area that is being transformed by AI. Autonomous vehicles, such as self-driving cars, trucks, and drones, are increasingly using sensor data from cameras and radar, among other sensors, to navigate roads, interpret surroundings, and make intelligent driving decisions on the go, improving road safety and efficiency. 

Also, AI algorithms analyse traffic patterns, predict traffic snarls and congestion, and optimise traffic flow, making traffic management smarter. Making matters sweeter, AI-driven apps provide the best routes and up-to-date traffic conditions, enhancing the travel experience. AI’s integration into transportation is making the industry safer, more efficient, and more convenient for both passengers and transport entrepreneurs.

AI is revolutionising customer care. AI-powered chatbots handle customer inquiries, provide instant responses, and assist in getting around common issues 24/7. AI analyses customer data to personalise interactions, offering tailored recommendations, solutions, and support based on individual preferences and behaviors. By harnessing AI technologies, businesses are becoming able to provide efficient, personalised support, enhancing the customer experience and satisfaction.

The profound impact of AI is also being felt in journalism, reshaping how news is reported, produced, disseminated, and consumed. AI-powered tools enable faster reporting, a broader global reach, interactive storytelling formats, personalised news delivery, and data analytics. In addition to aiding in content creation and audience targeting, such tools also assist in fact-checking and detecting misinformation, aiding journalists in ensuring the accuracy of their reports. Besides, they help journalists analyse vast amounts of data quickly, extract valuable insights, and identify trends, bringing investigative journalism and date-driven storytelling within reach.

Similarly, AI-equipped natural language processing (NLP) technology helps in language translation, sentiment analysis, and understanding audience feedback, empowering journalists to connect with readers, viewers, and audiences of all stripes. Automated transcription and translation facilities quick transcription and translation of interviews, making content more accessible and enabling journalists to cover stories in multiple languages efficiently. AI-driven, enhanced multimedia storytelling can contribute to creating interactive and immersive storytelling experiences through technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality.

AI can analyse vast amounts of data and produce articles related to financial reports and weather forecasts, among other data-driven stories, in no time, freeing journalists from the shackles of time to focus on more in-depth reporting and helping them notice stories and insights that might otherwise go undiscovered. After observing customers’ preferences and behaviours for some time, AI algorithms are increasingly able to deliver news feeds tailored to a particular customer. 

AI is also changing the way news organisations interact with their audiences. They are using chatbots and voice interfaces to deliver news updates, answer questions, and provide personalised recommendations. This not only offers a more convenient and engaging way for users to consume news but also opens up new revenue sources through targeted advertising.

Challenges and solutions

At the same time, AI has raised several concerns, such as bias and ethics. When an AI algorithm learns from biassed data or is trained on datasets rife with biassed information, it can perpetuate and even magnify those biases. That makes it prone to mistakes. Who will be answerable when an AI system does harm with legal implications? is a question many are confronted with. What’s more, there is a growing fear that AI will displace humans from jobs in a world where unemployment is already high.

Addressing these concerns requires collaboration among researchers, policymakers, ethicists, and technologists to develop frameworks and guidelines for responsible AI development and deployment. The good news is that there is a growing recognition that AI is a force for good and that it can vastly boost productivity and add trillions of dollars in value to the global economy. No matter how much AI gets better at everything, it is still nowhere near matching the unique features humans are endowed with, like creativity, empathy, intellectual reasoning, and emotional understanding. While it may change job requirements, AI also creates new job opportunities in AI development, data science, and professions that require skills in unique human qualities. So, instead of fretting about the potential job loss, what we can do is prepare ourselves for the jobs AI is incapable of taking over.

(Basyal works as a journalist at The Rising Nepal)