The way people live and work is rapidly changing due to generative AI. Gen AI is invading domains that were once thought to be “uniquely human” through language duplication and the creation of text, graphics, and even music. An existential concern has surfaced as computers’ verbal and cognitive capacities advance: What distinctive traits can humans maintain in the shadow of generative artificial intelligence?
One of the first looks at the future of artificial intelligence (AI) was provided to viewers and society at large by Stanley Kubrick’s seminal film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which debuted more than 50 years ago. The movie shows how a spacecraft’s onboard computer can communicate vocally with its human crew members, handle all mission-related technical tasks, and even play a casual game of chess with an astronaut—winning, incidentally. A news reporter on Earth conducts a remote interview with the computer, known as HAL 9000 or just “Hal,” at one point in the narrative.
When the interview returns to the crew a short while later, the reporter adds he thought Hal showed pride in his own technical perfection. When the reporter inquires as to whether they believe Hal is emotionally capable, the mission commander expresses skepticism.
“Yes, it appears that he is acting sincere. However, I don’t think anyone can really respond when asked whether or not he truly feels anything.”
The capacity for feeling and emotions is a trait that, at least for the time being, still makes humans unique, even after more than 50 years.
It’s interesting to note that computers were not very good at language, in contrast to Hal’s conversational skills in a fictional environment. However, today’s generation AI (Gen AI) has transformed natural language processing (NLP) functions, such as sentiment analysis and language translation driven by large language models (LLMs), and chatbots are now able to comprehend and react to instructions and questions. AI enabled a computer to pass the Turing test and persuade several human judges that it was a person and not a machine in a particularly notable example.
Beyond the scope of technology
As generation AI continues to automate human work without “feeling” any particular way about it, those of us who are still alive might reflect on our other distinguishing characteristics that computers cannot replicate. Along with emotions, traits that are unique to humans include imagination-based creativity and creative thinking, as well as complicated problem solving that involves cognitive flexibility and intuition. It’s also crucial to consider how morals and ethics, which are outside the scope of a technology that lacks social experience, influence human decision making.
Another example of what makes humans special is the five senses and the vast amount of information the brain processes in connection with them. It’s hard to picture technology emulating the distinctively human experience of this convergence of senses, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and an infamously faulty memory combine to create an embodied experience in people.
Delving further into the unique qualities of the mind, the finding of mirror neurons stands in for another attribute unique to humans that has not yet been replicated by technology. A mirror neuron fires when a person does a certain motor act or feels an emotion, as well as when they witness another person performing the same or a similar movement or experiencing the same feeling. In the simplest words, mirror neuron-driven behaviors were first seen in primates and can be summed up as “monkey see, monkey do.”
Action execution and observation are closely related activities from a functional standpoint, and our own motor system is involved in our ability to interpret other people’s actions, according to study on mirror neurons published by the National Institutes of Health. These mirror neurons, among other things, improve our sense of empathy, rivalry, and cooperation. Even if they might assume our feelings, LLMs are not emotionally connected to us.
A shift in organizations’ mindset
Humans are struggling with how to manage, govern, and regulate AI technologies in tandem with the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and its rapidly increasing trajectory, as well as the existential problems that accompany it. In the future, enterprises assigning tasks to Gen AI technology will have to make decisions.
Business leaders should “deeply consider its implications for the organization” and adopt a broad perspective on the possibilities of artificial intelligence, according to McKinsey research. According to the research, a large number of international executives felt as follows: We were lagging behind in automation and digitization, but we have now caught up. We’re not sure how to approach generative AI, but we don’t want to fall behind once more.
Many firms are taking a cautious approach to adopting AI in an effort to avoid repeating past mistakes. To guarantee the responsible implementation of their adoption roadmap, businesses utilizing Gen AI will need to set up clear strategies for workforce installation and utilization. As standards are developed to guarantee data security and privacy and new laws are drafted to guarantee that artificial intelligence is applied responsibly, this will become more and more important. Put simply, entities possessing a valid interest in artificial intelligence will be responsible for the manner in which they create and apply it.
Simply because technology has some capabilities
Technology has historically had a significant impact on what we define as “work,” since 60% of the job titles held by employed people in 2018 did not even exist in 1940. It is unclear what new ventures humans will embark on as AI transforms the 9–5 workday as we anticipate a world more mediated by AI. In the future, all kinds of governments, businesses, and organizations will have to decide which tasks will be delegated to computers and which ones will still need to be completed by people. It’s crucial to keep in mind during this process: Technology shouldn’t always do something just because it can.
Could futurists Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick have imagined how ahead of their time their fiction would turn out to be when they collaborated on a script in the 1960s that had AI at the core of the story?
