AI/KI
Man has long feared the rise of the machine – his own creation becoming smarter and more intelligent than he. But while artificial intelligence and machine learning are rapidly changing our world and powering the Fourth Industrial Revolution, humanity does not need to be afraid (Source: Salzburg Global Seminar).
As J Rademeyer, an esteemed member of our board of directors reminded me, AI is not artificial insemination as it stands for Artificial Intelligence, which is a broad field of technologies that allow computers to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence inputs.
AI systems can be programmed to learn and improve through exposure to large amounts of data and can identify patterns and relationships that humans may miss.
Subject matter experts contend that AI is already responsible for many useful applications serving communities on a global scale, including:
- Voice assistants: Siri and Alexa are examples of voice assistants that use AI technology.
- Customer service chatbots: Some customer service chatbots use AI technology to help navigate websites.
- Business: AI can be used to make businesses more efficient and profitable.
- Healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing: AI applications are becoming increasingly common in these industries.
AI systems use logic and decision trees to learn, reason, and self-correct. They can work with all types of data, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
The most basic type of AI is reactive machines, which only react to what is before them at a given moment. They can only perform certain advanced tasks within a narrow scope, such as playing chess, based on the programmed tasks encapsulated in its purpose or the need it must execute.
At the beginning of 2018, Mónica López-González, co-founder and executive scientific and artistic director at La Petite Noiseuse Productions, wrote for Salzburg Global Seminar artificial intelligence (AI) “is a human product made for humans to engage with and use… Data points alone are meaningless; it is how we interpret and use them. If anything is to be feared, it is none other than ourselves.”
AI presents new challenges at the intersect of people, power and policy, and the need to understand.
AI is changing our world for the better. What are our challenges and how can we apply it to our benefit?
Creating new jobs – according to Carolyn Frantz, Microsoft’s Company Secretary, “the bleak view of AI as a job killer is one side of the coin, while 75 million jobs may disappear, as many as 133 million more engaging, less repetitive new roles are expected to be created. AI is an opportunity for workers to focus on the parts of their jobs that may also be most satisfying to them”.
Bridging language divides – AI powered language tools from Duolingo and Skype are already bridging social and cultural divides in our workplaces, classrooms and everyday lives.
Transforming Government – AI has the ability to reduce paperwork and ensure quicker responses.
This can result in a more efficient bureaucracy and enabling public administration to come up with better and faster solutions, to embrace the value of autonomous systems that can serve mankind more effectively.
Delivering Health Care – AI has the potential to make Health Care much more accessible and affordable. The medical AI based app, offered by Babylon is already providing patients with a symptom checking and fast access to physicians when needed, to more than a million residents in Central London. It saves health care service providers money due to efficiencies achieved.
Creating Art – Computational creativity is drastically the nature of art through art software is more than a tool, it became a creative collaborator, merging computer scientists with artists. An Austrian artist, Sonja Bäumel contends that” The exhibition space becomes a lab, art becomes the expression of science and the artist the researcher”.
Recent developments of new technologies in AI:
Generative AI – This technology can create content like text, images, audio and video. It can produce unique outputs based on large datasets, unlike traditional AI that follows specific instructions.
Agentic AI – This technology uses autonomous systems to make decisions for users. It can improve decision-making and output across many sectors, including healthcare and banking.
AI in healthcare – AI is being used to improve diagnostics, assist with drug recovery and help with robotic surgeries.
AI in app development – AI is streamlining app development processes by automating testing, bug detection and code generation.
AI in user privacy – AI is being used to anonymize data and ensure compliance with data protection regulations.
AI in creative fields – AI is being used to create art, music and films.
AI in climate change – AI is being used to monitor the environment, improve renewable energy use and assist in capturing carbon.
Quantum computing – Quantum computing is expected to speed up AI model training particularly for complex tasks.
AI in ethics and regulation – Governments are implementing rules to ensure fairness and to prevent bias.
Face recognition technology – AI is used to identify and verify individuals based on facial features.
Conclusion: Analysing data is the most effective technique to comprehend the development of AI. Do not get carried away by science fiction horror stories of robots taking over the world where mankind will be reduced to a lower kind of existence under a regime of super robots. Robots and computers can only do what we instruct them to do and are not capable of making rational decisions not programmed into their memories.
Feel free and fear not to use AI as an opportunity to improve business processes ensuring you achieve your profit targets embedded in your business plan or strategies.
Researched and compiled by: DJ Breytenbach Drakenstein Business Chamber February 2025
