Whenever the new advancement in AI comes, there is a doomsday imagination where everything goes bad. AI super lords take over the planet and the humans are destined to mere slaves. Of course, this can happen but then this will be the end of human race. The alternative is where the positive future of AI lies. It's all in the greed, human emotion and the way the economy works.
Without humans, the soul will be missing and perhaps that's the reason, there will be still humans needed, no matter how advanced the AI becomes.
Let's take the example of chess. It's been solved by the computer and the apex computer engine is better than the apex chess champion. There are competitions in which computer engines are tested against each other. But the chess games between humans haven't stopped. There is still chess games with humans and though they draw more viewers than the computer engine matches. Simply because if given a choice, we will choose the human player, because we want to see the emotions, journey and the unpredictability of the game. If everything is won by the computer all the time, there is no sport left.
When you watch a sport, you are not only watching for elite performance, that's a small element to it. You watch for the adrenaline rush. That's why even a local chess match of similar strength player's is exciting to watch. You don't know who will win and also, the emotions will act and the mistakes and reactions plus the commentary is why we stay and keep coming back to.
Therefore, live sports of any nature if overcame by AI plus hardware, it will not replace the existing human sport. The human element is why we watch them in the first place.
Let's take another area where the AI is rapidly covering the distance. It's the movie making art. From songs, lyrics, composition to entire movies are being made by AI. There are audiences for AI too, you know because animation movies are non-human and it makes billions of dollars of revenue. So, the AI movie with made up humans, with a good story will bring in the human audience. So, in here the audience will be split. Half won't care how much AI is involved in the movie making and watch anything which entertains, and other half will be conscious of only watching movies with less AI involvement.
The whole point of movie is a good story, but also human contribution with their voice, body and mind. If you remove them, then what art are you consuming. So, anyone with a view towards art will only watch human cinema and others who want only entertainment will watch any movies, irrespective of the AI contribution. Human element is our savior. A robot can dance and do stunts but it's impressive when a human does it, has story of years of practice and can get injured. That's the element of watching an art too. We yearn for an human angle.
So in the area of art like cinema, painting, writing, dancing, expressing yourself, the draw is the person, her journey and the ups and downs, the stories, the emotions and the ultimate connection you feel with the art of the person behind it or both. So no matter, how perfect or imperfect AI can output all of this - the meaning will be found in the human touch. The human angle is what matters for creating, consuming and sharing the art. If I say, see a painting made by an AI, you know it's just swallowed a lot of information and vomited, no matter how beautiful. On contrast, when I share a human painting, you can see the expressive thing from that person and that's why you can draw more from it.
Let's shift gears and see the growth of AI from an economy standpoint.
We all have imagined a world where AI and robots have taken over. This would mean that the jobs would be lost to AI. A world where the billionaires would keep firing people and the team would be reduced from say 10,000 to 10 people and the rest of the work would be done by AI. But then this misses a critical point in the economy.
The economy works because of the money inflow and outflow, because of the transaction and you grow because other people invest in your company. Take for example, a billionaire who sells electric car. If all the people in her company is fired and they don't have money then they would not buy things. Similarly, if all the middle class people are fired and there are only rich and poor people, the rich would tumble. Because there won't be middle class with money to spend on things these billionaires are selling. So, this would force the economy to course correct. You need to have influx of money into the hands of people with salary, loans and other methods so they spend and economy keeps turning.
Else, since because of no job, all people would be forced to revert to farming and eating food and some basic necessities and rest would not be possible. So, yes, AI would keep on infusing and jobs would be lost. But either new jobs would be created, or the government would need to step in with regulation so that the system don't collapse.
AI isn't going anywhere. It's going to be the force of the future and the edge of the present. If you are indulged in the new and changing AI then you will get the leverage and you might convert it into lots of money for your bank. But slowly and steadily and then all of a sudden, all the AI will be part of your system. It has to. For example, take spell check, it was first a part of the Word document, simple spelling checks. Then came tools like Grammarly, which you need to pay and install for comprehensive Grammar. Now, you can do much more in the AI system, create first drafts. But still, you are required to edit, polish and then publish the draft. AI isn't replacing all of the writing, it's giving you the shortcut for a simple first draft, you have to take it to the next level.
In many use case, you won't touch AI at all. For example, in writing blogs, you are mostly writing for expressing if it's your personal blog. That's the whole point, if AI could and will write your blog, it's not doing anything to you. So even if AI can, you will still choose to write it yourself, because that's the whole point.
So what does this all mean for us, our work, meaning and purpose in our world?
We often underestimate the capacity of human ingenuity, persistence and the rigor. We thrive despite everything. With so many advancements, we have figured out a way to function with some hiccups. AI is different because it's super fast and super disrupting, but this only means we would need some kind of legislation hurdle to bring in protection.
Or maybe we realize that we don't need this much progress. I envision many places where they have intentionally slowed down, didn't build skyscrappers and work for the fulfillment of their art and enough food and few luxuries. Maybe that is the point of life and we might realize it when AI takes away or tries to take away our sacred art.
Whenever I try to find the purpose of humans - many people's answer comes to mind. Sometimes it is job, thrill, improvement and many other things. But I think it is art. Your purpose can't be to go to a job and come out drained. Your purpose has to be to fulfill all your senses, form a community and then express yourself through art. That seems the only logical answer.
So whatever fear you might have about the AI, it's true but we will either curb it, adjust or find new ways to handle the situation or economy will force it to go out of the equation or it will only hinder some parts and not the whole.
Let's welcome AI like every other previous advancements, we are ready, it will only make our lives better and if not, we will deal with it, like we always have.