Besides, you don’t have to speculate about a fantastical future in order to observe incredible technology, all you need to do is look around at what we have today. A decade ago, who could have imagined the unbelievable pace at which vaccine development is moving today? We live in a time where we could potentially see a vaccine being developed, tested, and launched for mass production within a year of discovering a new disease, all thanks to the technology we are so intimidated by.
AI has advanced to the point where it can allow us to predict the spread of diseases and possible outbreaks more accurately than ever before. Using data related to human movement, climate and other factors, forecasts can be modelled efficiently and accurately, which would have taken huge amounts of time and resources in the past.
If that hasn’t convinced you, look no further than right here for another example of technology transforming the healthcare industry. In early April, Macaw partnered with Microsoft to produce an AI chatbot assistant to help doctors in the Netherlands and around the world in serving the masses of potential COVID-19 patients.
Even with resource management, AI and machine learning are simply indispensable. The global pandemic has taught us many lessons, one of them being that rapid response and proper coordination are absolutely essential, and in some cases, life-saving.
Robots are resistant to disease.
It’s clear that our fear of robots has simply been misplaced and misguided. The way that some people speak about technology, you would think they had some sort of techno-phobia. Far from being a malignant force, set on making all humans obsolete, technology has saved our economies from the brink of collapse during this pandemic, ensuring that we still get our uninterrupted supply food and toilet rolls without ever coming into contact with another human.
Sure, robots might displace certain mechanical, easily programmable jobs, but this is something we just need to come to terms with as a society. We also shouldn’t forget the fact that where there is a robot, there must also be a human there to oversee it. You would be mistaken if you believe that the factories which used to employ hundreds of workers would see its workforce get whittled down to a single human supervisor. A robot can replace two to five employees, never hundreds.
You might say that it will be too difficult for workers to adapt, that not everyone can be made to understand and utilise these new systems. However, the way that a huge portion of the world has adapted to working from home shows that, when push comes to shove, people will adapt to survive, even if they’re forced to do so in a matter of days.
If hard figures are what you’re looking for, a report published by the World Economic Forum states that by 2022, the development of AI technologies will create 58 million net new jobs. The report also says that such technological developments will force companies to invest billions in training employees to work with these latest technologies.
Let’s go back to school.
In 2018, the Finnish government initiated a programme to teach their population skills that will allow them to use and understand AI and other future technologies. Their target is to educate at least 1% of the population over five years.
This is a great example of how we can react positively to the advent of technology, it all stems from our ever-changing world. This is not new of course, the world has never once stopped evolving, it’s just doing so at a constantly increasing rate. It’s natural that we react to this uncertainty with fear, but what we really need to do is to “go back to school”. It’s vital that we stay in the mindset of lifelong learning in order to stay relevant.” You may have become a master of your field, but the world moves at such a pace now that mastery is not valid for long before technology completely changes the landscape. It’s imperative that we keep being open to learning, from emerging technologies to social change in our societies.
