The remarkable handiness and capacity of generative AI has caused the skyrocket in popularity within the past year. In January of this year alone, ChatGPT, one of the most popular AI to emerge, has seen 100 million monthly active users. On the commercial end, there is a 1800% increase in private AI investments compared to 2013. AI has even seen success on a global scale. 88% of Chinese businesses showing interest in AI on the high end and there’s also 68% commercial interest within the U.S.
But it is precisely this newfound popularity and level of investment that is exposing some of the flaws within the technology. Correlated with advancements in AI is 26 times the number of incidents and controversies since 2012. Furthermore, real-world applications show some unreliability. When AI was used to track a ball during a soccer game, it instead tracked the bald head of a player. AI has also mistakenly identified Congress members as criminals and struggles with generalized facial recognition as well.
Even larger issues exist within the concept of AI as a whole, rather than the technological deficiencies of its current state. Programming certain AI with human skills is a struggle for binary machines. For instance, AI is able to gather data sets and identify trends, but it is not able to exert judgment on data. Additionally, skills such as empathy, creativity, and desire to act are essential to true intelligence, but scarcely translate to AI.
Ultimately, AI has made impressive strides, but it is very far away from holding true to the ‘intelligence’ in artificial intelligence. It is only with the curation of people willing to teach AI, as well as innovation, that it will evolve to emulate the abilities of human intelligence. But with the rate AI is currently growing, the future of the technology shouldn’t be too far off.
