Artificial vs Human Intelligence

Of late, there have been waves of propaganda resulting in fearmongering over an artificial intelligence (AI) takeover of human jobs, especially with increasing research and development being conducted in this field. With many, including names like Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, having warned us that development of intelligent machines beyond a certain point could mark the end of humankind, the intimidation is real, to say the least. This intimidation is of major job shortages and quick replacements of multiple occupations by rather accurate and efficient machines. Therefore, there is no shortage of angst when it comes to the impact of AI on jobs.

Contrastingly my opinion is that Ai, or any kind of automation for that matter, will always fail to completely replace humans. Most of the jobs that we can think of require a multiplicity of skills. From technical expertise to intuitive mastery, jobs generally require a host of cognitive and socio-behavioural skills that are interconnected. While I do not contest the claims that humans are being replaced and will continue to be replaced by automation, I hold a firm opinion that there is a wide range of jobs which cannot be performed without the human finesse. With our tools improving by the minute, automation in fact magnifies the importance of our judgments rather than displacing them. I can, therefore, safely assume that it is impossible for intelligent machines to completely replace human capital as long as the former has not evolved to a point where it can interact, engage, think, adapt, and respond exactly in a fashion as a human can. This aspect is considered as the “human prerogative.”