Can AI live up to its promise?
The realm of artificial intelligence, long a source of imaginative tales, has transitioned into a robust and evolving discipline. It’s emerging as a major catalyst for societal transformation.
“This is one of the questions that has been on our minds for some time now every time we read about the latest advances and promises of artificial intelligence (AI). The bombardment of information about the progress of AI is continuous and comes from many fronts with different objectives; either conveying excessive optimism (e.g. superintelligent, conscious AI, etc.) or, on the contrary, drawing dystopian scenarios (e.g. AI that will exterminate humanity). In either case, often with opinions or information far removed from reality, and with a confused objective, which often gives us a mistaken idea of AI and its real transformative potential. Shedding light and clarity on this issue is the aim of a recently published paper from Tecnalia titled “Can transformative AI shape a new age for our civilization?: Navigating between speculation and reality.“
From speculation to reality: The evolution of AI
AI and its capabilities have been the subject of speculation and confined to science fiction since its inception. Today, we can say with certainty that it has become a mature discipline, evolving into one of the forces with the greatest transformative potential for our civilization. In recent decades, the evolution of AI has moved from theoretical speculation to tangible achievements. The most recent systems based on foundational models, and in particular those based on generative AI, are demonstrating more than remarkable capabilities, surpassing human performance in specific areas such as strategic games, natural language processing and image recognition, among others.
However, AI’s impact on our civilization goes beyond its technical and algorithmic achievements. Its integration into critical social functions, from healthcare to governance, can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, AI promises to solve complex problems such as climate modeling, personalized medicine, and economic optimization. On the other hand, it raises concerns about surveillance, job displacement, algorithmic biases, or endangering democratic values, for example. This highlights the urgency of establishing ethical frameworks and solid governance structures for AI.”