Essay

Artificial brains are man-made machines that are just as intelligent, creative and self-aware as biological brains. No such machine has yet been built and to some scientist’s view, artificial brains will never reach the functionality level of biological human brains.

Based on the exponential growth of scientific knowledge, however, this could happen sometimes within this century, raising the question how humans will adapt to this evolutionary milestone.

Our current philosophical and psychological inventory lacks the capacity to comprehend the impact of this achievement. Consequently, strong ethical guidelines of self-regulation are required. Otherwise humanity runs the risk of becoming slaves of its own creation.

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The rise of fake information and the proliferation of artificially generated narratives are challenging publishers as well as social media and e-commerce platforms.

AI provides tools to detect Deepfakes, yet there will be counterefforts to bypass this detection. In this technology-based ‘cops and robbers’ scenario, to distinguish fake from reality and the danger of being manipulated, we have to resort to consciousness and common-sense for the protection of our integrity.

Humans have become ‘sandwiched’ between fake- manipulation and trust. To get out of this position we must apply our unique capacity: think.

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Humans’ ability to collaborate for reaching otherwise inaccessible goals may be one main cause for our success as a species. Collective intelligence emerges when these contributions are combined to become more than the sum of their parts.

As the individual intellectual capacity of humans is limited vis-à-vis an accelerating increase in scientific and technological complexity, the application of collective intelligence augmented by AI, dubbed CAI, is a major driver for future value generation.

As AI is maturing and eventually turning cognitive intelligence into a commodity, integrating human assets such as curiosity, creativity and moral judgement are a must to realize the value that can be generated with CAI-platforms.

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Evolution did not reach the status of being a scientific theory until Charles Darwin published his famous book ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859. Only the ‘fittest’ organisms are likely to survive, passing on their traits to the next generation.

The augmentation of human intelligence with machines is impacting our societies as those ahead in developing and applying this technology are more fit for survival than those which stay behind.

The upcoming automation of AI and the availability of new brain-interface technology to augment and enhance human’s intellectual capacity stipulate that evolution is gradually shifting to a selection based on technological supremacy.

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Human imagination occurs as a mental state and is a prerequisite for creativity and innovation. To understand the distinction between what is real and what is imagined is an important step in the development of children’s imaginative abilities.

How does your brain produce an image of something you have never seen? That may not seem hard, but it turns out that this is a complex problem that requires sophisticated coordination inside your brain.

One of the computational processes that provides AI with imaginative powers is referred to as Generative Adversarial Networks. They consist of two neural networks which compete against – and learn from – each other.

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The idea of human interaction being replaced by AI was first applied 35 years ago with ELIZA, a natural language processing program, created at MIT by Joseph Weizenbaum. Emotion sensing did not exist and in this respect, it is astonishing that AI-support for therapeutic counselling is still at a very early stage.

Therapeutic AI can free up doctors to work more with their patients, handling administrative tasks and even assisting with diagnosis or intervention. In addition, empathy focused AI-applications can help patients to create awareness of their own emotional states.

Mutual trust in AI-conversational therapy is an absolute prerequisite to advance the market further. Without the adherence to ethical standards and the protection of privacy, trust cannot be achieved.

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Language is one of the most important means of communication and elemental  for the existence of modern societies, institutions, states and cultures.

AI-based Natural Language Generation (NLG) is the process of producing meaningful phrases and sentences in the form of natural language. NLG generates narratives that describe, summarize or explain structured data, making the writing of data-driven financial reports, product descriptions, or meeting memos more efficient.

In the context of language and writing, we must distinguish between computer-generated textual representations of facts and the creative process of formulating an idea or a story, something we might also refer to as ‘thoughtful writing’.

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According to research conducted by Dr. George Land, adults are ‘grown up children’ who have lost their creativity because creativity has been buried by rules and regulations. 

In the age of AI, our great distinguishing capacity vis-à-vis intelligent machines is creativity. A recent PwC report explains, “The rise of artificial intelligence is driving a new shift in value creation focused on sentiments more intrinsic to the human experience.

Creativity is a skill that can be developed and a process that can be managed. It begins with a foundation of knowledge, learning a discipline and mastering a way of thinking. We learn to be creative by experimenting, exploring, questioning assumptions, using imagination and synthesizing information.

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The term ‘Ecosystem’ was first used in 1935 in a publication by the British ecologist Sir Arthur Tansley. He devised the concept of an ecosystem to draw attention to the importance of the transfer of materials between organisms and their environment.

Starting in the early 1990s, James F. Moore introduced the strategic planning concept of a business ecosystem. He defined the ‘business ecosystem’ as an economic community supported by a foundation of interacting organizations and individuals.

With advancements in science and technology, new business ecosystems will evolve. We need a dual-ecosystem strategy: a) for caretaking of nature to support our intrinsic mind-body requirements and b) for building-up AI enhanced individuals and organizations to establish economic sustainability.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has caught humanity largely unprepared. While its devasting effects will be felt for a long time, the potential contribution of AI to better handle the outbreak of pandemics is very much apparent.

Experience and lessons learned show that isolation and home-based video conferencing reduce team efficiency and increase mental stress.

Location based big data analytics and contact tracing help to contain a pandemic outbreak. Monitoring our health with body sensors and AI based interpretation tools will put us in a much better position to emotionally counteract the paralyzing effects of fear. Finally, rapid drug and vaccine development complements the AI tools, reducing the physical, mental and economic damage a pandemic can cause.

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