The Age of AI is Inevitable
It’s just evolution.
Background
I see friends and acquaintances railing against the disruptive nature of AI, that this new technological wonder will rob us of our humanity. I simply cannot agree with that view. We’ve been down this road before. Many times. During the Industrial Revolution, many in society claimed that factories and standardised work will rob us of our humanity. The Art Nouveau movement was a direct response to that anxiety. The introduction of the printing press in the 15th century caused thinkers of the day to worry about the corruption of human ideals through disrespect for authority and misinformation. The introduction of the telephone in the 19th century resulted in societal critics arguing that “communicating at the speed of thought” would cause humanity to lose its ability to be deliberate and thoughtful.
And so I dedicate my 106th article to arguing that you can’t stop the AI freight train. It is just a simple case of evolution, and we are ALL going on that ride whether we like it or not.
(I write a weekly series of articles where I call out bad thinking and bad practices in data analytics / data science which you can find here.)
It’s Evolution
Evolution isn’t just confined to biology. We evolve culturally, morally, and technologically; all of which have their own velocity. Needless to say, technological evolution is exponential, and therefore creates re-alignment discomfort. But our short lives mean we have short memories, and we forget how quickly we settle into a new normal within a generation or so. Evolution isn’t necessarily progress. The former is simply about reducing what we perceive as inefficiencies and ineffectiveness; the latter is a perceptual judgement. Any technology that will give us back “time”, the most irreplaceable resource, will always be strongly selected for. From that viewpoint, it is clear that the choice to embrace and embed AI, regardless of the trade-offs, will triumph.
The idea that humanity is an untransmutable essence is patently false. Humanity is an abstract construct of identity. That construct is shaped by social, cultural and historical factors, and does not contain any inherent truth. There is no “loss of humanity”, only a construct to be shaped and reshaped over time. We are always seeking a new normal.
But It’s Also Progress
The Age of AI will also usher in the Age of Cognition. To understand this seemingly counter-intuitive phenomenon, one simply has to look back at the history of technological revolutions. Technological prowess increases cognitive load — there is always a corresponding increase in information input and information processing across society. But the human brain’s neuroplasticity allows it to adapt and become more efficient at managing this increased cognitive load. Just think about how driving speeds have increased almost exponentially since the late 19th century — new combinations of brain regions have been activated, and there has been significant increase in our ability for spatial processing.
In article #13 (The Age of Cognition), I wrote that with the advancement in Generative AI, technical abilities in knowledge work will be less-valued while its cognitive counterpart will be more-valued. When the time taken to search, summarise, and synthesise reduces dramatically with the use of Generative AI, the ability to define, design, and decide will become the most essential and critical skills. Just like with driving, we will see the emergence of new higher-order skills and abilities. And that’s progress.
It’s Not Degenerative
Generative AI is NOT degenerative. Many would have read the viral MIT article that found that using ChatGPT to assist in essay writing resulted in less activation of brain “parts”. The common generalised interpretation is that sustained use of Generative AI will impact learning skills and lead to “lazy thinkers”. Enrique Dans writes in Medium that this is the wrong interpretation of the findings. The fact that certain parts of the brain are less activated with the use of ChatGPT is evidence that Generative AI is successful in achieving cognitive offload. Just like Google Search is successful in making the internet an extension of human memory; this is now considered a net-positive outcome, contradicting the initial doom-mongering on pervasive internet usage. It’s been shown that cognitive offload supports our ability to take on higher-complexity work as part of our evolutionary progress.
Here are some facts:
- 25% of the workforce is data literate.
- Over 90% of jobs require digital literacy skills, but only 66% of the workforce are digital literate.
An open question would be whether we can utilise Generative AI to unlock data illiteracy? And whether Agentic AI can overcome the obstacles to digital literacy, and hence increased productivity, by providing a natural language interface to integrated digital connectivity?
Conclusion
The story of evolution is an unrelentless, unforgiving and inevitable one. Some will adapt and some will succumb to evolutionary changes. We’ve been here before. Many times. And each time, inertia is the greatest enemy — the desire to want to keep to status quo. We are not going to “lose our humanity” in the Age of AI. We are simply adding to it as we have always done.
