What is AI and its Benefits

 

Indians lead in believing AI's benefits in the next 5 yrs: Survey

80% of them say technology will help them in jobs and understanding complex topics, says study by Google and Ipso

Over 70 per cent of Indians surveyed said they already sense the positive impact of AI, perceiving its effect the most in accessing information.

Most Indians believed in the long-term impact of AI, expecting the technology to address development issues in the next 25 years. As many as 77 per cent believed it will help reduce poverty and 86 per cent said it will improve transportation.

Sanjay Gupta, country head and vice-president of Google India, said: “As an AI-first company, we have been enormously encouraged by the optimism with which India is embracing AI’s every advance, and more importantly, shaping it. The Ipsos survey confirms Indians' strong expectations of inclusive economic growth from AI integration.”

Indians said AI’s application will be important in health, security, climate change, personalised education, improved accessibility, and space exploration.

Indians expect AI to have a positive impact on jobs, with 80 per cent believing it will be beneficial for them individually. A similar proportion of respondents in Singapore, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates match their optimism. As many as 95 per cent of Indians have talked about AI in their workplaces, compared to the global average of 65 per cent.

The proportion of people who felt that the changes AI will drive for jobs and industries in the next five years will be “a good thing” was highest in India at 75 per cent. It was 29 per cent in the United States and 52 per cent globally. 

What is AI? 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the development of computer systems capable of performing cognitively complex tasks that traditionally only a human could perform, such as identifying patterns within a data set, making predictions, or composing a piece of writing. In other words, then, AI is all about making machines that can dynamically respond to and learn from their tasks, rather than simply performing the same, exact procedure over and over again without change. 

That’s not to say that you should expect to have an in-depth conversation about quantum mechanics with your electric toothbrush any time soon. 

AI is still in its infancy and can only be used to accomplish certain narrow tasks. Today, the type of AI that most of us interact with is really an example of weak AI, also called “narrow AI,” which is essentially AI that can perform a handful of very specific tasks, like making chess moves, analyzing data, and translating text from one language to another. Strong AI – or AI that can perform many different complex tasks simultaneously, pose questions to itself, and even learn more about the world in order to match human intelligence – is still only theoretical and has not yet been achieved. Even further away is artificial super intelligence (ASI), or AI which far surpasses human intelligence. 

Nonetheless, AI is developing quickly, and advances are being made faster than ever. In effect, the technology is becoming more widely adopted and more capable of performing a wide range of different, complex tasks. 

Quickly generate new material

Writing, coding, and designing visuals are time-consuming processes. Today, many writers, programmers, designers, and artists spend a large amount of their time completing tedious tasks, such as composing simple web copy, creating basic designs, and implementing elementary code. Rather than fully utilizing the skill sets of these skilled workers, employers often require them to do work that is critical for their business operations but which doesn’t take full advantage of their skills. 

Generative AI, such as ChatGPT and DALL-E, allows workers and employers to quickly create simple text, code, and visuals via simple prompts. In turn, this allows organizations to quickly generate simple writing, code, and designs while their employees work on more complex assignments requiring greater creativity and insight.