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Myths and misconceptions of Artificial Intelligence

28/09/2021 20mins
Phani Kumar S

AI,BLOCKCHAIN

Myths and misconceptions about Artificial Intelligence

The modern business environment is dominated by artificial intelligence (AI). Technological advancements that range from self-driving cars and Siri personal assistants to chatbots and email scheduling, and automation are fast becoming an integral part of small and long-established businesses. Companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and thousands of start-ups are already using artificial intelligence to scale their businesses. No doubt, artificial intelligence has great potential for improving business productivity.

However, as artificial intelligence evolves, so are the myths and misconceptions around the innovation growing. There have been a lot of controversies and confusion about artificial intelligence replacing human beings in workplaces. Now, let’s take a look at some of the myths and misconceptions of artificial intelligence out there and try to provide some realistic explanations.

Myth 1:

Artificial Intelligence will displace humans

The Reality:

One of the most popular myths about artificial intelligence is that it will soon displace humans in certain professions, especially contact center jobs. The reality is that technology has been threatening human jobs throughout history. But, there was no time that technology has been able to replace human intelligence. Instead, technological advancements have only helped to increase human efficiency and productivity. Artificial intelligence can only increase human productivity rather than replace it with human intelligence.

Myth 2:

Artificial Intelligence algorithms automatically make sense of messy data

The Reality:

In reality, an algorithm is a program, and it needs to be programmed with the right data to function effectively. This suggests artificial intelligence is pre-programmed to support good data. Messy or unorganized data will not produce intelligible results. So, artificial intelligence is not “load and go.” Rather, it needs information and content that are of high quality to give intelligible results.

Myth 3:

You need data scientists, and huge budgets to use AI for the business.

The Reality:

There are several artificial intelligence tools for businesses that don’t require huge investments to run. Neither do you need data scientists nor computational linguists, to make use of artificial intelligence technology? Today, artificial intelligence is becoming more and more affordable and accessible to business users.

Myth 4:

“Cognitive AI” technologies can understand and solve new problems just like the human brain.  

The Reality:

Artificial intelligence involves machines that can perform tasks with human-like intelligence, such as understanding language, solving complex problems, learning, and recognizing objects and sounds. The reality is that “cognitive artificial intelligence” technologies cannot solve problems they were not designed to solve. However, humans can define new scenarios and create new solutions where artificial intelligence will need new data to operate.

Myth 5:

Artificial intelligence has human-like empathy

The Reality:

There have been erroneous claims that artificial intelligence has human-like empathy. This is far from reality as artificial intelligence is programmed to take repetitive routine tasks which are meant to achieve specific purposes. To perform tasks that are construed as human-like empathy, the technology will require enormous data to perform actions that are closer to that of humans. Yet, the machine will consume lots of time and may encounter errors performing such tasks. The truth is humans have lots of unique and emotional characteristics such as situational judgment and empathy that robots cannot exhibit.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that artificial intelligence cannot be equated to human intelligence. The place of humans cannot be taken completely by machines, even in areas like contact centers. The goal behind the continuous investment in artificial intelligence is to increase capacities for tasks that are time-consuming, mundane, and error-prone, while humans focus on less-demanding tasks. In short, artificial intelligence aims at increasing productivity by aiding human efforts. So, ignore the myths, and support artificial intelligence.

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