Can artificial intelligence lead to a more humane society?
You will hear many different responses if you pose this question to most researchers.
In my view, our society is increasingly moving toward a world in which humans and machines become integral parts of critical systems. The boundary between human work and machine work is becoming ever more blurred, as well as the boundary between decisions made by humans and decisions made by artificial intelligence. So, the question is, in such a sci-fi or futuristic world, is society more humane or inhumane?
From the point of view of human intelligence and machine intelligence working side by side, with machine intelligence assisting humans so that people can be freed from repetitive physical work and focus on creative thinking and innovations, I would say yes—artificial intelligence can lead to a more humane society. However, from the point of view of artificial intelligence competing with human intelligence for work that is enjoyable to humans and enables many people to make a good living, I would say no, at least not over the short term.
The bottom line is, there are technological and social trends that are unstoppable, and the responsibility is with us humans, who are the creators of artificial intelligence, to design and adopt systems that lead to a more humane society.
Sharon Xiaolei Huang
Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
Sharon Xiaolei Huang’s research interests include machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer-assisted diagnosis and intervention, content-based image/ graphics indexing and retrieval, physically based modeling and simulation, HCI, visualization and bioinformatics.
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