Still on the amazing reality of AI, whether one calls it “artificial” or “augmented” intelligence, is that it is inevitable.
In a newsletter created by Deepak Chopra titled “Reinventing Life,” he says: “The most credible overview of the future of artificial intelligence is also the simplest: AI will change everything.
“Not a single aspect of human endeavor will escape the influence of AI, its enormous computing ability, speed, and sophisticated machine learning. The overwhelming impact of AI is rising with unprecedented speed.”
Whether we embrace the change, or fear it, one thing that should be remembered is this: “As powerful as AI is, a machine cannot duplicate human awareness, because machines don’t experience anything; they compute,” the same article says.
Harnessed properly, AI should certainly be able to take humanity leaps ahead in key areas like medicine or engineering. The future awaits, but what about now?
A great concern these days has to do with both technology and the human experience. The problem had been observed for a long time now, yet only in recent studies has it become clear to more people.
Social media continues to affect us, expanding our reach and keeping us connected, yes. But in some ways, it has created a huge disconnect from reality, especially among the youth.
From fleeting concepts of relationships to a “like-based” culture, today’s younger generation is often regarded as strange by the generations before them, but that does not excuse us from making an effort to understand.
What sort of humans are being bred by the circumstances of our time? How will these so-called digital natives cope in a world overrun by everything AI does when social media alone is testing the limits of their mental capacity?
While it is acknowledged that not enough research has been undertaken to show the long-term consequences of social media use, “multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts,” says HelpGuide.org, an independent nonprofit that runs one of the world’s leading mental health websites.
An advisory from the US Surgeon General’s Office said social media carries “severe risks to mental health,” as reported recently. Why? Because social media carries all kinds of content, including harmful ones, and its constant usage can cause sleep disruption and lack of physical activity, the advisory said. Citing that nearly 95 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds use social media, immediacy in addressing the issue was called for.
Hereabouts, parents who tend to leave the “yaya duties” to gadgets just because life can get too busy should revise this quick-fix method. There is another new study that shows just “30 minutes of social media use per day” considerably improved the depressive states of young subjects. Leaving kids mainly unsupervised in the wide, wide world can, indeed, result in negative behaviors at some point.
As inevitable as AI, digitization all over the world, including our country, will simply transform the way we do things. The pandemic only sped up the process, as more people took to social media for various reasons — to be entertained, to conduct business, to connect with others at a time of physical distancing.
As they say, it made us “always on,” with more platforms opening up new ways of sharing content. It also gave birth to more mental health issues, as so-called “digital stressors” rubbed off on more vulnerable minds.