It is time that we stop considering Artificial Intelligence as a competitor to human intelligence or human existence per se. The world needs to look at the two as a synergy of co-existence. The new normal is about integration and collaboration, about ‘and’, about evolving together as superlative forms of intelligence.
How Intelligence works – The way intelligence should work is that it should learn through theory, testify its practical implication in real life, reflect on the experience and be able to solve a crisis at hand. In the human context, it should be a mix of rancho and chatur.
That is quite what Artificial Intelligence does. It learns through what we ask and feed it with the related data. It is an aggregation of the patterns of the human knowledge and intelligence spread over thousands of years in the way data was fed into it.
Ask AI about the interpretation of the teachings of Vedas and Bhagwad Gita or Quran or Bible or any other religious philosophy or about Plato and Aristotle or about Dhirubhai Ambani and Steve Jobs, it will have much to say about any of these at the theoretical and implementable level.
The human aspect – This throws the ball in our court and puts the human competency to test. The domain of introspection is – when AI provides something to us from its large knowledge bank what choose to do with it.
Human intelligence is subjective; it varies contextually as well as from the individual’s standpoint.
As the famous psychologist Kurt Lewin said – behaviour is a function of individual characteristic and the environment one has been and is a part of. This environment is known as conditioning.
AI in the workplace – It is critical as corporate leaders that we understand where we can draw a clear line between both forms of intelligence in our personal area of decision making while leading human and AI teams.
- AI identifies patterns but humans have emotions and wisdom coupled with the contextual awareness
- AI doesn’t have a moral compass but human decision making must be ethically justified
- AI is immune from legal scanner; humans must use AI data with sound judgment
For example, AI can suggest you the plan for market penetration within minutes with detailed reporting structure but humans will need to further add on the practical applicability in that.
AI can provide performance reviews based on the data fed into it but humans can add a dash of empathy and ground knowledge and make it more relevant.
Many examples like that exist in hiring, policy making, business growth strategy, crisis management, or even in as mundane things like writing emails.
But humans cannot let go of their most powerful cognitive abilities – critical and creative thinking.
AI can give ideas; interpretation is human domain
AI taking over humans – AI needs to be seen more as an asset or even an efficient, non-complaining employee. The question of takeover becomes relevant only when we are okay with complacency. When discipline is not a priority, cognitive atrophy is inevitable.
AI is not replacing human intelligence, it is testing whether humans are using it still. It is almost as –
‘either we know how to use AI or be ready to be used by AI’
Humans have discovered and invented everything within the scope of microscope to telescope and the internet because of their cognitive abilities like curiosity, imagination, introspection, comprehending, reasoning and the innate desire to improvise on the best that has been produced. An ability that needs a special mention among others is instinct.
But laziness to apply our mind in the name of efficiency is foolish because efficiency is more about applicability and not just time and money saved. Having said that, to use an intelligence which goes beyond the individual ability is certainly a smart way.
When human intelligence meets AI precision and speed, the result is amplification ! AI is not a competition but an add on. Human intelligence is to facilitate a cognitive partnership between two superlative forms of intelligence.
To conclude – AI Is Not the Threat. Complacency Is !
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