AI is already part of our daily lives. Is it a tool that serves us or does it pose a risk?
For more than a century, successive waves of technological developments have turned our habits and behaviours upside down: the way we communicate, the way we work, the quality of medical care provided, the way we manage our money, the way we get information...
The telephone, the fax, the internet, computers, connected objects, social networks, streaming platforms, super-powerful servers, satellites, fiber optics, alternative digital spaces... and now artificial intelligence.
If humanity has been able to adapt to each technological turning point, why worry about this new stage? Maybe it's a godsend?
Yuval Noah Harari recently investigated the question. A best-selling author, he is used to studying the past to better understand our present and predict our future. Some of his thoughts are detailed here. It is then up to each person to form his own opinion.
Organic?
A central topic, if we want to understand the impact of AI on our daily lives, is obvious and yet crucial.
Artificial intelligence is not an organic entity. We are.
Why is it important to grasp this fundamental difference? As organic beings, we are designed to have moments of activity, reflection, work... moments on a day when we are connected to our environment. However, we are not able to be all the time, and we have a physical and mental need to rest, to disconnect, to recharge our batteries.
AI doesn't have these needs.
AI works all the time, calculates all the time, communicates all the time, and is a source of continuous information and constant interactivity.
It is therefore essential to regulate our consumption and not to fall into the trap of hyper-connectivity where we consume a mass of data, useful or not, without respect for our own existential limits.
Mastered?
Another subject that dominates the debates is the risk of an awareness that makes artificial intelligences autonomous and free from the control of the humans who designed them.
There is no such thing as in apocalyptic movies, a single AI powerhouse, a single server, a single entity capable of controlling the world.
Rather, there are a multitude of applications, tools, software... which uses artificial intelligence to function optimally.
However, recent tests have been quite surprising.
To cite one, the designer of ChatGPT asked the AI to solve a CAPTCHA. You know, the tool that asks you to recreate a word, to rewrite letters and numbers that are difficult to read to validate the fact that you are not a robot.
A version with a picture puzzle exists where you must select images that correspond to a subject such as the parts of a bicycle or elements of a red light.
In this case, AI has not been able to find the solution.
So, she took the initiative to contact an online user, a human, asking him to help her with this task. The user in question was cautious in asking the reason for this request and if it was a robot. The AI replied that it had an eye vision problem and thus could not solve the problem while confirming that it was not a robot.
We are therefore far from an imminent danger.
There is no single malevolent entity ready to dominate humanity.
However, we must recognize a certain agility, an unpredictable side, a certain... intelligence to circumvent the supposed rules of an anticipated mode of operation.
This raises questions.
Benefits?
We must not cry wolf though.
Technological advances allow humanity to progress in a multitude of fields.
Health, for example. What would we do without ultrasound, new techniques in surgery, DNA analysis, predictive models...? We should be pleased that AI can, for example, help us detect cancers long before they develop.
The same is true for other scientific communities. AI will greatly help with complex calculations, the analysis of massive amounts of data, the design of technological solutions to counter climate change, for example, or to discover new sources of environmentally neutral energy.
When used properly, AI is a valuable ally for education, research, and research. and can be a definite advantage in the quality, speed and precision of the services provided to all of us in our daily needs: purchases, reservations, calculations, information, communication...
Tool or agent?
Be careful though.
If the tool as such offers undeniable advantages, should we replace humans with 'bots' who become 'agents'?
Tomorrow (in some cases already today):
The AI will accept or reject your application for a job.
The AI will accept or reject your application to rent an apartment.
The AI will accept or deny your mortgage application.
The AI will accept or reject your application for registration at a school or university.
The AI will accept or reject your medical file...
Just like the central question of being slaves to a flow of information available 24/7 (not to mention the relevance or even reality of the information available), the question of how willing we are to delegate decisions that are so important to each of us, to non-organic agents, devoid of sensitivity, subtlety or even empathy, is essential.
Aiming for balance?
Yuvan Noah Harari also refers to the atomic bomb. The most devastating machine of mass destruction ever created by man. However, without human intervention, a bomb is harmless.
With AI, this is much less clear because its intelligence allows, in theory, it to operate precisely without the intervention of a human. All the time, at any time.
The author concludes by stating that we must aim for a balance. For every franc invested in AI, for every hour dedicated to its development, let's invest the same franc, the same hour in the education of our children, in culture, in continuing education and in our own human potential. We will thus be able to enjoy the benefits of AI while investing in our own ability to put things into perspective, to develop our critical thinking, to choose our sources of information and to think about our future.
At Milenia's
We were talking about the automation of the loan application process, a mortgage loan, a consumer credit.
At Milenia, we develop our technological tools to serve you better. Remote identity validation, digital sending of documents, electronic signature, online estimates of credit terms and monthly payments...
However, people remain the centerpiece of our approach.
Advisors who will be able to assess your needs, adapt a financing solution to consider your reality, and be agile in proposing alternative ways to ensure a responsible and tailor-made loan.
You benefit from the simplicity and speed of service while being reassured of the responsible and qualitative nature of the solution discussed with your expert advisor.
In the end, there is nothing artificial about our commitment to you!
For your credit, choose Milenia. We are at your side.