One great man said “Africa produces what she does not consume and consumes what she doesn’t produce.” This is very true in many countries in Africa including my beloved Malawi. Statistics show that we import more than we export. The simple calculation there means we are producing less than we consume. At the moment in Malawi we have over 7 million smartphones being used, but we have no factories that produce phones. We have over 5 million motor vehicles, but none of them were made in Malawi. Almost every office in Malawi uses paper to print, but not even a single sheet is made in Malawi. The list of things that we are consuming is endless, and yet we continue not paying attention to what we are consuming. One of the things that we are consuming in Malawi is called Artificial Intelligence. In short it’s referred to as AI.
What is artificial intelligence (AI)?
It depends on whom you ask.
Back in the 1950s, artificial intelligence was described as any task performed by a program or a machine that would have required human intelligence had a person accomplished the task.
That obviously is a fairly broad definition, which is why you will sometimes see arguments over whether something is truly AI or not.
AI systems will typically demonstrate at least some of the following behaviors associated with human intelligence: planning, learning, reasoning, problem solving, knowledge representation, perception, motion, and manipulation. It also includes, to a lesser extent, social intelligence and creativity.
What are the different types of AI?
At a very high level artificial intelligence can be split into two broad types: narrow AI and general AI.
Narrow AI is what we see all around us in computers today: intelligent systems that have been taught how to carry out specific tasks without being explicitly programmed to do so.
Artificial general intelligence is very different, and is the type of adaptable intellect found in humans, a flexible form of intelligence capable of learning how to carry out vastly different tasks. This can be anything from haircutting to building spreadsheets, or reasoning about a wide variety of topics based on its accumulated experience. This is the sort of AI more commonly seen in movies, the likes of Skynet in The Terminator, but which doesn’t yet exist today. AI experts are fiercely divided over how soon it will become a reality.
Anyway, now that you know a little bit about what is AI and what it can do, let’s jump to the fun part. How is AI impacting us today especially here in Malawi?
The entire tech world is debating the consequences of artificial intelligence and the part AI is going to play in shaping our future. While we might think that AI is at least a few years away from causing any considerable effect on our lives, the fact remains that it is already having an enormous impact on us. Artificial intelligence is affecting our decisions and our lifestyles every day. Don’t believe me? Well, read along as I tell you 5 examples of artificial intelligence you are using in your daily life.
Smartphones
If you are reading this article, you most probably own a smartphone. Most likely you are reading this article on a smartphone. Smartphones have become the most indispensable tech product that we own today and we use it almost all the time. If you are using a smartphone, you are interacting with AI whether you know it or not. From the obvious AI features such as the built-in smart assistants, to the not so obvious ones such as the portrait mode in the camera, AI is impacting our lives every day. In fact, the two examples that I provided above give us a glimpse into the world of AI and how it is affecting our lives. First, there are the obvious AI elements which most of us have some knowledge about. For example, when you are using a smart assistant, whether it’s Google Assistant, Alexa, or Siri, you more or less know that these assistants are based on AI. However, when we are using a feature such as the portrait mode effect while shooting a picture, we never consider that AI might be behind that too. Have you ever thought how Google Pixel 2 can capture such great portrait shots with just a single lens? The answer is artificial intelligence. So, next time if you think AI is not affecting you, take out your smartphone.
Social Media Feeds
Even if you are living in a mud house there’s a high probability that you are tweeting from it. If Twitter’s not your choice of poison, maybe it’s Facebook or Instagram, or Snapchat or any of the countless forms of social media apps out there. If you are using social media, most of your decisions are being impacted by artificial intelligence. Let me explain. From the feeds that you see in your timeline to the notifications that you receive from these apps, everything is curated by AI. AI takes all your past behavior, web searches, interactions, and everything else that you do when you are on these websites and tailors the experience just for you. The sole purpose of AI here is to make the apps so addictive that you come back to them again and again, and I can assure you that AI is winning this campaign.
Media Streaming Services
Another great example of how AI impacts our lives are the media streaming services that we are using on a daily basis. Whether you are using Netflix or YouTube, AI is making some decisions for you. You might feel that you are in total control but you are not. And as it is with everything, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. For example, I love to watch inspirational videos on YouTube as it has introduced me to several new speakers which I wouldn’t have been introduced to if not for the AI gods at Google. So, next time you are hitting play on a recommended video on YouTube remember that AI is playing a big role in that.
Online Ads Network
One of the biggest users of artificial intelligence is the online ad industry which uses AI to not only track user statistics but also serve us ads based on those statistics. Without AI, the online ad industry would fail abecause it would show random ads to users with no connection to their preferences whatsoever. AI has become so successful in determining our interests and serving us ads, that the global digital ad industry has exceeded 250 billion US dollars, and the industry is projected to cross the 300 billion mark in 2019. So next time when you are going online and seeing UNICAF, Be Forward, UBS ads, or product recommendations, know that AI is impacting your life
Banking and Finance
The banking and finance industry plays a major role in our lives. I mean the world runs on money, and banks are essentially the gatekeepers that regulate that flow. Did you know that the banking and finance industry heavily relies on artificial intelligence for things like customer service, fraud protection, investment, and more? A simple example is the automated text messages that you receive from banks whenever you do any transaction from your account, whether deposits or withdrawal of cash. That’s AI watching over your account and trying to warn you of any fraud.
Artificial Intelligence: The Present and the Future
As you can see, all of our lives are impacted by artificial intelligence on a daily basis to some extent. Whether we are using our smartphones, surfing the internet, buying products online, spending time on social media, or watching WWE on YouTube, AI is impacting our choices in one way or another. You can let me know how you feel about AI impacting our lives by writing in the comment section. I would love to hear from you.