'AI' or Just 'I'? Most Adaptable Will Win!

Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one most adaptable to change.” What does that mean in today's world? Humans are accustomed to creating buzzwords and hypostatizing technology advancements such that the borders between humans and machines will become blurry. Where is this all leading us? What will humans do if machines take over? Will we have no jobs left? Do we need to start building Terminators? Questions like these are common these days. And then things get more complicated when we hear that technology companies are looking to hire more people to help filter out violent content on media. What does this all mean, then? Are we ready? Does AI work? This post is not a technical whitepaper on how to create AI systems. I want my views below to explain how we have approached creating our AI system and why our employees, leaders and customers are not threatened but instead excited to be part of this change. What did we do differently, and can that be replicated across the globe for every AI implementation? That’s really a choice the leaders of companies must make. Humans are social, intelligent beings; our intelligence develops each day through repetition, observation, pattern recognition and practice. Our brains are said to have over 10 billions neurons, and each neuron supposedly is a super-computer by itself. AI is essentially when you brain-dump these patterns, learnings, observations and experience into computer models and systems so that those tasks no longer require us. The most important ingredient in this equation is: human. Without experienced humans, AI would just be computer algorithms. See  also: Machine Learning to the Rescue on Cyber?   What I found to be most useful in picking the area best suited for AI is something that can solve yesterday’s problem, make today comfortable and responsibly evolve for tomorrow’s needs. Below are the four main elements of AI truths that we kept in mind while developing our AI solution: 1. Involve human practitioners: There is no substitute to human experience. This experience is valuable when rendered to the AI models. As leaders, we need to think about how to get the best practitioners for developing these models and then how to help them become the masters of these models. Human experience is undeniably the best feeder to AI. As leaders, we must allow for people to adapt and evolve and not leave the human factor behind AI. AI models can borrow human experience, but emotional intelligence and consciousness is definitely an ethical side of us that needs to be in our control. 2. Empower learning: Technology companies and their supporting industries must work with each other to ensure the jobs being displaced will be replaced responsibly. The people being displaced must be encouraged and empowered to learn other skills and move on to better things. If we don’t think and act responsibly on both sides of technology and business, we will risk displacing many humans without direction, which causes ripple effects in our society. An idle mind is devil’s workshop, they say, and we — as creators, founders and leaders of companies — need to fold in the human element as an intangible effect and account for this all while forecasting profits and expenses. 3. Enhance education systems: As a leader, we must hire today’s talent but contribute to developing tomorrow’s employees. Leaders like us can work with local schools and offer practical programs that can involve students with our creations and help them think beyond the obvious. We need to get everyone seeking education to search for“spiritual intelligence, which is the highest form of the conscious mind, and intelligence that no one can replicate into a machine. Help kids love the learning they get from the education system, not just love getting the degree. Knowledge is power. 4. Solve problems: As leaders and entrepreneurs, we need to focus on solving yesterday’s problems — which can make today easy — while thinking about tomorrow’s path. Technology is great if we can stay ahead of it; it cannot solve problems on its own. As leaders, we need to find out what problems technology can solve while figuring out how we can enhance humans so we can stay ahead. As leaders, we must think about both the obvious and not obvious effects of every decision moving forward. We cannot resist change; it will happen. But we must consider how can we solve problems using AI systems that will replace humans while still growing the company and without losing the human element. See also: Seriously? Artificial Intelligence?   Can we create a well-planned AI system responsibly and implement it successfully? This is a question that requires leaders (not managers) who can lead with spiritual intelligence, find an undistracted vision and help their workers transform and evolve. Every action has a consequences, and every inaction can make us unadaptable.