Why do people fear Artificial Intelligence?
The common opinion on the topic of artificial intelligence in the modern world usually revolves around one of two opinions if not both. That either robots will at one singularity, gain consciousness and turn against human, or that the robots and advanced technology will negate the need for human workers and leave millions of people without jobs. I will be focusing on the latter statement and how that fear is unwarranted, for now.
The world has known for awhile now that robotics and advanced technology will soon no longer be works of science fiction, but start to be integrated into our everyday lives. Breakthroughs in robotics technology and advanced algorithms are no rarity today and robotics are one of the forefronts of mankind's attention, and is seen as the next technological frontier to conquer. There have already been leaps and bounds made in the sake of progress towards an advanced A.I. system, as well as increasingly more complex and advanced robotic components that are being used today. Some people fear this due to robotics making some kinds of human workers not needed, therefore putting them out of the job, and the risk of poverty has increased. This is true in some sense, many repetitive factory jobs such as assembly, welding, and loading have started to make the transition from manual labor to robotics. There are many upsides to robotics; no salary to be paid, no insurance or benefits, and they can work around the clock without strike or grumble. And yes, although it seems like these types of human jobs are on their way out, there is no need to fear for all of mankind.
Why we should not fear the frontier
Even though robotics and advanced computing systems may have more power to lift things and more processing power to compute problems and probabilities than humans, there is just no way that any robotics system could rival what humans do on a day to day basis. The example of a housemaid was used in the seminar and serves as a great basis for why we need not fear. There is no robot that can replicate the complex movements that are required in the day to day tasks of a simple housemaid, and neither does an advanced computing system have the common sense to think on its feet and solve unforeseen problems. And even if there does become a robot that exists that can accomplish such tasks, does that even really change anything? A robot of this caliber would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and that is just a terrible investment to make on a maid- no matter how much of a germaphobe you are.
Therefore, my fellow humans, it seems that we are safe from the threat of robots replacing us and taking all of our jobs and opportunities away from us. However, it is still important to educate ourselves on the subject, because as this robotics revolution may be taking jobs, it is also creating plenty of jobs that have never yet existed before.