If there’s one thing that we humans have earned epic bragging rights about, is that technology all around the globe advances so rapidly that literally every day is a day of advancements and improvements. A few years ago, the internet was a privilege of a few wealthy individuals and it was mostly viewed as an essential tool for businesses. Today, people unanimously ask for internet access to be considered a basic human right; and judging by how much it leads our lives, it’s kind of a sensible request.
‘Where does this long train of thought lead?’, I hear you asking. Well, the thing is that technology in general is making one leap after the other. Consequently, that also affects our daily lives; you just don’t know how much yet. Take Artificial Intelligence (AI) for instance: The capacity for logic, learning and self-awareness demonstrated by machines. The technology that up until a decade ago was just fuel for sci-fi novels and movies, is now being widely used in products and services that you probably can’t go a day without using.
So, it’s of vital importance that we reveal a few such examples. The goal here is to raise awareness concerning the impact that technology has on our lives. Think about how radically things could change over-night if anything were to happen to that industry (ie patent war between rival companies, trade war between countries, etc).
Jump right in:
Ever wondered how you Gmail recognizes spam emails and prevents them from showing up in your inbox folder? Ok, it doesn’t work every time, but you can’t complain for the most part.
How about those little boxes you see at the end of every mail you get, that has relevant answers for you to tap instead of type?
Both of those features are based on AI technology. Google’s system analyses all your previous emails and the way you respond to them. Thus, it eventually learns to predict what you consider ‘trash’ and how you’d reply on a random email. If it wasn’t for those features, you’d have to manually filter all your mails and reply to them by typing the entire text.
When Siri first rolled out, it came along with a quite short list of commands you could use. The brilliance of its nature was that it could understand the command, no matter who was giving it. Yet, the programmers that worked on Siri at the time, were only able to install a bunch of commands; there was nothing past that.
Today, Apple’s virtual assistant and all the other ones that spawned throughout the years, are outstandingly more capable than that. The use of AI – as you already must have guessed – is what makes their vividness possible. During their programming, experts had those assistants listen, read and record tons and tons of human conversations, requests, tones, sentiments, etc. After a while the systems formed patterns and algorithms that allowed them to understand human speech and reply accordingly.
This technology has advanced so much, that Google spawned a public outcry with its Duplex assistant which basically can’t be differentiated from a real human over the phone.
Think just about how much this could shape future conversations in Customer Service, frauds and security.
Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Flipboard and pretty much every app that recommends stuff before you ask for it, is using predictive technologies and analyses thousands of records and activities varying from tapping on an option that popped up, to making a playlist or watching an ad video.
That’s how your favourite apps know what you’ll ask before you actually do.
For the record, the best part about predictive technologies is that they’re now starting to be used on the healthcare and medical industry for patients that could be diagnosed with a genetic disease, or the way that medicine is reacting with each and every individual separately.
As you can see, AI, a technology that was born nearly a decade ago in the lab is now a key ingredient in tasks that you otherwise perform effortlessly. And be sure, there are many more such technologies. Keep that in mind and think about how much technology affects our lives and whether that is something beneficial or dangerous, at the end of the day.
