Change is unnerving — and when it happens at a rapid pace, it’s hard to track its impact.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is just one of the changes of the 2020s that people are tracking now. While its potential to do great work and improve quality of life is exciting, there are also fears about how it could hold humans back. Although it can streamline processes to improve productivity, it also might automate previously stable jobs and take away from human creativity.
Like any technology, there are both pros and cons of AI. And exploring the benefits of AI can help you see the potential positives and discover how to leverage new tools.
Why is AI important?
AI dates back to 1950, but it gained huge traction in 2022 when tech research lab OpenAI publicly released ChatGPT — a smart chatbot that can answer questions, brainstorm ideas, and write coherently.
Now, applications of AI include customer service, business operations, written communication, and more. You’ve probably interacted with it without even realizing it.
Maybe a customer support chatbot helped you resolve an issue like resetting a password, or an assistant like Siri or Alexa set a timer upon your verbal cue. The chatbot or the voice assistant’s AI helped it use data to know how to respond to your command and take the requested action.
The global AI and machine learning market was worth $150 billion as of 2023. AI tools are now the norm both at work and at home. And although AI is a tool unlike any other, it’s important to inform yourself about the advantages and disadvantages of this technology to use it properly and understand its impact.
4 benefits of AI
Maybe you had your first interaction with AI when using an app to generate a lifelike painting of yourself. Perhaps you asked ChatGPT to write a cover letter or follow a prompt and watched the app generate a decent first draft.
These experiences show you the positives of these tools: they’re fast and offer impressive outputs. Here are more of the advantages of AI and how it’s changing the world for the better:
1. Reduces human error
Everyone has sent an email with a typo, entered faulty data into a spreadsheet, or made a simple math error. But computers usually avoid these mistakes, thanks to their ability to perform complex calculations and read datasets accurately and quickly.
According to a report from Forbes, human error has the potential to cost companies millions of dollars. While making mistakes is normal, it can set businesses back. And in the most extreme cases, like in the engineering or aeronautics industries, simple errors can cause catastrophic malfunctions. Using AI in business can help companies avoid mistakes and make better products faster, with streamlined and affordable operations.
AI’s prevention of human error also makes everyday life safer. Self-driving cars are a great example — according to a 2023 study, they do deter accidents humans might cause when they’re tired or something distracts them.
2. Is available 24/7
Humans may work eight-hour days or longer, but one survey showed they’re only productive for about three. People get bored doing repetitive tasks, tire after working long hours, and have to avoid distractions throughout the day. But machines can work 24/7 without needing breaks, making AI tools excellent for activities that burn humans out.
Customer service chatbots are a strong example of this effect in action. Companies let conversational AI take over routine queries like password resets or standard product returns.
That saves their agents’ energy for complex problems. In turn, employees enjoy more stimulating work while remaining available to handle complicated customer inquiries, and consumers receive basic help anytime.
Another industry that benefits from AI’s around-the-clock work is manufacturing. Machines can continue performing while human workers rest or with minimal supervision. And AI robots, called cobots, work alongside humans to assist in difficult manufacturing tasks and save time.
3. Automates time-consuming routine tasks
Whether you manage a department and want to streamline your team’s tasks or dream of handing some of your least interesting work over to a machine, AI systems can help. They can automate everything from routine emails to data analysis, saving you and your team time and completing tasks without human error.
Generative AI — AI that uses natural language processing to create content, like ChatGPT — can also construct text, images, or audio faster than a human can. It can draft content and summarize meeting notes in just a minute or two. These features quickly help marketers generate first drafts of copy, designers put together eye-catching mockups, and professionals of all kinds save time on taking notes or writing emails.
4. Helps people make better decisions
Because AI algorithms can efficiently synthesize massive quantities of big data, this technology is invaluable for decision-making and analysis. Organizations can use AI’s projections when making decisions on any topic, like how to scale, reach a target audience, or keep people safe.
The World Economic Forum has compiled some astounding real-life examples of AI’s decision-making power:
- AI’s analysis helps marketers learn what type of contact people prefer and personalize the customer experience
- Helmets with AI radar help firefighters find people in buildings by creating clear images of the smoky space
- AI medical imaging detects disease, helping doctors make early interventions
- AI will help public agencies fight wildfires, forecasting where they could break out and showing where to evacuate people safely
AI’s suggestive capacities also help humans in daily life. You might already use a word processor that finishes your sentences or use ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas for a project, which can save you hours of time if you write often. And the app you use to track your nutrition might suggest inputs based on what you normally eat, giving you healthy meal ideas you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of. These are all great examples of AI in action.
4 disadvantages of AI
In a 2022 Pew Research Center study, 45% of Americans said they were equally nervous and excited about the potential of AI. Some worry about losing their jobs to the future of AI, and others fear the unknown of what might happen if machines become “smarter” than humans — and these anxieties are valid.
AI has its advantages, but conversations and regulations around the ethics and limits of this technology are necessary for success. The goal is to check AI’s negative potential and take advantage of these tools' time-saving, efficiency-driving, and data-modeling capacities while recognizing its flaws.
Here are a few downfalls of AI to remember:
1. It could allow cybersecurity breaches
Like any technology, AI is subject to hacking and other types of security issues. According to a news report from the World Economic Forum, hackers can infiltrate chatbots and ask users for confidential information. And according to Forbes, AI tools like ChatGPT collect data that could end up in the wrong hands, and the technology itself provides cybercriminals with more complex tools for creating malware.
However, governments, companies, and thought leaders are aware of these problems and are taking steps to limit AI’s risks. As of 2023, the White House is working on an AI Bill of Rights and asking prominent industry CEOs to commit to making their technologies safer.
There’s also an exciting flip-side to these disadvantages. According to an article from IBM, AI can contain data breaches more quickly than ever. It reports that AI swiftly protects personal information and detects suspicious activity, saving companies millions in costs related to spotting and controlling these incidents. So while AI may present new security risks, it’s proficient at containing other ones.
2. It mayoften fosters misinformation
Misinformation is nothing new. Doctored photos on the covers of magazines and misleading headlines have been around as long as the media itself. But AI could supercharge this tendency with its ability to create convincing but fake images and spread disinformation.
Among theorists' biggest fears is personalized misinformation that targets people’s biases and vulnerabilities, producing false information designed to look believable. Political disinformation could even have the power to sway elections.
But the fact that theorists, governments, and citizens have a healthy fear of these potential negative consequences is a good sign. It means many are creating platforms like AI for Good (from the United Nations), which is opening forums on how to take preventative measures and write laws to govern this technology.
There’s another bright side to this problem. Just as AI can generate or share misinformation, it can also stop the spread by fact-checking and credibility-scoring sources. It might not be able to solve the issue of misinformation entirely, but organizations can use it as a tool in its mitigation.
3. It lacks ethics and empathy
According to a Forbes list of some of AI’s risks, AI doesn’t have a sense of ethics or empathy. Studies show that this technology cannot take accountability for its actions the way humans can, and it also can’t fully replicate human emotion or show compassion. That means humans must set the rules for AI and take responsibility when it does harm — and when it comes to work that requires a human touch, AI doesn’t meet the mark.
AI can read a medical scan, but can’t actively listen to a patient or provide the compassionate bedside manner a human healthcare professional might. And AI technology can safely fly an airplane, but can’t provide a nervous traveler the comfort or trust a human pilot can. It covers the technical aspects of certain situations, but humans still have to fill the gaps.
While AI doesn’t have feelings, it can emulate them for good in some cases. Take the example of AI therapy. Patients who might have waited months to connect with a therapist or forgone the interaction altogether due to social stigmas can now get timely support from an AI tool. And studies show that AI can effectively conduct cognitive behavioral therapy in patients.
4. It could replace some human jobs
According to a 2022 study by McKinsey, the number of businesses using AI for at least one function has more than doubled since 2017. Companies are investing extensive time and money into discovering how best to use AI. While it’s a valid fear that AI will take your job, technology has been replacing the human workforce for centuries. This isn’t a new problem.
AI can fulfill tasks like proofreading or making mathematical models better than a human. And while this fact won’t necessarily eliminate the need for certain professionals, it does mean that AI might take rudimentary tasks off humans’ plates and reduce workforces because of it.
But according to a study in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s academic journal Daedalus, AI’s capacity is narrow and task-specific, making it only good at low-level cognitive demands. Humans still have to perform high-level tasks like reasoning, judgment, and social interaction. This is great news if you’re worried about AI taking your job.
In many cases, AI will take over your less interesting tasks, leaving you more time to innovate and interact with customers. You’ll have a more enriching professional experience performing tasks only human intelligence can and stave off the burnout that might come from mundane, time-consuming activities.
Humans determine AI’s importance
AI applications are great when they help you brainstorm on-brand marketing copy or suggest a cost-cutting product design. But AI can’t empathize with a frustrated client or reason a legal case. It’s on humans to forge an interdependent relationship with this technology — using the benefits of AI to improve workflows and make daily life more agile so you can spend time on the tasks that really matter.
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