Is it a boon or a bane? Nur Zarina Othman talks to the founder of Center of Applied Data Science
FOR years, we were exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) through Hollywood movies, such as A.I Artificial Intelligence, Eagle Eye and Wall-E.
These movies show the potential of AI based on how Hollywood interprets it. While some scenes may be exaggerated, a few are already a reality.
Today, AI research has made rapid progress in a wide variety of domains, from communication to healthcare, and leveraging on enormous amounts of data coupled with human expertise.
We can only imagine what else we can achieve with it. “Even as AI increasingly finds its way into our everyday lives, the transformative power of AI is underpinned by a deeper issue,” says Sharala, founder of The Centre of Applied Data Science, Asean’s first and only one stop platform and centre of excellence for data science.
With a passion for data science and with over 15 years of experience in the telecommunications field, Sharala is leading the data-driven business transformation and driving the benchmark for data science education in the region.
Intelligence means something that you can understand and apply, i.e human intelligence. AI replicates human intelligence and it is all done in algorithms.
“AI is a skill and an aptitude to learn and apply, and if it can be done artificially, then that is AI,” Sharala says. Commenting on whether people should worry about AI taking over the world, she says AI has different levels to it.
“Universal intelligence is where AI has the ability to acquire intelligence, even access data. AI can only be at its best if you give it a vast amount of data and only with data will you get the best of AI.
“What everybody fears is general AI — thinking like a human being.” For example, if it is a self-learning machine, it will say: My goal is 1,000 paper clips so what can potentially stop me from reaching my goal? Oh maybe, I can be shut down. So how do I find a way not to be shut down?
“That’s the fear. Thinking almost like humans, figuring out in advance to ensure that it can achieve its goal of 1,000 paper clips a day — that’s the difference between a normal robot and AI.”
WHERE ARE WE TODAY?
Alexa, Siri and AlphaGo are the height of AI.
The game of Go originated in China 3,000 years ago. Its rules are simple: players take turns to place black or white stones on a board, trying to capture the opponent’s stones or surround empty spaces to make points of territory. As simple as the rules are, Go is a game of profound complexity with over 170 possible board configurations — more than the number of atoms in the known universe, making it a more complex game than chess.
In 2015, AlphaGo become the first computer program to defeat a professional human Go player, the Go world champion, said to be the strongest Go player yet.
AlphaGo has continued to surprise and amaze. Last year, an improved AlphaGo version achieved 60 straight wins in online fast time-control games against top international Go players where it began to play the game by playing against itself, starting from completely random play.
BENEFITS
AlphaGo has the potential to facilitate major scientific breakthroughs.
We see this at work — from AI-powered voice assistance like Alexa, to solving traffic issues, enabling the sequencing of DNA, tackling business problems and transforming industries such as tech, healthcare and logistics to fintech.
Space exploration is another potential for AI.
“AI minimises human blind-sight and we no longer have to send humans to high risks situation,” says Sharala.
“We don’t have to send someone who will only get back home after they are 80 years old. Nobody talks about the negative side of travelling to space like bone degeneration in astronauts, for instance, which can be eliminated with AI,” she adds.
Meanwhile, in healthcare, AI has proven it has 99.99 per cent accuracy in diagnosing cancerous cells. In finance, AI can predict the market.
ADAPT
Current AI technologies are estimated to have potential to automate 50 per cent of work activities in Asean’s four biggest economies — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
On that note, when steam engines came, everyone said horses would be killed and people would lose their job. Instead, more jobs were created after that.
“We should stop being ignorant, like the Malay proverb katak dibawah tempurung.
Today, the sexiest job of the century is being a data scientist. “AI can take over but by then we will have adapted.”
This year, it’s all about AI. The last couple of years we’ve been talking about machine learning and data science.
“We’ve heard about Google assistance and its ability to make calls, integrated messaging ecosystem Chatbox where businesses create and automate personalised conversations, and other day-to-day chores with the assistance of AI.”
Awareness is there but we lack big companies to implement data-driven analytics.
“We need to start building our own technology-driven companies. Malaysian has so much potential but we are still a follower in this industry. I would set five years for us to start be on par with some of the high technology countries. If we don’t embrace AI we’ll be left out. We just have to move fast.”
“Job losses are real but nobody talks about the benefits AI creates.
“For example, people working in a chemical plant are exposed to dangerous substances. This is where AI and robots come in. If we have machines to do this, our health improves.”
In the movie Wall-E, humans are lazy and robots do everything.
“We no longer have Malaysians maids because the quality of our lives has improved. No one wants to be a maid anymore. One day, Indonesians may not want to be maids too.”
When quality of life becomes more important to us, we want mundane things taken over by AI.
“As jobs are done faster with the help of AI, we have more time to spend with family and take up hobbies.”
GOVERNMENTS AND GOVERNANCE
The biggest fear is AI taking over the world.
Taking Alexa as an example, we are becoming too lazy to type and most depend on this AI assistance.
“We worry about superhuman AI that will take human form,” says Sharala.
This is where governments and governance come into play. We put seatbelts into cars, and have driving licenses. The same goes for AI. “Instead of reacting negatively, governments should create governance of AI.
“The biggest potential weakness is to just let it be.
“It is more of a worry of people misusing AI rather than it taking over the world.”