NAME OF FEATURE | THE GLEANER | SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2025 41 MMS 35TH ANNIVERSARY FEATURE JUST ABOUT three decades ago, American writer and “cultural critic” Neil Postman published the book Technopoly, about which one commentator said, he “chronicles our transformation from a society that uses technology to one that is shaped by it, as he traces its effects upon what we mean by politics, intellect, religion, history – even privacy and truth”. In the book, Postman asserts, “New technologies alter the structure of our interests, the things we think about. They alter the character of our symbols: the things we think with. And they alter the nature of community; the arena in which thoughts develop.” Here, Postman draws our attention to the profound changes that each introduced technology has on our lives. From the invention of the wheel to the industrial revolution, the dawning of the computer age to the introduction of the World Wide Web, nothing has remained as it was and we can safely assume that with Artificial Intelligence – AI – being the new “flavour of the month,” we will continue to see changes in how we “live and move and have our being.” If the coronavirus pandemic has taught us one thing, it is how quickly our lives can be altered when the need to change becomes vital. How speedily people adjusted to life online – school, church, banking, work meetings, family gatherings, entertainment, etc! Even in the wake of the pandemic, there is a new “normal” as many things have not gone back to the way they were before. Enter AI! ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE According to Wikipedia, “Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines or software, as opposed to the intelligence of humans or animals. It is also the field of study in computer science that develops and studies intelligent machines.” AI “may also refer to the machines themselves.” For those who think that the notion of AI is brand new, Wikipedia also informs us that the concept of AI has been around since 1956. Today, however, “AI technology is widely used throughout industry, government and science. Some high-profile applications are: advanced web search engines (e.g., Google Search), recommendation systems (used by YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix), understanding human speech (such as Siri and Alexa), self-driving cars (e.g., Waymo), generative or creative tools (ChatGPT and AI art), and competing at the highest level in strategic games (such as chess and Go). “ It would seem that AI has been influencing and in fact has become an integral part of our lives, although many of us are only just now becoming aware of it and its potential to outperform all of us. Do we then need to be concerned about human obsolescence or is it really possible for the positive qualities of this technology to be harnessed to make us more efficient and productive in the workplace? According to Forbes Councils Member and author of the article Embracing AI In The Workplace Scott Hoots “… businesses are acclimating to the new technologies like generative AI or large language models (LLMs), the most renowned being ChatGPT. Usage of AI: WHAT’S THE FUSS ABOUT? PLEASE SEE AI, 44 It would seem that AI has been influencing and in fact has become an integral part of our lives, although many of us are only just now becoming aware of it and its potential to outperform all of us. Do we then need to be concerned about human obsolescence or is it really possible for the positive qualities of this technology to be harnessed to make us more efficient and productive in the workplace?
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