Will AI replace humans?

You might have heard about how artificial intelligence replaces humans apocalyptically from the movies and books, and some are also panicking about the appearance of ChatGPT. However, AI is not necessarily replacing humans, but it is transforming how we work. Humans still play a critical role in designing, managing, and improving AI systems. Here are the reasons why:

AI works mainly based on the inputted and existing data

Remember, AI was developed by humans. We gathered historical data and then installed it in the AI system so that it could learn from it. Therefore, when there are big changes in our society or even the world, AI will know about them if only we update the database. Therefore, AI is not omnipotent, it only acts as an assistant to human workers, helping us to save the trouble of repetitive tasks such as data retrieval, sorting, or visualizing.

AI lacks soft skills that humans acquired

Soft skills are somehow more important than practical skills in the workplace, such as team spirit, communication skills, leadership skills, or empathy. One of the main differences between a flesh-and-blood human and a robot is that a human contains emotions, which is why we can master these skills. AI might be able to mimic human emotions but emotional intelligence is difficult to imitate. Our emotions are built up from different types of experiences, especially pain and trauma, which might never be experienced by the AI.

AI lacks critical thinking skills

If you ask it to, AI might be able to help you calculate quantified outcomes based on different situations and suggest the most profitable decision. However, in real life, when we are making judgements or critical decisions, there are more to consider, such as moral values, personal feelings, and social interests. The mentioned considerations need to be done with the emotional intelligence of humans. Therefore, AI should not be the one who makes decisions, it should be helping us.

The work of AI needs to be proofread and fact-checked

Like ChatGPT, its database is limited to the years before 2021. Therefore, when the users are asking them more complex, news-related questions, the AI-operated chatbot may provide incorrect information. In this case, human workers are needed to proofread the answer from the AI.

With that being said, it is important to continuously learn how to override AI and make good use of it. Instead of worrying about it stealing our jobs.