5 Common Myths About Artificial Intelligence That Aren’t True

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most interesting and exciting topics we have ever heard. The brightest minds of our age have spoken about the unprecedented capabilities of AI. But not everyone knows what is AI? And how does it help? This leads to a lot of space for rumors and myths about Artificial Intelligence which pop-up everywhere. Haven’t you heard that “AI is going to replace all jobs”? Yes, that is a myth.

It is no wonder that there are a lot of myths about Artificial Intelligence. Many believe that AI is going to replace all jobs. Some believe that AI is synonymous with machine learning. Some even believe that AI is going to take over the world. Though this idea is ridiculous, some people believe it after watching science fiction movies much as Matrix and Automata. Just because machines enslave humans in these movies, it doesn’t mean it is our future.

Well, you might be wondering, of all the things you heard about AI what is a fact and what isn’t. In this article, we are going to separate fact from fiction, reality from rumours and matter from myths. But before that let us find out what exactly is Artificial Intelligence and it’s usage.

5 Myths about Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is a branch of Computer Science that deals with technology trying to make machines which work and interact like humans. This branch aims to make machines imitate humans by performing tasks that require human intelligence. It includes cognitive technologies designed to augment human intelligence with an ability to understand, reason, learn and interact the way humans do.

AI aims to decrease the workload of humans and help them in increasing productivity. The statement “AI is going to replace all jobs” is a myth. We will first look at this famous myth that has been scaring youth for a while now.

1. AI is going to replace all jobs

We all would have heard the statement that “AI is going to replace all jobs” sometimes or other. It is a myth. AI helps in increase in productivity by complementing and augmenting humans and not replacing them.

The advent of AI has triggered a notion that it can replace humans, but it actually cannot. At some level or other AI still requires humans as it interacts with humans. AI is not to replace jobs but to displace them. AI will give more freedom to employees by doing routine works. It allows humans to do more intellectual and decision-based roles.

Fox Business has reported that Amazon’s human hiring rate has seen an increase of 23 per cent from 2019 to 2020 despite having more than 200,000 robots working in their warehouses. This contradicts the statement “AI is going to replace all jobs”. There are more examples in the real-world that indicate the same result.

To understand further look at the paper written by H. James Wilson and Paul R. Daugherty in Harvard Business Review. It says about how business flourishes by combining human power with AI. It also says that business replacing humans with AI will see only short term profits.

2. AI is synonymous with Machine Learning

Many people wrongly believe that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning mean the same thing. Artificial intelligence is a branch of Computer Science that makes technology that imitates humans in work and interaction. Machine Learning is the study of computational methods and algorithms that learn from data and evolve from experience.

Machine Learning is considered an offspring or an application of Artificial Intelligence. The term “Machine Learning” was coined by Arthur Samuel in 1959. It is used to refer to the algorithms which learn from experience. Some of the algorithms are given sample data called training data to learn and then results are obtained on different data called test data.

When you listen to songs on Spotify, you will receive suggestions about different songs. What happens behind is that all the information regarding the songs you listened to are sent to a Machine Learning Algorithm. It processes the given data as training data and then uses all the other songs as test data. The Algorithm decides what suits your taste and sends suggestions.

This process holds even for the videos on Youtube and movies on Netflix too. While Machine is about learning from experience, AI is more than that.

3. AI is another term for Robotics

While some people believe AI is synonymous with Machine Learning, others believe it is about Robotics. The way Machine Learning is an application of AI, Robotics also has applications of AI. The belief that they are the same is just a myth.

Robots are the programmable machines capable of carrying out complex activities either autonomously or semi-autonomously. The branch of science that deals with building, programming and working of robots. As we have seen AI is not the same.

However, there is an intersection between the fields. That is the robots with AI. While the building physical frame and machine comes form robotics, the programming algorithms come from Artificial Intelligence. In a way, AI constitutes the brain of the robot and Robotics constitutes the body.

4. AI excels and outpaces human Intelligence

This is a myth that makes you feel more oriented towards believing that “AI is going to replace all jobs”. People think AI is about making a bot which imitates humans in all ways. This makes them believe that AI is going to replace all jobs and starts a feeling of insecurity.

As we have seen it is a myth that AI is going to replace all jobs so is this. If you believe intelligence is measured on a linear scale, then you are wrong. Intelligence constitutes various aspects and the ones in which a machine outpaces humans is performing calculations and memorization. Machines are a lot behind in emotional intelligence or thinking capabilities.

Some people think Artificial Intelligence can remove human bias from decision making. This too isn’t true. There is always an inherent bias even in decisions made by bots. It isn’t a possibility to create an algorithm to make decisions without bias as the data it uses and the programmer are biased themselves.

5. AI is going to take over the world

It is reasonable to believe a myth such as AI is going to replace all jobs. But some people even believe that AI is going to take over the world. With Science fiction movies such as Automata, Matrix and Terminator hitting the theatres, it is expected to happen. But this is not a case with reality.

You might be thinking AI is going to take over the world and bots are going to enslave humans. You can’t be more wrong. This is where you need to understand that Science fiction movies live up to their name. They are fictional and are for entertainment only.

Artificial Intelligence can overpower a human but does not possess the ability to live independently. Most of the AI-powered devices require human verification at the topmost level. In reality, AI can overpower humans only if we allow them to. In the scenario in which we live, this does not seem to be possible.

These are top myths about Artificial Intelligence which are widely believed. Now that you know these are just fictional, be careful as to what you believe. Artificial Intelligence aims to make your work easier. Our article aims to make your knowledge clearer.