A case for AI (technology, data and people)

Imagine a reality in which we have learned that technology, like data, are enablers and that, in the hands of the wrong person, it turns into a tool for mass surveillance, coercion and manipulation. And that, on the contrary, in the hands of the right people it means an unimaginable acceleration in discovering diseased tissues, speeding up the early detection of illnesses or generating combinations of molecules to obtain new vaccines against conditions that still cause deaths in developing countries.

I want to imagine a world in which AI is used to generate options for sustainable housing construction for priority groups (educators, healthcare workers, young people or professionals in their first job). A world in which financial education is distributed through AI assistants and reaches groups at risk of exclusion. A world in which food recommendations and access to nutrients are prioritized by AI-optimized nutrition rules for people with limited access to education. I also want to imagine a world in which AI limits access to violent content and to hate speech on social media by default.

I want to imagine a world in which we humans no longer fight against AI or boo the leaders who talk about it, because we have learned that the observer behind the technology and the data is the one responsible for the chaos or the good times. We have learned to replace that obsessive focus of some human beings on next quarter's results, on gain and individual speculation, with a global awareness. Or, at least, with individual improvement while safeguarding the common good (in my favor and against no one).

I want to imagine a world in which we no longer blame AI, but rather the humans who destroy jobs for the sole purpose of improving the bottom line. We have learned that the vision of abandoning the global focus in order to save a single country —boosting it with technology applied to war— can be replaced by a new culture where the world uses technology for the betterment of peoples, to eradicate illiteracy, promote peaceful democracies and strengthen trust among all human beings as the ultimate horizon.

The only difference between that technology and that flow of data lies in the human being who handles them. Technology has no intention; AI has no consciousness (or we do not yet know whether it will have it). The only difference between that world and this one I want to imagine is the presence of a human being who already exists among us. It is just that we are now rewarding hatred, difference, individualism, toxic nationalities, clashes and confrontation. We have decided that this other human being gets more headlines than the one who seeks concord, compassion, the common good, sustainable growth, multilateralism, dialogue and cooperation. Both profiles are part of this reality and both can use technology to create or destroy value through AI.

Let us not play at blame, because blame, reproach and complaint are like barren soil: not even weeds grow there. Let us play at creating, at debating and at building for everyone, and not against one another.

Perhaps for that world to be possible, all that is needed is to strengthen critical thinking, to accelerate AI literacy, and then to generate awareness and discernment (moral responsibility) about what a future co-created between humans and machines interacting daily should look like. A future of Augmented Intelligence.

I believe that world is already here. What happens is that we only publish the news from the other world, which is also ours.

I believe we can bring both worlds together and prioritize trust in the use of technologies, of data and, above all, with people.

All people.

This case could well have been called:

A case for A. I. (≈ Augmented Intelligence).

Note: [This article is labeled "All Human." Framework created by the Dubai Future Foundation. "Human-Machine Collaboration (HMC) by Dubai Future Foundation, dubaifuture.ae/hmc]