Artificial intelligence from the perspective of workers and CEOs
We’ve all had that moment when we wanted to watch a movie but didn’t know what to choose. The right choice is crucial because it ensures viewership, guaranteeing that we’ll continue paying for our Netflix subscription, which generates recurring financial income for the platform. For us, it ensures entertainment. However, good recommendations are only possible because Artificial Intelligence tracks our behavior on the video platform.
This is why streaming services like Netflix use Artificial Intelligence to make recommendations. On Wikipedia, we can read about the Netflix Prize, a competition held by Netflix in 2009. It invited developers worldwide to create an algorithm for recommendation that was better than the one existing at the time and used by Netflix. A substantial prize of one million dollars was awarded to an algorithm that outperformed the original in predicting ratings. The winner at that time was 10.06% better.
An interesting case in the healthcare field is the American company Align Technology, a manufacturer of 3D digital scanners and transparent aligners called Invisalign, commonly used in orthodontics. Founded in 1997, the company utilizes its proprietary Artificial Intelligence, which harnesses a vast dataset of orthodontic information to detect clinical conditions based on intraoral photos.
Furthermore, this AI, developed using machine learning and deep learning techniques, can predict tooth shapes and employ various methods to create a non-clinical simulation of orthodontic treatment results from a selfie taken on a mobile phone. This enables the visualization of the patient’s smile post-orthodontic treatment and also automatically detects whether the tooth is permanent or deciduous.
Based on this data and AI technology, the orthodontic appliance can be custom-produced to assist the patient in correcting their orthodontic issues as quickly and as minimally invasive as possible.
An example showcasing how AI can be our ally is the text narration provided by a Text-to-Speech tool from the company Vidnoz, aimed at significantly reducing recording errors and faults that would otherwise necessitate redoing the narration. It also allows for the alteration of the voice and narrator style across multiple languages.
A Large Language Model (LLM) represents a category of artificial intelligence distinguished by its unique functioning and comprehensive usefulness. To create an LLM, a vast amount of text is utilized as a training base, drawing from public sources such as StackOverflow and Wikipedia. The essence of its functioning lies in the ability to predict the next word in a sentence based on the context of the preceding words, ensuring that the generated sequence of words is cohesive and coherent. The result is the generation of texts that closely approximate the quality of a conversation with a human being.
A notable example of this concept is ChatGPT, which has become a benchmark in its ability to convincingly simulate human dialogues. This capability of understanding and text generation has profound implications across various fields, from aiding programmers to enhancing everyday tasks, making LLMs play a central role in digital transformation and optimizing communication and content production.
Apart from simulating human conversations, these models have also shown their utility in assisting programmers, such as Copilot and Tabnine. They provide valuable support in code development, streamlining the work of industry professionals. Furthermore, these language models can be applied to everyday tasks, like Microsoft Office Copilot for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This means they can be a valuable tool in office environments, making document-related tasks and presentations more efficient and productive.
It’s interesting to note that even companies in Joinville have adopted these technologies for daily tasks, such as understanding laws and assisting with tax issues. This highlights the versatility and potential of these language models to enhance efficiency and accuracy across a wide range of scenarios.
We are living in a unique and exciting moment in Artificial Intelligence, where there are high expectations for advancements in the coming years, as presented by Professor Yifei Wang from the University of California in his 2023 article, ‘The Large Language Model (LLM) Paradox: Job Creation and Loss in the Age of Advanced AI.’ The professor also notes that historically, sentiments tend to be controversial, with some people being enthusiastic and excited while others are fearful, believing that their jobs are at risk, much like what happened in 1980 during the Industrial Automation Robotics, which faced strong criticism as workers feared being replaced by machines.
Professor Wang points out that jobs involving repetitive bureaucratic tasks are immediately at risk of being automated by LLMs to enable companies to become more efficient and scalable. Other tasks such as simple problem support and basic content creation for marketing may also be affected. However, he highlights that new professions requiring high technical knowledge will emerge, such as Model Trainers and Adjusters, LLM Debuggers, and Ethical AI Usage Controllers. He also emphasizes in other contexts that AI will serve as an assistant, helping and enhancing people’s daily and routine work, making their lives simpler and more creative.
In the near future, the advancement of Artificial Intelligence is poised to transform the economic landscape as highly intelligent machines take over the automation of numerous tasks. The inevitable result of this progress will be a reduction in the demand for human workers within companies. While this might lead to a decrease in production costs and subsequently lower prices of goods, there is a fundamental caveat to be considered.
With an increasingly automated workforce, the challenge arises of providing livelihoods for those whose jobs have been automated. The social and economic impact of this cannot be underestimated. This is where the visionary ideas of entrepreneurs like Elon Musk come into play, advocating for the implementation of a universal basic income. Musk argues that as automation progresses, it becomes essential to guarantee a minimum income for all citizens, regardless of their employment status.
Musk’s vision is grounded in the idea that in the future, physical labor will become optional as machines take on an increasing share of labor tasks. The necessity of a universal basic income will become vital to avoid potential economic and social collapses resulting from massive automation. As highlighted in an article published in Época magazine in August 2021, this approach not only promotes economic stability but also provides people with financial resources to become active consumers, thereby sustaining the ever-evolving economy.
In 2023, during Microsoft’s Build event, which took on a hybrid approach with some individuals physically present in Seattle near Microsoft’s headquarters, while others across the globe followed the event through internet streaming, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, shared an extremely optimistic message regarding the crucial role of science and technology, especially the impact of Artificial Intelligence on our future. He expressed his conviction that AI will propel the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to unprecedented levels.
However, the most important point in his vision is that this economic growth is not an end in itself but rather a means to a greater end. Nadella emphasized that the true value of technology lies in its potential to improve people’s lives and create more opportunities. For him, the increase in GDP is just a surface-level metric; what truly matters is the advancement of the Human Development Index (HDI) occurring concurrently. As technology advances, more people gain access to a better life, more opportunities emerge, and the overall quality of life for society progresses.
Therefore, in Satya Nadella’s words, we can conclude that technology exists not only to drive the economy but primarily to enhance and enrich the human experience, providing a brighter and more inclusive future for all.
