Great Promise but Potential for Peril

Author: Christina Pazzanese

Publisher: The Harvard Gazette

Publication Year: 2020

Summary: The following article starts off by talking about all the different ways in which AI or machine learning can help improve society and business. At first, AI was thought to just automate simple and repetitive tasks. However, it turned into being much more useful than originally thought. “Firms now use AI to manage sourcing of materials and products from suppliers and to integrate vast troves of information to aid in strategic decision-making, and because of its capacity to process data so quickly, AI tools are helping to minimize time in the pricey trial-and-error of product development.” In healthcare, AI can be used to give doctors all the information about a specific disease in order to help treatment. In employment, AI can be used to go through resumes and choose resumes that are best fit for the job. AI can also help small businesses when it comes to making decisions. Although AI seems to have a lot of great uses, it still has some issues that need to be fixed. AI was originally thought to be able to eliminate discrimination and bias, however, it is now clear that bias that exists within developers can be added into the algorithm. AI presents three main concerns: privacy and surveillance, bias and discrimination, and the role of human judgment.