Are We Becoming Unintelligent?

The world is changing in so many ways and nowhere more so than in  that of the written word.

As more and more physical aspects of life  are being undertaken by  sophisticated robotics, are we now in danger of becoming countries of  unintelligent creatures?

Sooner or later I knew I was going to have to ask that question.

On a daily basis something is creeping into not only our language, but into most things requiring  written input.

Not so long ago, the idea of  written  material  being  researched, organized and documented by something other than a person, was the stuff of  science fiction, but although the general public is just catching on, such a thing has been around in an early form since the 1950s, and many businesses and institutions have been using it for years.

However, it has now  become much more mainstream and affordable, with applications in just about everything which requires the written word.

I am of course talking about Artificial Intelligence, or AI  which  is just as it says.

It is artificially generated information which includes  facts, figures and research which are assembled in an acceptable written format by  computer software, to resemble that carried out by a human.

The initial  framework for a specific outcome still requires to be fed in by a human, but the software can very quickly produce research findings and relevant information which previously may have taken many hours of tedious work.

It is obvious that  for those advantages alone, AI is proving to be an amazing addition.

We will all have read various artificially  generated material, from short adverts to descriptions of goods, and be familiar with Alexa, Suri and Cori who can give basic advice to a variety of questions.

Businesses can now purchase software which can deal with many areas such as advertising and blogs which were previously  outsourced, and can  now produce material "in house", saving a substantial amount of money.

Does this mean that those  in the writing professions, including bloggers, will be redundant? Are we the general public becoming unintelligent?

Only time will tell.

The one thing that AI cannot do is put a personal or emotional slant on content.

It is therefore ideal for short applications requiring a description or facts, but it cannot reproduce the human emotional element which may be required in a longer piece of writing or journalism.

Human input is also required even for the basic outcomes, as an appropriate  framework has to be fed in so that the required result can be generated.

It would seem that for anyone in the writing industry from bloggers to copywriters, it is vital to keep up with the advance and pace of AI which is  moving at an incredible rate and improving all the time.

For the time being, it is seen as an amazing addition for writers as it cuts out so much time which was spent on researching facts, but there is still scope for human input to bring longer pieces of work to life by injecting personality, emotion and humour which is not possible to generate artificially.

One obvious area of AI progress has to be that of education.

The content is so vast that it must be difficult to know where to start.

Education revolves  largely around the written word, and it must be posing enormous questions as to how to deal with it, such as monitoring educational progress.

There are tales of artificially generated exam  content being indistinguishable from the student`s own work, which must ring a few alarm bells.

This brings in the whole question of authenticity and regulation.

Out with the writing professions, AI has a big future in institutions such as the NHS as it is seen as a potential saviour which can cut down on many administrative backlogs quickly and efficiently, together with some very impressive diagnostic input.

Overall, it seems that we shouldn`t overthink AI, but should look on it as a valuable time saving tool which should provide us with a great deal of detailed information relating to a subject.

Over time it will continue improve, so it is vital to keep up with its progress.

Few people  mention the very real dark side of AI, which is always there and is not going to go away, but is perhaps being conveniently overlooked in favour of the plusses.

Meanwhile, I shall remain on the positive side, and try to keep up and hope my intellect and brain power  have not deteriorated!