Why Intellectual Atrophy Is The Real Reason To Fear AI
While most fear job loss with Artificial Intelligence, is it possible our fears are misplaced? The real fear is our loss of intellectual atrophy & cognitive stagnation.
As AI technology advances and becomes increasingly democratized, we might be fearing the wrong consequences. While concerns about job loss due to AI's ability to automate tasks and process information are prevalent, the real threat may lie in the the loss of intellectual atrophy. Read my FORBES article for more details!
Human cognitive abilities, such as critical thinking, common sense, intuition, and experience, require intention, focus, and attention span—traits that are diminishing as we rely more on digital devices and AI tools. The increasing accessibility of AI solutions is leading to an over-reliance on technology, diminishing our capacity for independent and critical thought. The World Economic Forum predicts that AI will create 97 million new jobs by 2025 but also displace 85 million jobs. The question is, of the 85 million losses, will the majority of replacements reside in jobs with repetitive functions, or jobs that require soft skills and EQ, traits that may not be favored in the future?
One this is for sure, it is more crucial than ever to develop our human brains to distinguish ourselves from machines.
Key Statistics:
AI adoption is rising, with 75% of enterprises expected to operationalize AI by 2024 (Gartner).
A 68% skillset gap in AI talent - leading companies to prioritize upskilling on AI more than any other skill set (Deloitte).
AI is projected to create 97 million new jobs by 2025 but displace 85 million (World Economic Forum).
So beautifully said Glenn!
When my dad went to school, he didn't use calculators, didn't use notebooks even - he had a slate and he used chalk, and text books provided by school. His memory was so colossal that he had entire texts of popular classics like Great Expectations, Shakespeare plays, the entire works of Mirza Ghalib and numerous other Urdu poets, the times tables all the way to 30, two different periodic tables, and the entire Holy Quran in his memory.
He frequently lamented on how his daughters (me!) were not able to do simple math in our heads, and can't recall quotes from classics verbatim the way he can.
All this to say, yes, this is observable phenomenon - people who are lazy will be lazy - but they will adapt to a new world with skills that are needed to succeed in that new world.
The amazing part of all this to me is that we are still understanding what it means to be human. We are still peeling back the layers of this, and it's great that we are handing off the less valuable reasoning or memory to computers only to get to the core of the matter.