(Trinidad Express) Miss Universe Janelle “Penny” Commissiong has urged the graduating class of Rio Claro Secondary School not to be fearful of artificial intelligence (AI) but consider the opportunities it can have in the world of work.
“Twenty years ago, information technology was the rage, bringing in all the communication and computing innovations we now take for granted… word processing, spreadsheets, databases, the Internet, search engines, cellular phones, digital audio and video, and our lives have been seriously transformed. We saw the death of distance, the shredding of time,” Commissiong said.
Commissiong said over time it has become clear that those who fail to understand and intelligently utilise technology will be left behind.
“Twenty years ago it was IT. Today, however, everyone is talking about artificial intelligence. You need to know what AI is, what it does, how it does it, and what are the implications for you, especially on the job market,” she said.
“The trend now is to talk about the long-term risks and potential of AI, and to be distracted by scary stories that imagine what technology could do in the future, including robots ruling the world.
“But let us not picture AI as scary robots or out-of-control machines, because AI is basically computer programming by humans combining big data sets with lots of computing power and intelligent algorithms,” Commissiong said.
Commissiong said over the centuries we have advanced because of technology, and that AI is just a continuation of that progress.
“As with earlier technological advances, there will also be new work that is created because of AI. It is likely that in the future, a larger fraction of the workforce will focus on research and development, and tasks that require creativity and human-to-human interaction.
“So what should you do to be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities and avoid the threats that artificial intelligence and emerging technologies present? The most important preventive action to avoid huge societal issues such as this, we are told, is to help young people obtain a wide-ranging education—one that provides a basis for pursuing many different jobs and which isn’t at high risk of becoming obsolete in the near future,” she said.
Commissiong advised the parents of the graduates to be up to date with what is happening in the world as it relates to AI’s influence on job opportunity.
“Everything that we have learned about AI suggests that the future is bright. We will get new and better services, and increased productivity will lead to positive overall outcomes but only on the condition that we carefully consider the societal implications, safeguard ourselves, and ensure that the power of AI is used for the common good,” she said.