We've barely scratched the surface of AI, and we are ready to layoff half of humanity, hand over our intellectual car keys to bots, and roll the dice on a more enlightened version of Microsoft's Clippy to manage life and death health decisions.
Why? Because we have no ground rules.The first rule of AI should be a mandate that it works for us. It doesn't displace us. It must serve – and in that capacity it has worlds of potential:
- AI could grind through millions of cold case files to assemble, piece together, and – quite possibly – solve crimes
- AI powered drones could search for missing persons, spot wild fires, track flight paths from downed planes, and endlessly search 24:7 with GPS and high resolution photography to rescue people.
- AI powered robots could assist in providing better independent living to seniors or persons with disabilities
The second rule of AI should be total transparency.
This past weekend I visited a local grocery store and stood in line at the deli for a simple order for over half an hour. How could this have been easier? This is a perfect AI moment. Meet delibot - an AI powered grocery shopping tool. Instead of downloading an app for every store within ten miles, why not one app that saves all my preferences - and searches local stores to find what I want?
Then, if I want my favorite bologna, sliced really thin, I can just set up a favorite for that... I get the RightSlice® every time, and I can save it as a favorite, or send my delibot to look for stores, better prices, whatever...
Once a store is located I can easily place an order and have all the data I need: where, when, type of pick up... maybe add the store to my favorites and over time the delibot gets to know my shopping preferences and habits – but keeps those private. Because they are my habits – retained in my app.
This is a very simple example of a smarter application that is built around the concept of transparent, small AI that would work for me – not against me. It doesn't have to elminate the deli section at any grocery store, but it can reduce the long lines.
