EQ MEETS AI
REGIE B. OCAMPO
There is no denying it; it is all around us now: the Fourth Industrial Revolution shall take place and AI (Artificial Intelligence) shall take over.
According to experts, there will be a dramatic paradigm shift that will require new set of essential skills. Since robots will relatively be more accurate than humans in terms of calculations and memory, AI threatens to displace jobs by as early as 2030.
In an apparent attempt to balance this, Emotional Intelligence as a top skill in 2030 has become ubiquitous. Yes, it might be upheld that technology has improved lives in that it has advanced human capabilities in many fields. Actually, technology continues to make strides in the field of medicine that scholars look up to it as the answer to the unending quest for cure to cancer and AIDS. Perhaps, it is this promise that makes humans cling to it so much. But, if humans are incredibly intelligent to create robots, he must be intelligent enough to consider the woes of robotics. Without emotions, it will be fair enough to assume that it is equally fair enough to suggest that this world is better off with robots, than humans.
To this end, curriculums must have a way to maintain an equation: that is to assure that humans can co-exist with robots. And that is to emphasize the value of skills harmonized by emotions-by being sensitive to the more threatening issues of today such as depression and discord. It is about people and that mere reliance on robots cannot or should not alter this. To think ahead is wise, but to gaze into the past is enlightening. Industrial revolutions spurred world wars. May it not happen again.
So much about technology has been parodied and has caused 21st century learners to be excited about the future: automated cars or robots performing surgeries. This is at all fine; however, it is man’s EQ that will insist on the limitations of all of this.
Ultimately, technology is handsome. It is manageable. Humans still have control over it. May they be responsible users, not fanatic exploiters of it.
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The author is Teacher II at Information and Communication Technology High School (ICTHS)