AI could make us happier

Can we use automation tech to make our lives better?

Depending on who you’re talking to – Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and so on – artificial intelligence will either end modern society and kill us all, or merely take our jobs.

Given such concerns, it’s no wonder there are so many reports about how we should respond, with experts outlining the best way to avoid the robot and AI apocalypse. We kicked off 2017 with the Alan Turing Institute’s calls for a watchdog to audit algorithms, followed by the Royal Society arguing for better governance over such technologies and transparency with algorithms.

The latest is a report from the government, and its title reveals its bias: Growing the artificial intelligence

industry in the UK. Rather than only warn of the potential dangers, this review highlights the economic potential for machine learning, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and other automation tools, saying the industry could be worth £630 billion for our economy.

While the money-making potential of such technologies is certain, the economic boost isn’t worth much if we’re in a robot-run dystopia or unemployed. For the next (inevitable) report, let’s set aside dystopia as well as revenue, and instead uncover how we can use automation tech to make our lives better.

The last IT revolution’s automation simply made us busier; the efficiency benefited businesses’ bottom lines, but it didn’t lessen human workloads. AI and algorithms could cut the drudgery out of many roles, lead to a three-day working week or earlier retirement, or – if well managed and transparent – offer better analysis tools to improve everything from traffic to disease diagnosis to public spending on social services. Life could be better.

It’s of course worth ensuring we don’t take the worst path, the one where we all die horrifically. But there’s plenty of time to choose the best path, one where computers are put to work making life healthier, calmer and nicer, too.