I have seen the disappearance of a telegram. The humble postcard has a few takers today. The telephone with wire is almost on its way out. Now, the time has come for Artificial Intelligence (AI).
One can visualize the life of a common man changed with the arrival of AI. With smartphones, smart beds may help you sleep better. If your sleep is disturbed at night, a doctor will be able to give you immediate relief with the help of AI. The world of students will change for the better. Virtual reality labs will allow the students to better experience how things work. Personalized tutors, often in the form of celebrity avatars, will teach and motivate young minds. A wealth of learning materials, in a range of formats – text, visuals, video, audio, AR/VR, Games – will be available. This will be of particular benefits to children who are specially abled or on the autism spectrum.
Email will be composed by vastly improved algorithms, based on the receiver’s preferred style. We will process information and data by converting text into audio, and vice versa, both into video and video into different languages, based on what works for each user. Social media will be rife with fake news and deep fakes as AI reduces the cost of content creation.
Smart mirrors, toilets, and weighing scales will monitor vitals. From a time of annual health checks, we will enter an age of daily health updates. A camera-linked app will scan food on a plate to calculate calories and adjust the next few workout routines accordingly. Ten-minute delivery will be executed by drones and humans working together. Driving habits and histories – speeding, cutting lanes, breaking signals – will be available to insurers and the police.
Smart mirrors in trial rooms will suggest fashion that fits the wearer’s taste and waist. Cars will be computers on wheels, syncing with smart parking meters to find you the best spot. As knowledge workers compete with bots that are always on, existing work routines will be severely tested. Continuous micro-learning, catering to short attention spans and available on phones, will be the norm.
Young persons who cannot find love in real life will become addicted to AI-driven companion bots. There will be AI coaches for every sport and exercise routine: cricket, chess, golf, tennis, and Yoga. Smart fridges, ovens, and coffee-makers will speak to each other, turning on at the times when they are most likely to be used. AI celebrities will rise and shine. Human celebrities will offer synthetic versions too.
In short, everything will be smart from phones to cities in the new brave world dominated by AI. But there will be a negative side too.
