Artificial intelligence and Real Intelligence

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question (Q): In the age of artificial intelligence, where does man stand in front of machines? What kind of personality development does man need?

Acharya Prashant (AP): Computation and information technology have been, and are evolving rapidly. Machines bring with them the benefits of efficiency, scalability, and predictability. Everything that a computer system, a mechanical arrangement, can take care of will be sooner than later assigned to the machines. This means that all pattern-based jobs — work that involves repetition and adherence to procedures — will go to machines. This is happening and will happen, not only in engineering and management fields but in all fields of human activity.

Any activity that can be captured and described in a computer algorithm will necessarily go to a machine, for the obvious advantages that machines have over humans in such works. What is then left for a human being to do? What is it about a human being that a machine cannot duplicate? Where would humans be then needed in the whole industrial chain?

1. No machine can ever offer creativity. Machines can repeat, synchronize, rearrange, superimpose, and juxtapose. All of these are logical activities, done with a reason…