Watson cognitive computing
platform use high-level simulations
of human neurological processes
to carry out an ever-growing range
of tasks without being specifically
taught how to do them.
The artificial intelligence will
bring many changes. As ride-
sharing companies and shipping
lines moves to use driverless cars,
trucks and boats, tens of thousands
of jobs will be eliminated. The
integration of artificial intelligence
with robotics will extend the wave
of mass automation that has
already displaced thousands of
workers in every sector of the
economy. According to a survey by
Oxford University, nearly half of US
jobs will be destroyed by AI and
robotics in just the two decades
alone. The assurance that more
jobs would be created in newly
emerging sectors is only a ploy to
conceal the menace of unemploy-
ment that is being ushered in by
the AI.
Already, AI is being used at
Amazon warehouses to track every
move employees make. Amazon’s
systems count how many times
workers go to the bathroom, and
alerts foremen if workers stop to
take a breath in around 15 miles
they had to walk in a single shift. At
companies such as Ola, AI is used
to push drivers to work longer and
harder jeopardizing their health.
The use of AI for mass
surveillance and war is evident in
the drone assassination programme
of US imperialism. The Google,
Face book and Twitter hired
thousands of professionals with
military and intelligence background
to analyse the drone footage and
identify individuals and objects in
targeted areas. Last month, 3000
employees of Google signed a
letter taking a stand against
Google’s collusion with US’s drone
assassination programme which
has killed and maimed tens of
thousands of people throughout
Middle East and North Africa. They
demanded withdrawal of Google
June - 2018
from ‘Project Maven’ – drone
integrated mass surveillance
programme of US military and they
called for the adoption of a policy
stating that “neither Google nor its
contractors will ever build warfare
technology”.
The development of science
and technology has to relieve
humans from routine, repetitive
and back breaking work. A worker
can produce more with the use of
machines. This has to lead more
leisure time which the worker has
to utilize for cultural development.
Instead, adoption of newer
technology has been leading to
unemployment under capitalism.
This is hotly debated topic. The
job losses due to new technology,
argue some, will be compensated
in the emerging sectors. But reality
is otherwise. The displaced worker
is not in a position to gain as he
lacks skills needed in the emerging
sectors. This is so, as many studies
revealed, even after retraining of
the workers. Secondly, the new job
opportunities are being created in
the service sector and not in the
manufacturing sector. This will have
a negative effect on the overall
economy.
Even there is a more vacation
time for certain job holders, the
capitalist system has already made
the leisure time into a commercial
good. Utilising the leisure time for
the educational and cultural
development of workers and their
families has become a mirage
under capitalism. As the culture is
being increasing made into a profit
churning commercial activity under
capitalism, the worker is being
forced to ‘kill the time’ through what
is being called the entertainment
industry. Ironically the capitalist
system is bemoaning that work is
suffering as the workers are
absconding and/or attending with
hangover effects after killing time
during the week end.
On the contrary, in a socialist
society, the artificial intelligence
and robotics revolution will create
the circumstances for a massive
elevation of not only the economic
well-being of the population, but
also its cultural life. The replacement
of tedious and back-breaking
occupations will mean not mass
unemployment and destitution, but
rather greater leisure and an
expansion of workers’ opportunities
for education, family life, and
cultural enrichment.
The automation of the
construction, and the expansion of
additive manufacturing (3D printing)
to construction, will vastly reduce
the amount of labor required to
build homes, schools and hospitals
and ensure excellent housing for
all. The leveraging of artificial
intelligence in gene sequencing,
drug development and analysis of
medical studies will result in
unprecedented breakthroughs in
human health for the whole of
humanity, not just the few who can
pay for soaring drug prices, as
under the capitalism.
The roboticization of both
farming and transportation will
vastly reduce the cost of food,
ending malnutrition and ensuring
a high-quality diet for all—not the
ruin of small farmers by agriculture
conglomerates.
The question is: Who controls
the means of production and thus
society?
Two roads are open to humanity.
The capitalist road offers a relent-
less escalation of war, poverty,
mass repression and totalitarian
dictatorship. The road of socialism
offers not just the freedom from all
those horrors, but the liberation of
all mankind from oppression and
want.
Until the productive forces,
including the science and
technology, are made into a common
property of society, Scientific and
technological innovations continue
to serve the capital and artificial
intelligence is an exception to this.
Let us move ahead towards building
a socialist society that applies
science for the benefit of human
beings.
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