AI vs. Common Sense: Why Machines Will Never Match Human Intelligence

By now, you’ve probably heard the buzz around artificial intelligence. How could you not? AI is everywhere these days. From Chat-GPT to every other program on the market, AI is inescapable. We’ve seen the AI-generated Spongebob cover songs. We’ve seen the AI Pope-sporting-cool-winter-jacket image. We know that Chat-GPT can write our wedding vows for us.

But most importantly, we’ve seen all the prophecies of AI taking over all our jobs and leaving us out of work (and maybe triggering the robot apocalypse depending on who you ask). Anxiety about AI replacing humans has reached fever-pitch and while there are certainly reasons for this concern, you probably shouldn’t worry about AI putting you out of a job soon.

Where It All Comes From

While it’s important to be cautious about blindly believing that AI is out for your job, there is a reason why so many around the world are worried. This is because, in the past, we’ve seen human jobs vanish when technology renders them obsolete. Think of switchboard and elevator operators, both legitimate jobs in the past that have been replaced by technology.

According to GoRemotely, various jobs have been replaced by machines dating back to the 1980s and this shows no signs of stopping soon. In fact, jobs like waiters appear to be the next on the chopping block.

With the historical precedent we already have of technology replacing jobs, is AI the next instigator of such a market shift?

Will AI Replace You?

If you’ve been wondering if AI is going to replace human efforts in the job market, there is no need to fear. While certain jobs like food service might be replaced by technological advancements, AI cannot fully replace humans because AI cannot match, much less surpass, human innovation and simple common sense.

Here are a few reasons why:

• AI is Not sentient

It’s easy to get swept up in all the advancements that AI has made in the last few years (of which there have been many) but let’s not forget that AI, at its core, is not sentient. Sentience, in this case, means the ability of AI to experience and sense the world the way humans do. While many scientists and experts are hoping that AI will achieve sentience at some point, it probably won’t be in our lifetimes, if at all.

You’re probably wondering, if AI isn’t sentient, how is it able to answer my questions and write love poems? Simply put, most AI programs we use are generative. This means that they have been trained to understand how humans perform actions and respond/predict based on these. So if you tell an AI that you’re sad and need advice, it can predict what advice to give to a sad person. It does not, however, understand or experience sadness.

Because of this experience gap, humans will always have an edge over AI.

• They Don’t Understand Nuance

While AI is good at analysing and predicting content, it is not human and as such, does not have a grasp of nuance. Anyone who has ever used an AI customer service chatbot will know that sometimes, you have to type a question several different ways before your request can be understood. An AI often can’t tell if a user is irritable, being sarcastic, and so on.

Many customers have, after endless frustration with AI chatbots, insisted on speaking to a human because of this lack of nuance. Customer service is often cited as one of the fields that could be overtaken by AI but there is a reason this hasn’t happened yet. Certain jobs and tasks require nuance and most AI isn’t able to provide this.

• They Only Know As Much As We Do/Make Mistakes

Because AI has been so mystified in the media, it is easy to see it as the infallible embodiment of perfection. But the truth is that AI makes mistakes quite often. Consider the concept of AI hallucinations, which are situations when AI provides responses to prompts that are factually incorrect, illogical, or just weird.

AI has been found, in the past to threaten its users, create fake news, give wrong answers, claim to be someone else, give nonsensical responses, and much more. Sometimes, it is easy to forget that AI is still relatively new and has many, many kinks that need to be worked out. So while it can pass a law school exam, it cannot replace lawyers. While it can generate news stories, it cannot replace journalists.

Not only do these professions require a level of accuracy and ‘humanness’ that AI cannot provide, but corporations aren’t yet ready to deal with the possible legal fallout of AI possibly making a costly mistake.

• Consumers Will Catch On and Won’t Like It

Let’s face it; as much as many of us are fascinated by AI, we aren’t always fond of what they create. AI art, for example, is very controversial. Besides those who don’t see it as a legitimate form of art, many consumers just don’t like the look of it. The uncanny valley-ness of the images comes off as ‘off’ to a lot of consumers. The same has been said of AI-generated novels, songs and articles.

As time goes on, consumers will be able to better spot AI-generated content and many might not like them. This will make them less profitable and, you guessed it, human talent will be premium again.

Conclusion

The concern about AI seems to be spreading as fast as its popularity. Thanks to its perception as the tech-powered solution to all problems and a history of jobs being lost to automation, there is anxiety about AI replacing humans in the workforce or otherwise outperforming them.

But as we can see, this is not going to happen. As impressive as AI is, it has not exceeded human creativity and innovation and is much too flawed to take our place in society. AI can and will help humans well into the future but there is no need to worry about it matching or exceeding us,