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By:

Prasad Dixit

11 October 2024 at 1:09:23 am

The Human Advantage in an Artificial Age

As artificial intelligence grows smarter and more efficient, the real battle may not be about machines surpassing humanity but about whether humans squander the qualities that still set them apart. With the recent news of a Chinese robot beating the human record in a half- marathon, there is renewed debate on how AI could outsmart human beings. Many experts see it as yet another proof of impending disaster as AI takes over most of the jobs in the years to come. This is not the first time when...

The Human Advantage in an Artificial Age

As artificial intelligence grows smarter and more efficient, the real battle may not be about machines surpassing humanity but about whether humans squander the qualities that still set them apart. With the recent news of a Chinese robot beating the human record in a half- marathon, there is renewed debate on how AI could outsmart human beings. Many experts see it as yet another proof of impending disaster as AI takes over most of the jobs in the years to come. This is not the first time when human civilization is facing a technological revolution that has the potential to impact society and economy in a profound manner. There is, however, a crucial difference with AI driven revolution that is often missed out. The first industrial revolution happened because steam engines were invented and it led to mechanization of production. It was followed by discovery of electrical energy and technologies to harness it for mass production. Next wave of evolution was led by computerization and automation in practically all the fields covering both offices and industrial shop floors through mainframes, personal computers, and programmable logic controllers. While all these leaps in technologies are very different in terms of the specific underlying inventions, they all have one thing in common. They were all invented to do things that were humanly impossible to do. One steam engine or electric motor could do the work that perhaps hundreds of humans would never be able to accomplish even with their collective muscle power. Automation of the manufacturing assembly line would deliver speed and accuracy that human beings would never be able to achieve. Beyond Human Technological advances in Telecommunication, for that matter, have simply expanded the range of 'hearing' and 'seeing' far beyond what human vocal chords, ears, and eyes could manage to do on their own. Computers, at its core, are essentially doing the math and calculations at a speed and accuracy that the human brain can never achieve. To add to that, machines using all these innovations in technology would work tirelessly without any fatigue for a duration that human beings would never be able to match. Although AI is yet another highly potent technological innovation, it is not as straightforward as the previous ones. It can absorb and synthesize huge amounts of data that the human brain perhaps cannot do. Ability of AI to answer any question reasonably well using all the global knowledge made available to it, summarize enormous amount of data and text quickly, quickly draw a complex picture based on instructions given verbally, predict a trend, recognize and highlight a specific face in a fraction of a second from millions of faces, write code based on simple English instructions, are all examples where the speed and accuracy of underlying computation is delivering what human being cannot match. However, there are several areas where human beings are trying to improve AI so that it can, some day, match or exceed capability that human beings themselves already have. Examples of this include the ability of AI to completely replace a human driver safely in all situations, understand full context or an intent behind a statement, carry out complex and well-coordinated mechanical activity in response to various unpredictable situations, react appropriately by correctly assessing the emotions at play, integrate generated code appropriately in the existing larger systems landscape, and so on. In such cases, AI is not exhibiting any capability that is humanly impossible to match. On the contrary, AI is trying to catch up with what humans can do easily. In other words, in these areas, AI is trying to become what humans already are. This very aspect separates AI driven technology revolution from all the previous ones. Direct Competition It is often said that AI and humans will co-exist in the future, and people will need to change their ways of working. It is obvious that AI is also going to directly compete with humans in many sectors. Equipment with an embedded chip on-board do compete with humans even today. A case in point is household equipment such as ‘intelligent’ washing machines and dish-washers where robots to do vacuum cleaning and floor mopping do compete with humans offering these services. A human household help can perform these activities far better than what a machine can do. However, given an affordable choice, an increasing number of households prefer machines over human maid services for a reason. Human household help may not always be punctual, sincere, honest, and reliable. But machines are. Uncontrolled emotions, anger, frustration, laziness, indiscipline, absenteeism do affect humans - but not AI driven machines (at least till the time AI itself acquires emotions of its own, and becomes self-aware some day). This aspect of comparison between AI and humans is likely to become far more prominent and consequential as AI driven machines and robots become more and more intelligent and thereby start competing far more effectively with human capability in many spheres. Competition is said to bring about improvement. Just as AI improves itself through continuous learning to mimic human behaviour and actions, human workforce also needs to improve itself by avoiding behavioural issues and inefficiencies referred to above. Otherwise, humans would lose the natural advantage that they still enjoy over AI, and which is likely to continue even in the foreseeable future. Employers or consumers in the labour-intensive service sector will accept AI driven machines and robots with all its known limitations if it turns out to be a better net-net deal in comparison to services offered by humans. This specific aspect has tremendous significance for India. Many Countries from the developed world do not have a young population with reasonably good IQ in required numbers. India, on the other hand, has it in abundance. One could compare it with abundant availability of Thorium or Sunlight in India as compared to the Western world. Consequently, unlike many Countries in the world that have a Uranium centric approach towards nuclear energy, India's approach needs to be centered around Thorium. India's strategy related to renewable, non-conventional, green energy needs to be based on solar power. Indian Context Strategies for adopting AI in the Indian context need to be similarly tailored for the Indian context. India needs to adopt AI in the areas where it clearly has an advantage over humans in terms of speed, throughput, ease of use, accuracy, and efficiency. However, the use of AI needs to be judiciously controlled in areas where AI is trying to catch up with the capabilities of the human mind and body. Several labour-intensive services such as drivers, caregivers for the elderly people, parcel delivery, security guards, maintenance and repair of various equipment, are all examples in that category. Educational policies and overall work culture in the Country needs to appreciate this reality. Just as AI experts are trying hard to 'teach' AI algorithms and improve them through supervised learning, another set of experts need to sensitize and teach humans on how to understand, appreciate, preserve, and further hone the significant natural advantage that they already have over AI. Despite all the technological breakthroughs in AI, in many areas, still, it is a battle that humans will lose only if they choose to. (The writer works in the Information Technology sector. Views personal.)

Diplomatic Mirage

As Russia tightens its grip and Ukraine demands a seat at the table, the future of the war is being negotiated without its primary victim.

Russia

The war in Ukraine has entered a new, more insidious phase. A Russian missile barrage on Saturday killed at least fifteen people, reducing residential buildings to rubble, plunging homes into darkness, and leaving a central city reeling. The strike on Poltava alone claimed eleven lives, four of them children. In Kharkiv, another drone attack killed one person, while three police officers died in Sumy. Russia, undeterred and unrepentant, continues its campaign of destruction with a strategic precision designed not just to cripple infrastructure but to terrorize an already exhausted population.


Yet, while missiles rain down, a different kind of battle is playing out behind closed doors. In Washington and Moscow, the future of Ukraine is being discussed in hushed conversations that pointedly exclude Kyiv. President Donald Trump and his aides have floated the idea of a negotiated settlement that could swiftly end the war. Trump’s former National Security Advisor Keith Kellogg insists that Ukraine must hold elections, even as it battles an existential threat. But democracy under bombardment is a contradiction in terms, and for Ukraine, holding elections under martial law is constitutionally impossible.


Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Kremlin presses its advantage. Reports of Russian advances in eastern Ukraine, particularly near the city of Toretsk, suggest that Putin’s forces are leveraging military gains to strengthen their position at the bargaining table. This is war by other means: a strategic combination of battlefield success and diplomatic manoeuvring designed to force Ukraine into a weaker negotiating position. Every missile strike, every encroaching battalion, underscores the Kremlin’s desire to dictate the terms of any future settlement.


President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for his part, is acutely aware of the risks of being sidelined. He has insisted that Ukraine must be present at any peace talks, and those talks must include its key Western allies. The idea that Washington and Moscow could strike a deal over Ukraine’s fate without Ukrainian involvement is not just undemocratic - it is ominous. A settlement forged in Kyiv’s absence would amount to a tacit endorsement of Russian expansionism, rewarding aggression and setting a perilous precedent for future conflicts.


Russia, for its part, has little reason to negotiate in good faith. The battlefield momentum has shifted. And in the West, war fatigue is real. The longer the conflict drags on, the harder it becomes to justify the billions in military aid.


Zelensky understands this. A peace process that sidelines Ukraine is not a peace process but is a surrender disguised as diplomacy. In Trump’s calculus, a quick deal would be a victory, regardless of what it means for Ukraine’s long-term security.


If Ukraine is forced into a ceasefire on Russia’s terms, the consequences will extend far beyond its borders. A frozen conflict would entrench Russian territorial gains, giving Putin a permanent foothold in the country. More alarmingly, it would send a message to other would-be aggressors: that military conquest, if sustained long enough, can be legitimized through diplomacy.


The recent Russian strike on Odesa, condemned by UNESCO for damaging historic buildings, is a grim reminder of the cultural and human toll of this war. But beyond the immediate devastation, the long-term fight for Ukraine’s independence is being waged in a realm where bombs do not fall—across negotiating tables where its future is being decided in absentia.


Zelenskyy is right to insist on a seat at those discussions. For the West, the choice is either to stand firmly behind Ukraine, ensuring it has both the military strength and diplomatic leverage to negotiate on its own terms, or risk orchestrating a settlement that merely sets the stage for the next war. For now, Ukraine fights on. The world debates. And in Poltava, in Kharkiv, in Sumy, the sirens keep wailing.

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