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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.)

From Commoner’s Crusader to Common Swindler?

Updated: Feb 27, 2025

The CAG report on the erstwhile AAP govt.’s liquour policy adds yet another nail in the coffin of the AAP’s credibility.

CAG
Delhi

The fall from grace has been swift, unceremonious, and, for those who had placed their faith in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a revolutionary force in Indian politics, downright tragic. A party that rode into power on the promise of governance untainted by corruption and vested interests now finds itself embroiled in the kind of scandal it once decried. The latest revelations from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on Delhi’s now-defunct liquor policy have further cemented the perception that the party of the ‘common man’ has mastered profiteering under the guise of reform.


The numbers are damning. According to the CAG, the ertwhile AAP government’s policy resulted in a staggering loss of Rs. 2,002 crore to the Delhi government. The sheer scale of mismanagement and financial irregularities detailed in the report is breathtaking. From the waiver of Rs. 144 crore in license fees under dubious circumstances to the failure to re-tender licenses leading to losses exceeding Rs. 890 crore, the report smacks of a systematic attempt to bend rules for the benefit of a select few.


The report, which triggered a heated BJP versus AAP duel, exposed how the former AAP government under Arvind Kejriwal ignored regulatory safeguards. Licenses were handed out without verifying financial solvency, multiple licenses were issued in clear violation of excise rules and discretionary pricing mechanisms were manipulated to favor certain entities. If Kejriwal’s administration had once styled itself as the righteous alternative to India’s entrenched political dynasties and crony capitalists, its conduct in this case seems to mirror the very same nexus of politics and profit that it once claimed to dismantle.


The AAP’s defence was predictable. Leader of Opposition Atishi maintaned that the old liquor policy prior to the AAP formulated one had allegedly facilitated illegal trade and benefited liquor contractors aligned with rival political parties.


The BJP, flush with its electoral victory in the Delhi Assembly polls, took the opportunity to tarnish the AAP as just another corrupt entity, stripping away the anti-establishment sheen that had won the party its devoted following in the first place. Senior BJP leaders have likened the liquor policy debacle to a grand heist.


The rhetoric may be hyperbolic, but the underlying sentiment is hard to dispute. The AAP, once the lodestar for disillusioned urban voters, has collapsed into the same old morass of scandal and self-interest.

The irony of this implosion is not lost on anyone. Kejriwal, the former IRS officer who had built his brand on exposing corruption, is now seeing his government’s legacy defined by CAG reports detailing financial malpractice, regardless of whethe ror not he succeeds in making a political comeback.


It is not merely the financial losses that sting but the betrayal of a movement that once carried the hopes of a disillusioned electorate. The AAP was not meant to be just another political party; it was supposed to be a paradigm shift, a direct challenge to the political status quo. Instead, it has become the very thing it once railed against - an outfit where backroom deals, favouritism and financial opacity reign supreme.


Where does the party go from here? For now, the immediate concern for AAP is survival. The CAG report adds yet another nail in the coffin of the AAP’s credibility, which is in freefall since the Delhi election results. In Punjab, where it governs with a decisive mandate, the leadership is in damage control mode, desperately trying to distance itself from the mess in the capital.


The report erases all claims of the AAP to being a reformist party, revealing it starkly as yet another vehicle of political opportunism. The Delhi liquor scandal may well be its Waterloo, a cautionary tale of how any ‘idealism’ in Indian politics is all too often a prelude to disillusionment.

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