What Will Artificial Intelligence Be Like In 100 Years?

We have been fed on a steady stream of fictional information and imagery about what wicked aliens and extraterrestrials with extraordinary powers could do to poor hapless human in countless sci fi tales since the days of HG Wells. Of late the attention has turned closer home, what with artificial intelligence technology making an ubiquitous entry into our daily lives, thanks to smartphones, digital assistants, Uber, Google Maps and what not. While many worry about their jobs, there are those who talk about an existential crisis in the works. They fearfully point out the fact that AI is  inching closer to the Rubicon and the day is not far, when they will control us!

Alarmist propaganda aside, there is no doubt about the fact that the induction of AI into all kinds of processes, activities and products is causing  seminal changes in our lives. Of course, we have no choice but to accept these wholeheartedly, on account of the sheer advantages of doing so. But think for a moment, where this wholesale adoption of AI will take us. What will artificial intelligence be like in 100 years?

Let's think this one through rationally and not give in to irrational fear mongering. Till date there has been no evidence to show that artificial intelligence has in any way proven detrimental to human beings, the dire warnings of eminent scientists like Stephen Hawking notwithstanding. Let us assume that AI evolves and ushers in a whole new paradigm of living for us. What would such a scenario appear to be like.

Elimination of every problem known to mankind-  According to some experts computers will equal human level intelligence sometime in the middle of this century. That really will be the tipping point. Artificial intelligence will likely be able to find smart and practical solutions for every major and small problem faced by humans including hunger, disease, environmental degradation, inequitable distribution of economic resources, transportation gridlocks, housing, and everything else that you can think of.

Humans will live in a kinder, nicer, and nurturing environment-  Already social media and digital assistants have shown us how we can leverage technology to emotionally connect with each other.  A hundred years from now  for instance, humans won't face the problem of  having to take care of lonely and neglected seniors. They would likely be quite content in the company of machines that would be their friends, companions and counselors rolled into one.

Work will become redundant- Humans won't have to work in a hundred years of now. The machines using their enhanced artificial intelligence would manage everything in the most optimal manner. For the first time in their history, mankind will experience leisure in the truest sense. What they would do with endless leisure time could be the subject of a PhD thesis? A hundred years from now the machines would probably have figured out what that could be. That in itself is a sobering thought and lends credence to the fears of the likes of Hawking and Elon Musk(who had also expressed his misgiving about unregulated growth of AI) Would we have ceded our control to the machines to decide what is best for us or would we still have oversight?

In any case, it is fascinating to imagine, what mankind would do with endless leisure. Engage in endless sport and gaming, dive deeper and deeper into the realm of philosophy or engage in further scientific research in collaboration with the machines to find out the greatest possible extent of human achievement? Would humans and machines together embark upon inter-stellar expansion and colonization or would they be happy with their earthly utopia?

Humans will integrate with machines- This is not as scary as it sounds. We are already relying on our smart phones for a host of things which needed us to get out of the house and physically take care of- things like banking, shopping, entertainment, even participating in international conferences. Hundred years from now it will be normal for human to integrate with machines on both a physical and mental level. We will have developed abilities and functions that would be truly super human by today's standards.

Technology would have made us oblivious to injury and disease by augmenting and enhancing our limbs and organs, giving us extraordinary physical capabilities. The coming together of augmented reality, artificial intelligence, robotics, neuroscience and a slew of yet to be discovered technologies will bring us as close to an almost god-like existence as is possible. It will be a time when the virtual and real world will merge and become one. All the computer imagery that you might create would be real for you to experience.

Humans will achieve immortality- The eternal human quest for immortality will likely find fruition a century from now, albeit in a virtual form. But then there would be no distinction between the real and the virtual in that world. You would upload your consciousness, the sum of your memories and your very essence into the virtual world and live for an eternity. At to what sort of social consequences that could lead to could be the subject of a sci fi novel! 

The best kind of content.

Everybody agrees that great content is a great idea. The question is what constitutes great #content. In the first instance what is content? Is it an amalgamation of written, audio and audio-visual messaging and data? How is content stored? In documents and audio and video files, some would say. But don't we have content stored in our heads, which we can retrieve as and when we require it?

It follows that content by itself serves no purpose. You may remember all the verses of a holy book, but they would serve no purpose unless you were a priest who needs to recite them at religious ceremonies. Similarly for a farmer, albeit a modern one a play by Shakespeare would probably hold little value(unless he is inclined towards the literary arts) while the weather alert he receives on his phone in the shape of text messages would be.

So it would seem that when it comes to creating relevant content, marketers need to follow the horses for courses approach. That being said each type of content has its specific advantages.

1. #Written Content: This is the most prolific kind of content that we have known as man has kept written records of activity since the early days of civilization. All that mankind has learned over thousands of years has been possible with the help of written content. Every subject known to us-history, science, geography, religion and literature was propagated with the help of written content and this continues till today.

Written content gives one the luxury of understanding complex issues and phenomena at length and at a pace that the reader is comfortable with. Besides, this is the cheapest form of communication and provides one with a permanent record for future reference. This is possibly the reason why most official documents in the world are in written form.

2.# Audio Content: Audio content has always been in vogue and in fact predates written content. We could hear someone speak, even before we learned to read and write. The modern era saw radio being put to great use by leaders to broadcast their message simultaneously to vast multitudes of people, something not possible prior to that.

Politicians and entertainers were quick to grasp the potential of this new medium of communication and used it with telling effect for propaganda and publicity. Then of course there is the advantage of being better able to communicate with the visually impaired and those with poor education. That apart it is a pretty efficient and cost effective means of quickly communicating with large masses of people

Telemarketers who are trained to pitch skillfully on the telephone are a great example of audio content being put to efficient use. Of course with the advent of the Internet and chatting software audio content can be transmitted seamlessly across the world.

3. Audio Visual Content: In terms of receptivity and retention, this is definitely the most impactful means of communication. That is possibly the reason why Shakespeare's plays, which were essentially meant to be an audio visual form of communication courtesy the medium of theater, became so universally popular.

The advent of cinema showed how truly powerful this medium was with masses of people literally hero worshipping the actors and actresses who essayed myriad parts on the silver-screen. Television further extended the reach of this the audio visual format and today with the advent of social media and the Internet, it has assumed a life of its own with anybody being able to create and promote audio visual content.

Audio video content has grown in importance tremendously because of technology aided ease of creation and this has led to its being the flavor of the season for all kind of marketing. Audio #video content or video content has inherent advantages that make it a more potent tool than any other form of communication. Firstly video content comes closest in simulating real life situations and is therefore able to immediately connect with the audience on a more emotional level than any other form of content.

Video content closely approximates word of mouth advocacy which is statistically the best way of promoting anything. This is the reason why social video campaigns generate billions of views worldwide. If people are really taken in by a video,they tend to share it and that is what explains its popularity. That is why more and more companies are embedding videos on their websites. Who knows that their content may go viral and bring them millions of customers?!