Exploring Artificial Intelligence Evolution and Its Impact on Our Daily Lives

0:00 Good morning. I'm Dr. William T. Choctaw. Welcome to the Healthy Wealth and Wise podcast, and I will be your host this morning. Each month, we try to provide our listeners with mental, physical, and spiritual strength by giving actionable advice, tips, guidance, and information to help you achieve your own personal, professional, and spiritual goals. We consider the health of the mind, body, and spirit paramount as a single unit that can provide accumulative strength greater than its individual parts to strengthen the whole person.

0:40 So welcome and thank you for joining us today. We have a very exciting topic and let's get started. Today, we're going to talk about five ways that artificial intelligence has improved in the last 12 months. That's five ways that artificial intelligence has improved in the last 12 months. Now, you may say, well, why are we talking about artificial intelligence? And clearly, artificial intelligence is a part of our everyday life. And one of the things that we're going to try to do as we go through these next few minutes or so with you is to give you some ideas about how it's already a part of your life and why I think it's important that you be aware of what's going on around you.

1:35 As always, we like to start with our beliefs. We believe life is about being of service to others. We believe knowledge is power and we believe leaders can change the world. This is part of our Masterclass series, this podcast, and we encourage you to review some of the earlier series that you may have missed and put them all together as an ongoing continuum, if you will. Well, one of the things to think about is, what is your relationship with artificial intelligence? What is your relationship with artificial intelligence?

2:16 I'm going to suggest that if you do not have one or are not aware that you have one, that you should get one. The reality is that artificial intelligence is all around us. It is involved with just about everything we do, and it's important that you be aware of this so that you can fashion your experience to benefit you and the things that you want to use it for. So, what we want to do is to learn more about artificial intelligence and recognize its benefits and risks. risk. Let me say that again. What we want to do is to learn more about artificial intelligence and recognize its benefits.

3:04 And so, as always, we like to start off with an outline. And the purpose of the outline is to give you an idea about what we're going to talk about. And more importantly, to let you know when we're just about done. So, we're going to talk about artificial intelligence and define it for you. We're going to look at the different parts of artificial artificial intelligence and some of the applicability, if you will, and then we'll mention about some of the risks that you need to be aware of as you move forward with your relationship with artificial intelligence. Well, let's try to define it. Artificial intelligence is the simulation of approximation of human intelligence in machines.

3:45 Now, I like to simplify that and just say artificial intelligence is teaching machines machines to think. Teaching machines to think. And just that one statement may either make you feel good or it may terrify you, but that is the reality of where we are now. The goals are, of artificial intelligence, include computer-enhanced learning, reasoning, and perception. There are different types of artificial intelligence. Two of the basic types are basic pattern recognition as one type and complex human emotion as another type.

4:27 And as we get more into our discussion this morning, we'll talk about some of that emotion information and what that means. Computers are basically taught by being able to recognize patterns of data. We call these algorithms, patterns of data. So let's take a look at artificial intelligence and more simply, let's try to break it down into three main areas. The smallest and most limited version or simplest version, if you will, is artificial narrow intelligence. Artificial narrow intelligence. This is the baseline, the lower level.

5:11 And ANI, artificial narrow intelligence, includes applications like Siri, which we may all have, or Alexa, or Cortana. These are devices we may already have in our homes and we may already use either on a daily basis or regularly. So this is the ground level of artificial intelligence, and it's called ANI, artificial narrow intelligence. The next level is called Artificial General Intelligence, and that's AGI. And this includes the IBM's Watson supercomputer, and it also includes self-driving cars.

5:55 Now, some of you may already have a self-driving car, and if so, whether it's a Tesla or some other brand, If so, you are already at the middle level of artificial intelligence in terms of applicability and in terms of functionality. And so it's important to understand the different levels of artificial intelligence that are available to us. Now, some of you may have both. You may have an Alexa at home, and you may also have a self-driving car. And then the highest level is called artificial superintelligence, ASI, superintelligence.

6:36 And this has to do with the hypothetical artificial intelligence, so the artificial intelligence that is able to achieve things beyond what we already know now or presently. This is where the computer teaches itself, basically. Basically, the computer teaches itself to learn. And obviously, this is the area that most of the concern is, because what happens if the computer teaches itself and ends up being smarter than us? Think about that. So, one display of artificial intelligence is with what is called a chatbot, C-H-A-T-B-O-T.

7:19 Now, a chatbot is just a type or a style of artificial intelligence where there's communication back to the user. So, when you do a search on something, you can say it verbally, and with that verbal communication, you can receive a verbal communication back. Now, I personally don't use the chatbot. One, I'm not really very comfortable with anything talking to me. I will admit I do have a GPS in my car, and that does talk to me, but that's because I need it so that I can stay safe when I'm driving in an area that I'm not familiar with. But in general, you have this option. Another area I might add where chatbots tend to be particularly effective is with children.

8:01 And that's another podcast that we're going to do about conversations you should have with your children about artificial intelligence and things that you should tell them and things that you should know about their behavior. But that will come later. Now, there are different types of artificial intelligence that are already in use by various corporations. Corporations, Microsoft is probably the lead in the first, about a year ago, they came out with the chat, and then it came out with GP4, and now it uses or is defined as Autopilot. That's the name of its artificial intelligence advanced search engine.

8:42 Google calls its engine BARD. Meta or X or the old Facebook has another name for its. Blender Blot has been used in the past. Baidu, which is a Chinese company, has used Ernie. And keep in mind, these names will change or have changed over time. But it just gives you an idea about the plethora of search engines that are available by various different huge computer corporations around the world. And this is what's driving our environment, if you will, our intellectual environment, our mechanical environment, and basically everything that we do. Now, so it's important, and the point I'm trying to get across is that you do not have to be a genius or even interested in artificial intelligence or the advanced technology.

9:32 However, because it is around us completely and it is growing exponentially. It is important that you be able to what I call speak the language of AI. And speak of the language means that you understand basic stuff so that you can identify risk and benefits with artificial intelligence when it's presented to you. Let me say that again, that we want to be able to speak the language of artificial intelligence so that we can identify risk and benefits of artificial intelligence whenever we're confronted with it or our family is confronted with it.

10:13 So let me specifically go over five particular areas of AI that have improved just in the last 12 months. Remember, a lot of this came out about a year ago, and this is when Microsoft bought OpenAI, which is the main leader, if you will, with artificial intelligence that was presented in a way that the public could use it and understand it. In essence, what they did was they took the search engine process and they put it on steroids. They made it super-duper-duper fast. They made it super-duper-duper efficient. And then they sold it or presented it to the public. And, of course, the public embraced it 100%. And so that's really sort of where we are now.

10:58 So let's talk about what's happened in the last 12 months. So let's look at the five things that have changed or have grown, if you will, in the last 12 months. One of the areas, the first area we'll look at, is artificial intelligence and pharmaceutical drug discovery process. Certainly, we're all coming off of the pandemic of the last four years or so. And so we're all sensitive to the importance of having various drugs, various vaccinations for viruses, if you will, or just medication for other types of medical conditions. Previously, this process in terms of having drugs approved and identified was excruciatingly slow, slow in terms of months and years.

11:45 What's happened now with artificial intelligence is that much of that process has been accelerated. And that's a good thing because it means that those drugs can get on the markets much sooner and much faster, and it means that people can be helped much faster. And again, the best examination of that or example of that, if you will, has been the vaccination drugs that have been produced to save lives with the coronavirus pandemic. A second area of the five is the artificial intelligence has significantly increased quantum computing. And in essence, what that means is think of a quantum computer as a master super supercomputer, and it's able to do all the things faster and better that the smaller, more classic computers used to do together.

12:41 So it's a way of saying that artificial intelligence has taken computing to the highest level. That's the second big area in the last 12 months that's changed. Third area, robotics. Now, we're all familiar with robots and robotics in different areas. Actually, we did a podcast, a number of podcasts, about robotics in healthcare. I'm a retired general surgeon, and we used robotics in surgery before I retired. And so robotics have been around for a while, but they're increasing in complexity. In ability, and in their use. So we started with them. Now they're increasingly being used in the number of cases that are being done.

13:27 And this is just one of the ways that robotics are helpful. I can remember a couple of years ago when I was working with the Joint Commission, I was doing surveys of different hospitals. I would survey the surgery area, of course, because that's where my specialty is. And I was surveying a surgery area at a very large hospital, and they had robots. They had robots that took the instruments from surgery down to what's called the cleaning area, or we call it SPD. SPD, and they put the instruments on the robot. The robot walked to the elevator, took the elevator down to the basement where the cleaning area was, and unloaded the instruments to the humans who would clean them in the SPD area.

14:18 I was amazed at that, and that was a number of years ago. So my point is that that's all improving and increasing in availability and A fourth area is 5G networks. If you watch any football or you watch television for any reason, you will see a commercial about the new 5G networks that certain telecommunication companies have, or certain phone companies have, or computer companies have, to make your internet go faster and more efficiently. This is all because of, or largely influenced by, artificial intelligence.

14:59 Artificial intelligence. intelligence. And the fifth way is climate change mitigation. We all know that our climate is in crisis, and that's increasing over time. And one of the things that the artificial intelligence technology is being used for is to help us in ways that we can mitigate some of those changes by controlling the carbon or categorizing the carbon in a certain area so it has less of an impact on our environment. The point I'm simply trying to make that these are just five of other many other ways that just in 12 months, the artificial intelligence driven technology that's all around us is advancing rapidly.

15:49 So that's the good news. The other side of that that is there also risk. Remember, we're teaching computers how to think. And we're teaching them how to improve their thinking as need be, sort of like a self-repair type of thing. We can't stop that process because we don't control that part of it because we're not computers. And so the biggest risk is safety for humans. We've all seen the movies over the years about the computer that gets out of control and then controls society. Well, that may not be that far off.

16:30 But the reality is that it is important to be able to understand and to mitigate that risk of danger to mankind in general. And to actually amplify that, we've had a number of the individuals who developed these supercomputers or developed the AI technology who are sounding those alarm bells. These are the ones who are testified in Congress and are writing articles. Some have resigned from their respective computer companies so they could speak freely and are saying we need to be careful and we need to put guidelines in place. But obviously, that's easier said than done because first we have to understand the technology sufficiently to be able to do that.

17:15 But my point is that there are risks. And compared to the benefits that I talked about earlier, we need to be aware of that. Some of the other risks of artificial intelligence, remember, this is just data that's being fed to the machine, if you will, is that that data not be biased. Because if it is, it's sort of like garbage in and garbage out. And we all know this. Many times the computer is only as good as what you put into it. And so if the information that we put into the computer is biased, say if it has information that's anti-female or has bias against various types of groups in this country, racial groups, ethnic groups, etc., then the artificial intelligence will do more harm as compared to doing more help.

18:06 We need to make sure that it's safe along with the same lines, that it doesn't cause us to depend so much on it that we end up either injuring ourselves or injuring others. And we need to make sure that the information is not used for profiling and deception. Again, going back to the bias idea. So there are some particular risks, obviously. But the reality is the computer is not going anywhere. It is not going anywhere. It is like the cell phone or the laptop or whatever. It is not going anywhere. So, what I believe, what is important is that we humans need to first understand it and secondly, need to come up with a way to be able to use it to its maximum benefit.

19:00 One of the ways I look at it is that if we can speak the language and if we understand basic stuff with it, then we are able to understand it enough so that we know the risk versus the benefits. And that's really my bottom line, that I do believe it is not a good idea to put our heads in the sand like ostrich and just sort of hope that when we come out, when we lift our heads up out of the sand, the computers have gone away or AI has gone away. That's not going to happen. And indeed, what would happen is if you're that ostrich with your head in the sand, when you lift up, you're going to have a lot of robots around you, which would be a whole different area. you.

19:41 But I do think, I do think there hopefully is a middle ground. And so what we do with these podcasts is to give you information. Again, second belief, knowledge is power, to try to empower you to develop your environment and circumstances such that you're able to use the computer system and particularly the AI information with those systems to your maximal benefit. In summary, with artificial intelligence, it is not our future. It is now. It is our present. It is basically teaching computers how to think.

20:23 There are various forms of these computers, and there are three different areas or levels, if you will. There's artificial narrow intelligence, which is baseline. That's your Siri and your Alexa. There's artificial general intelligence, which is just self-driving cars. And then there's artificial superintelligence, which has to do with machines, if you will, having some degree of emotion. Now, this is controversial. It is controversial. There are some experts that know that's just hundreds of years away. Other experts say they have emotion right now. The word that's used for that is sentience.

21:06 Sentience. Because the belief is that the only thing that distinguishes humans from the machine is that we humans have emotion. So if machines can think like we can think, i.e. even better than we can think, what distinguishes us from them? Emotion. Because emotion is not really logical, if you think about it. But if the robot and the artificial intelligence is able to develop emotions, then that would then allow them, I believe, the opportunity to supersede us. So that's still the controversial area, so I don't want you to worry too much about it, but I do want you to be aware of it.

21:46 But just be aware that, like with anything else, there's risk-benefits. And so you want to look at the risk and the benefits and make sure that your usage is to the benefit of you and your family. As always, I like to end with my basic principles. God is in charge in my life, and indeed is my belief in God that has sustained me as a position and as an individual and allowed me to maintain a certain happiness and balance in my life. Second principle is that I have no bad days. I decided many years ago that I'd had enough bad days, so I got rid of them. And my days, the good days are great days.

22:28 Third, I don't sweat the small stuff, and most stuff is small. And I've learned that. And so I don't worry about things that I think I cannot control. Fourth, forgiveness is therapy. What I have figured out that whenever something happens to me or around me that I perceive as negative by someone or circumstance, I immediately forgive that individual. Immediately forgive. Don't try to figure out the facts. Doesn't matter. Just forgive. give. You'll be amazed at how therapeutic that is and how that will lower your stress level. And the final basic principle is that everything is a relationship. Relationships are based on three things, mutual respect, mutual trust, and good communication.

23:11 If you have those three things, you have a great relationship. If you do not have those three things, you have work to do. So finally be the change that you want to see in the world thank you god bless have a great day.