ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN EVERYDAY LIFE: TRANSFORMING EXPERIENCES

Dr Esha Chatterjee

Assistant Professor, Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Kalinga University Raipur

The human brain is a complex organ, responsible for controlling all bodily functions. It interprets information from the external environment. Its neural networks consist of around 86 billion neurons, that are interconnected by an estimated 100 trillion synapses. Despite significant advancements, neuroscientists still try to fully understand its intricacies and functioning abilities. We, the human beings are continually evolving and learning, a process that reflects the core function of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Factors like human intelligence, creativity, experience, knowledge and innovation determine the development of current and future machine intelligence technologies. Unlike natural intelligence, as displayed by humans and animals, AI represents intelligence as exhibited by machines.

During the 1950s, computer and cognitive scientists such as Marvin Minsky and John McCarthy recognized the potential and saw the future of AI. Today, AI is embedded in almost every device, like television, speakers, gadgets, refrigerators, security cameras or lighting systems and so on. In fact, we are entering an era of smart homes, where AI-enabled devices can effortlessly interact with people as well as each other, creating a personalized living environment that aligns with our lifestyles and habits. A primary factor in AI’s success is its ability to improve user experience by personalizing services and making the devices more instinctual. Furthermore, AI improves efficiency, like managing smartphone battery life more effectively or enhancing power usage in home appliances.

AI has become increasingly integral to our daily lives. Having access to a vast amount of customer data, online retailers can now create personalized marketing campaigns that determine customer engagement and conversions, effectively target the shoppers, and even provide customized experiences across several devices. Also, AI-powered tools make personalized advertising more impactful by continuously conducting tests to regulate the most engaging messages.

Customer service has also incorporated AI, specially through the use of chatbots so as to address the customer concerns without human intervention. In fact, advances in natural language processing (NLP) have allowed people to interact smoothly with these AI-run systems. Since customers often ask similar questions (like: “What’s my order status?” or “When will I get the refund?”), businesses have found it relatively easy to use chatbots for provide accurate and satisfying information. Although these chatbots initially struggled with complicated queries, the changes and improvements in recent years have significantly boosted their accuracy and performance.

In the domain of healthcare, AI tools and services help lighten the pressure on overreached infrastructure. Through NLP and rule-based expert systems, healthcare providers are now using AI in order to provide support in diagnostic processes, streamline treatment planning, as well as improve patient care management. This technology increases diagnostic accuracy, improves the rate of  recovery and optimizes resource utilization.

Furthermore it is also noted that banks, financial institutions, and insurance providers have used AI-powered systems since a long time and influence extensive customer data. Banks use AI to automate banking services, improve customer experience, and detect fraud while maintaining regulatory compliance and most importantly data security. Also, real-time transaction monitoring, analysis of customer behavior and credit risk predictions have strengthened the banking security. By implementing AI early, the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) industry has reduced operational costs, enhanced customer experience, reduced fraud, enhanced compliance, and automated key business choices.

However, the rise of AI raises crucial ethical and privacy concerns. Many AI applications make decisions that are based on algorithms. They prompt questions about responsibility when AI systems make biased or harmful decisions. Similarly, accountability issues arise if an AI system causes harm or spreads inaccurate information. Inspite of such challenges, the future of AI is inevitable. While it is transforming many roles, especially in marketing, data science and IT, AI also provides opportunities to develop streamlined processes and efficient work models that improve productivity.

References

• Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. (2017). Machine, platform, crowd: Harnessing our digital future. W.W. Norton & Company.
• Goodfellow, I., Bengio, Y., & Courville, A. (2016). Deep learning. MIT Press.
• O’Neil, C. (2016). Weapons of math destruction: How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy. Crown.
• Russell, S., & Norvig, P. (2020). Artificial intelligence: A modern approach (4th ed.). Pearson.