The 2013 film Elysium depicted a world run with the help of AI and robots with a handful of billionaires living on a self-sufficient space station, while everyone else lives on a climate-ravaged, mid-22nd century Earth.
What feels odd about the film is how advanced artificial intelligence technology that can cure any disease and provide any kind of service is shown as the preserve of the elite, instead of becoming something useful in the hands of everyone. The idea is a little jarring.
Fortunately, the reality of AI is likely to be less dystopian than that. In fact, it could become a great equalizer.
IQ Might Not Matter As Much
IQ is currently a primary determining factor in a lot of individuals’ success today, based on the opportunities that are made available to people with high intelligence scores. On average, those with higher IQ are more likely to get better jobs and rise to the top of social hierarchies. These individuals know how to play the game–and win.
However, with super-intelligence running the show, EQ (emotional intelligence) might become more sought after. High intelligence or even genius could become commoditized very soon if current AI improvement trajectories persist, potentially undermining the social order.
You can already see this effect in action in parts of the world with access to tools like ChatGPT. For example, instead of relying on expensive physician appointments to diagnose diseases and recommend medications, more people could soon use AI tools instead.
The same is true in law. While GPT-4.0 isn’t perfect, it did pass the bar exam and offers passable advice to users on a range of topics, offering specific guidance based on jurisdiction.
IQ may soon become unimportant even at the highest levels of human cognitive achievement. Deep Mind recently announced the creation of a tool that could solve novel problems in combinatorics that no mathematician could crack. We’re not saying that the human intellectual elite will disappear. It’s more likely that AI will help make humanity as a whole smarter.
Online Accessibility Will Become Trivial
Another significant benefit of AI will be the emergence of wider online accessibility. The global population requiring assistive technology can benefit greatly from this. Currently, firms invest millions of dollars in making their websites suitable for people who are hard of hearing, have sight issues or other disabilities. AI technology could potentially bypass the need for any of that investment by offering users personal, real-time assistance that improves the browsing experience.
According to Apryse, these developments are already occurring in the realm of document generation. “Recently, we’ve been exploring the topic of accessible document creation. We want to make it more straightforward for the one-billion-plus people living with a disability globally to engage with digital technologies and enjoy the same benefits as everyone else,” said Apryse
The company is currently working on PDF/UA models for developers. However, it is easy to imagine this technology entering the consumer space and facilitating accessibility to websites across the range, including international pages that don’t need to conform to the same standards as domestic ones.
“The United States and Europe have robust accessibility rules. But that doesn’t apply to the rest of the world. These tools could potentially improve the situation globally, helping to equalize opportunities, and perhaps even outcomes,” continued Apryse.
Healthcare Will Become More Widely Available
We are also seeing the introduction of chatbot health consultations that service providers can offer for pennies instead of the hundreds of dollars per hour charged by conventional human medics.
However, the equalization in the healthcare field could go well beyond that. For instance, AI-powered diagnostics could replace the need to rely on expensive diagnostic machines to a certain extent. Users are becoming better able to monitor their health conditions with at-home devices and report readings to AI chatbots for interpretation and diagnosis.
Multi-modal models that include the ability to reason and leverage images and sensory data could build on this. Robot arms could potentially examine people and use those inputs to determine a diagnosis and proper treatment plan, freeing up billions of hours of consultants’ time in the process. Finally, AI could leverage the same technology for early disease detection. Machines could rely on diagnostic imaging to detect anomalies faster and offer immediate interventions.
Again, price might cease to be an important factor in the equation. These machines and sensors will get cheaper, if history is any indicator, with many becoming available on smartphones, offering professional services at lower overall costs.
AI Will Reduce The Economic Divide
The final (and perhaps most contentious) way that AI will likely become the great equalizer is in economic matters. Instead of power accumulating in the hands of a small group of people, the technology will likely become widely disseminated and accessible by members of the public.
One way AI could help workers is by freeing them from mundane, repetitive tasks. Tools could potentially eliminate the need to engage in time-consuming activities, increasing worker value substantially, and increasing output per hour (something that has remained stagnant for much of the last fifty years as the world globalized).
However, AI could also enable workers to “upskill”. For example, head-mounted AR could pipe instructions to workers in real time, telling them how they could perform their work more effectively and generate increased revenue for their company.
You also see this effect in the realm of professional development and skill acquisition. AIs can serve better than conventional human trainers through its ability to instantly recognize a learner’s sticking point and offer assistance effectively. This one-on-one environment is often superior to group training or online e-learning.
Finally, we may see AI improving individuals’ financial inclusion. AI-powered tools could assist more people in participating in complex financial markets, helping them to make sound, long-term economic decisions about what to do with their money.
The Verdict
AI probably won’t be the panacea that some people expect. There will be all sorts of unexpected consequences of the technology. However, it has the potential to equalize humanity by providing a higher standard of living than even the most skilled humans could achieve without it.
Furthermore, it may redress the current health and wage/capital imbalances which have been growing in recent years.
