Not Everything is Transactional OR “Yet Another AI Risk”

I will start by saying that I am not a "grumpy old man,” who dislikes technology and misses the days when everything was "simpler." On the contrary, I am the CTO of a digital health company that utilizes advanced algorithms, machine learning, and AI.

With the rise of Gen AI and the realization that AGI is coming sooner rather than later, there is a lot of talk about the various risks and challenges associated with this AI revolution. This list is long: 

• Privacy and security challenges

• Legal issues, from copyright to liability

• Impacts on jobs and the economy, including training a new generation of managers when certain roles are now being done by machines

• Distinguishing machine-generated from human-generated content, and what happens when the majority of content is generated by AI? How do we train the models?

• Impacts on art and creativity

• Applying criticism and identifying mistakes when working within a question-answer interface with a machine with high IQ

• Identifying limits and regulations when applying AI in warfare

• And so much more….

There are a lot of additional good questions (and answers) and thoughts about the above and much more. I am not claiming to be the one with the full list of these questions, not to mention the answers :).

However, I want to suggest another risk, one that may be a bit more philosophical, and is related to many aspects of our lives. I’ll use education and health care as examples.  

AI can improve healthcare - from faster and more accurate diagnosis to new treatments, improved care navigation, benefits eligibility and more. In education, it can help with self-learning, personalised curriculum and exercises targeted to the learner’s specific challenges, and improve access for underserved populations. Overall it can improve quality, reduce costs and make solutions available to more populations.

Still, people want to talk with someone. It may be that they are looking for compassion, that current AI solutions are not yet meeting quality standards, it’s unfamiliar, etc… . But this is not what I want to discuss. 

What I want to talk about is the indirect influence of having real humans as part of a solution. The influence on us as humans and on humanity. I know… some big words right there.

When a doctor is doing a good job - when he or she properly diagnoses our aging parent or child, finds the right treatment and guides us through the process - we are grateful. We are grateful that our problem has been solved or is being addressed (this is transactional), and we are also grateful for the fact there are such human beings doing this work. We are thankful and believe a bit more in people and humanity on such days.

If this doctor is of different color or gender or religion, it also adds yet another crack in our prejudices (or even our hate) and plants another seed for equality and peace.

In hard times, we might remember these interactions and these people, and it gives us strength and belief in people. When we face political conflicts, racism, ageism, and all the other -isms, we have our own experience to draw upon, when someone from "the other side" was helpful and saved us.

You might be thinking "well, if things don't go so well with that doctor, and they are of a different color or gender or religion, then hate may increase." This is true, but nurturing hate is easy. It will happen regardless and occurs every minute. These events are a drop in the sea compared to all the other channels that are being used to spread hate.

When a teacher is helping our child - when they see them, relate to them, help them face and overcome challenges and fears, help them move forward and improve - we are grateful. We are grateful for the fact our child is in a better place right now (this is transactional), and we are also grateful that there are such teachers and such human beings.

And our child - they might have found someone to look up to and who inspires them. This interaction nurtures confidence, motivation, and purpose. These are moments that shape our children's identity, make them think about who they want to be and what they want to do. They might remember this teacher for the rest of their lives.

In difficult times, when they are not sure who they want to be, what they want to do and if they are even capable, they will recall these individuals. 

And again, if this teacher has a different color, gender, religion, or something else, it's yet another real story and experience that can serve as a crack in hate patterns that are easy to fall into.    

These are the things that we gain as individuals and as humanity that are not a transactional benefit or value.. You may disagree and say that these are all transactional events. You are right in a way, but they are not direct and are easy to overlook and miss when we are focused on gains, immediate value, transactional benefits and productivity.

I ask myself whether we are at the beginning of an era in which we need to promote "humanitability" like we have done for sustainability and social impact. When we realized we should be taking better care of our planet, we developed sustainability measures, which translated into regulations and certificates. Is it time for a certification similar to "B-Corp" for companies positively impacting "humanitability"?

I surely hope we are smart enough to remember that not everything in life is transactional, at least not directly transactional. We need to see the indirect impact, which can be just as important.