Joseph Aoun, president of Northeastern University, wrote a very interesting article for the Washington Post about the report “Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence”, published by the Obama administration.

Aoun states that the term “artificial intelligence” refers to computers and advanced machines that can think, reason and communicate like humans, respond to novel or nuanced situations as a person might, and most critically, learn from experiences as a human would. According to a recent survey, 80% of AI researchers believe that computers and advanced machines will eventually achieve levels of artificial intelligence that rival human intelligence. Moreover, half believe that this will happen by the year 2040 — just one generation from now.

The author claims that the implications of an AI-suffused world are enormous — especially for the people who work at jobs that soon will be outsourced to artificially-intelligent machines. “Because AI has the potential to eliminate or drive down wages of some jobs … AI-driven automation will increase the wage gap between less-educated and more-educated workers, potentially increasing economic inequality.”

Therefore, according to Aoun, the ability of people to access higher education continuously throughout their working lives will become increasingly important as the AI revolution takes hold. To be sure, college has always helped safeguard people from economic dislocations caused by technological change. But this time is different. First, the quality of AI is improving rapidly. On a widely-used image recognition test, for instance, the best AI result went from a 26% error rate in 2011 to a 3.5% error rate in 2015 — even better than the 5% human error rate.

Furthermore, the expert explains that AI has already found new applications in so-called “knowledge economy” fields, such as medical diagnosis, education and scientific research. Consequently, as artificially intelligent systems come to be used in more white-collar, professional domains, even people who are highly educated by today’s standards may find their livelihoods continuously at risk by an ever-expanding cybernetic workforce.

As a result, it’s time to stop thinking of higher education as an experience that people take part in once during their young lives — or even several times as they advance up the professional ladder — and begin thinking of it as a platform for lifelong learning. Colleges and universities need to move toward a more customizable system that enables learners to access the learning they need when they need it. This will be critical as more people seek to return to higher education repeatedly during their careers, compelled by the imperative to stay ahead of relentless technological change.

No one knows for sure what the artificial intelligence age will look like, but we do know this: It’s coming, and things are going to change. Whether that change will be a boon or a bane depends largely on individuals’ ability to develop their own intelligence throughout their lifetimes. That, in turn, depends on their ability to access efficient, effective higher education opportunities.

To conclude his article, Aoun calls to start thinking now about how to make it happen — before the machines start thinking for us.

Source: The Washington Post