With the advent of AI, many people are concerned about the future of their jobs, particularly in the IT sector. However, if we look at the evolution of technology over the past few decades, we can see a clear pattern. Intelligence was once rare, and computation was expensive.
I still remember my engineering days when we wrote Fortran IV programs on paper and handed them over to a mainframe computer. These mainframes occupied entire rooms, were well-maintained with air conditioning, had limited access, and were secured facilities. We would receive our program output after a couple of days, printed on dot matrix paper. If there were mistakes, we had to correct them and submit a new version, making the entire process laborious. Fortunately, my logical thinking helped me excel in all logic-based subjects, including programming. This experience demonstrated how expensive and exclusive computation was, accessible only to privileged institutions and large enterprises for specialized tasks.
Reflecting on my life, I have come across very few truly bright individuals—those brimming with knowledge and wisdom. Even in my engineering department, I could count on one hand the number of truly outstanding professors. This suggests that intelligence, in general, is scarce in the world.
On the computation front, people once relied on logarithm and antilogarithm tables for calculations. With the advent of transistors, scientific calculators became widely available, reducing computational effort. Later, personal computers revolutionized workplaces, exponentially increasing computing power. Today, we carry smartphones with computational capabilities far surpassing those of old mainframe and midframe computers. In essence, computation costs have plummeted to near zero.
On the intelligence front, historically, only a select few—teachers, professors, engineers, accountants, and doctors—possessed specialized knowledge. AI represents a significant leap, making intelligence accessible at virtually no cost. Now, supercomputing power and artificial intelligence are available at our fingertips. The real question is: Are we truly aware of this, and how are we leveraging it?
Personally, I have used AI to solve everyday problems in life—something I never fully realized until I utilized it effectively.
For example, my third-grade son struggled with handwriting. Despite buying him cursive writing practice workbooks, he continued to write in a non-cursive manner. He also failed to leave spaces between words. We repeatedly advised him that this made his writing difficult to read, but he never took our advice seriously.
One day, I had an idea: since AI is considered our collective intelligence and a superhuman assistant, why not have it analyze his handwriting? I fed AI a sample of his writing along with a legible example for comparison. AI provided a thoughtful critique, highlighting the issues and explaining why clear handwriting is essential. When my son read AI’s feedback, he finally understood the problem—something he had ignored despite our constant reminders. To my surprise, he admitted that he now recognized the issues in his handwriting. The best part? His cursive handwriting turned out to be quite good!
Additionally, I sometimes find that the practice problems in his textbooks are insufficient. In such cases, I ask AI to generate additional exercises based on the given guidelines.
AI can assist students just like an intelligent teacher—something they may not always have at school or college.
Today, both computation and AI are boons to society, available at negligible costs. What more could we ask for?
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