It is a fact known to all that machines are gradually taking over or have somewhat taken over most of the jobs. Works that were previously done by human beings are now being done by robots. Robots have displaced a large number of people from their jobs and caused high unemployment in many places. However, the real question arises when people ask what would happen if the robots become more cognitively capable than humans, which the scientists are struggling to answer.
Some scientists say that it is inevitable that the machines or robots may develop brain-like capabilities where they will be able to put reason to everything. This will bring a drastic impact on human civilisation. Maps are a working example of how it has started taking over. Waze and Google Maps help us discover new places, beat traffic-rush, and find the quickest route. We are fast to take suggestions from a machine, but there are situations when we doubt the authenticity of the information provided by these machines.
Yael Karlinsky-Shichor, an assistant professor of marketing at Northeastern University, questions, “what exactly is going on in our heads when we make decisions that override suggestions or recommendations made by automated systems?” She is on a quest to find an answer to this as she specialises on the automation of decision-making. She also studies the psychology between artificial intelligence models and automation.
After conducting several studies, Karlinsky-Shichor found out that there will come a time when AI models might replace human labour. If not so, they might just exist parallelly with the humans. She is also working on a different yet related problem: “How do you get people to faithfully follow suggestions or recommendations made by automated models?” She conjectures that this generally happens when people don’t have enough confidence in their choice; they tend to use the model’s recommendation.
She wishes to continue entangling the complexities of this field by conducting many researches and contribute not only to the field but also the problems faced by several companies.
Subarna Basu