The synergy of humans and AI: Nurturing humanity in the age of innovation

Crossing from the Old World that launched the Age of Exploration to the New World that bore its brunt, our voyage of intelligent discovery lands on day five on the shores of Brazil, named for a tree yielding a dye as red as embers (brasas) so precious Portugal’s bandeirantes eagerly shed the equally carmine blood of the area’s indigenes to obtain the colorant, before these bannermen mixed their own with them and others to produce Brazil’s largely Pardo people. On day five of our quest, radiologist Gustavo Meirelles takes the helm in the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest city to relate how other historic advancements that aroused dire fears at the start were ultimately also fully incorporated into human society.

Shifeng Wang

Chief Editor, The Yuan

Innovation will come from people who are able to link beauty to engineering, humanity to technology, and poetry to processors.

Walter Isaacson

Throughout history, there have been several periods of prosperity for humanity, characterized by advancements in various aspects of social life. The rise of the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations marked periods of prosperity, with significant advancements in areas such as agriculture, architecture, and science laying the foundations for future cultures. The Renaissance and the Enlightenment brought significant progress in arts, knowledge, and literature, and marked the development of modern societies.

More recently, the Industrial Revolution improved living standards, with remarkable shifts in manufacturing, and transport leading to an era of abundance, with most people having access to better housing, nutrition, entertainment, and healthcare. Finally, the post-World War II period witnessed remarkable advancements and increased prosperity in many parts of the world, with economic growth, technological innovations, medical breakthroughs, and increased global connectivity.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has probably been the most disruptive innovation since the Industrial Revolution, with a significant impact across various domains, and shaping societies, industries, and economies. As AI continues to evolve, some predict it is just a matter of time until machines pass the Turing test, engaging in natural language conversations and simulating human-like intelligence - which leads to a growing concern about the potential scenario in which AI systems surpass human intelligence and reach a state where machines may outsmart humans. Recently, more than 1,000 experts in the field called for a six-month pause in AI development, not only to establish frameworks and guidelines for the responsible development and deployment of new algorithms, but also to address potential risks and to ensure AI technologies are aligned with human values and societal well-being.

Machines will certainly become smarter and more capable with technological advances, with notable impacts in different fields. As a physician and an early adopter of technology in healthcare, I can foresee AI augmenting the sector and leading to process automation, error reductions, and quality improvement. AI will also support healthcare professionals with data analytics, lesion measurements, and reduction of repetitive tasks, giving them more time to dedicate to patient care. However, others fear the risks of machine dependency, job losses, misdiagnoses and errors, potential for bias and discrimination, and impacts on the physician-patient relationship. The allocation of responsibility and liability for AI errors is an evolving area of discussion, with legal frameworks and ethical considerations still under debate.

In fact, apprehension and resistance to technological change are part of human nature and a common reaction to innovation and societal transformation. During the Industrial Revolution, the Luddites were a social movement of textile workers who protested against the introduction of new machinery. They even resorted to extreme measures like destroying equipment, burning factories, and engaging in acts of sabotage. More recently, ‘digital Luddites’ - also known as ‘neoluddites’ - have expressed concerns about the potential negative impacts of AI and other new technologies on society, fearing their effects on unemployment, income inequality, privacy loss, and social disruption.

Learning through play

The term ‘outsmart’ implies that AI surpasses humans in multiple respects, including mental ability, performance, problem-solving, decision-making, creativity, and learning abilities. AI algorithms can certainly process vast amounts of data quickly and detect intricate patterns that are not discernible to humans. With access to extensive information repositories and the ability to learn from massive datasets, AI systems can potentially surpass human capabilities in specialized domains. This can be seen in how computers have been taking part in the world of chess for a long time, learning with human expertise and getting better with constant training and playing. AlphaZero, an AI program developed by Google’s DeepMind, had no preprogrammed moves, combinations, or strategies derived from human play. Instead, its skills were developed by playing millions of games against itself, discovering new patterns and strategies, and learning and improving over time.

The prospect of AI outwitting humans brings both promises and concerns. On the one hand, humanity has always dreamed of having a helper. Education and healthcare are two fields in which AI can work as an effective digital assistant for physicians, nurses, and teachers. Chatbots and virtual assistants can handle routine inquiries, schedule appointments, provide patient education, and work as tutors for students. AI-powered systems can also assist in automating paperwork, data entry, and billing processes, reducing administrative burdens, and improving efficiency. AI can also help in drug discovery and vaccine development, speeding up processes, identifying potential drug targets, and predicting the efficacy of drug candidates. Moreover, machines can support radiologists and other physicians to analyze medical images such as CT scans and MRIs with high precision and speed, automating repetitive tasks, reducing work overload and burnout, and leading to early detection and treatment of different diseases. Moreover, machines can support radiologists and other physicians to analyze medical images such as computed tomography scans and magnetic resonance imaging with high precision and speed, automating repetitive tasks, reducing work overload and burnout, and leading to early detection and treatment of various diseases.

Rather than simply viewing AI as a competitor, a better approach would involve exploring the potential for collaboration and synergy between humans and machines. By leveraging the strengths of both humans and AI, it is possible to create a symbiotic relationship that capitalizes on the intuition, creativity, emotional intelligence, and empathy of humans as well as the consistency, objectivity, and efficiency of machines.

“It is far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has.” This is a quote from Hippocrates, the ‘father of medicine,’ from 2,500 years ago. When AI outsmarts humans, machines will be able to process tons of data, pinpoint abnormal findings on an imaging examination in milliseconds, and provide an early diagnosis and estimate prognosis. However, getting to know patients’ fears and anguish, social history and expectations will almost certainly always be a human task. In modern healthcare, AI has the potential to upgrade the healthy instead of just healing the sick, and to help close the gaps and disparities between and within nations. 

As AI gets smarter, humans need to focus on what they do best by increasing their sense of humanity and fostering empathy and collaboration so that they evolve along a different path from machines and become even more human.

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Publicado na coluna de junho de 2023 da The Yuan.