Have you ever proofread your essay through an application such as Grammarly? Have you received the information about your transactions from your mobile bank? You must've learned how busy an area is through apps like Google Maps. AI-powered technology has permeated our everyday lives, and rest assured it is here to stay. Artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging field, often named the skill of the century and influences each sphere of life. It promises and continues to revolutionise our personal and professional lives. Thus, it is essential to understand it. Studying AI will help you keep up with trends, making your daily tasks and work more efficient. Most importantly, it can assist in solving the world's pressing issues, from poverty to inequalities.
Scroll further as we suggest various reasons AI technology is beneficial on an individual and global scale.
Artificial Intelligence 101
Before diving into some compelling reasons to study AI, it is valuable to understand what the science of artificial intelligence entails. In simple terms, AI is software that makes technology understand, make decisions and solve problems like a human by feeding it big data. AI can perform tasks that save time for a human - this can be something as simple as asking Apple's Siri for a weather forecast or making Amazon's Alexa skip a song from your playlist. Scientists are also working to develop AI to think and act like humans to solve more complex issues. Hence, the word intelligence. Even more, the innovations could lead to intelligence that surpasses that of humans to make decisions rationally, solve unanswered questions and predict the future. Examples of AI technologies include chatbots, speech or facial recognition, smart homes, and self-driving cars.
Why should you study AI?
Study AI for Yourself
- Satisfy your curiosity by exploring the fast-evolving field and growing personally
Studying AI opens you up to endless possibilities for exploration and discovery. Making technology reach its fullest potential means challenging your capabilities as well. Human imagination is limitless, and many concepts have arisen in the field that could dramatically change the course of our future. Ideas such as transhumanism and singularity are gaining popularity, constantly pushing boundaries. Exploring AI may excite or raise concerns for the future of humanity. Regardless of seeing it as a positive or a negative, exploring this fast-evolving field and pondering ways to develop or hinder some aspects leads to a sense of intellectual fulfilment.
Interestingly, trying to work on making AI act and think like a human shows who you are and what you want as you define humanity. If a specific technology is supposed to act like you, it is vital to know yourself first. As a result, you start to understand yourself while developing your critical thinking and problem-solving skills further.
- Gain a wide range of career opportunities within the field
The variations within the field are immense. If you decide to study AI, it opens up considerable career opportunities in machine learning, engineering, or research. Maybe you are curious about robotics, or you like working with data. Perhaps, you are passionate about researching the topic further and contributing to it with new findings. Beyond this, AI crosses paths with nearly every other field. You don't have to opt for the tech industry as you will come across AI-related jobs in other prospects, right from Arts and Healthcare to Sports and Transportation.
- Receive various work opportunities and a high salary due to the high demand for skilled professionals
If the variety was not enough advantage, studying AI can lead to highly demanded and well-paid job prospects. As AI technology gains popularity, the demand for skilled professionals also considerably increases. With many job openings, you are more likely to get employed with your AI knowledge and expertise. As a bonus, annual salaries average around $100,000, and higher, depending on the country. Thus, not only will you raise your employability by studying AI, but you will also get paid well for it.
- Make your job search easier by getting acquainted with AI possibilities
Finding jobs can become simple in many ways with the assistance of AI technology. AI tools can make the search more personalised and efficient. Utilising different tools to optimise your resume and profile is the key to entering the competitive market. These tools can scan and tweak your resume according to your preferred job description. It could also find positions that match your needs and interests from the pool of many job openings.
College Life Work is one of the ways you can instantly get matched with suitable job openings after creating your resume and only then applying for it.
- Stay updated on recent developments that impact today's world to embrace the advantages and avoid the disadvantages
Studying AI is a beneficial decision for a student or a working professional, regardless of choosing it for your career path. The acquired knowledge gives you insights into recent advancements that alter our everyday lives. AI is here to stay, so staying updated on these latest developments is crucial, even if you are sceptical about it. The only way to deal with the fears associated with it is to inform yourself and find ways to hinder the dangers while embracing the positives. One way to do this is through specific rules, instructions, and laws and by learning the proper processes to employ AI technology.
- Learn to automate tedious tasks to make your life easier and more efficient
One of the benefits you'll experience right away if you study AI is the efficiency it offers when implementing it in your daily tasks. AI is already making your life easier without you thinking twice about it. For instance, when you're writing an email, by evaluating the content, Gmail shows appropriate suggestions to finish your sentences. Various digital calendars are available that help you send reminders to remember everything you have set as tasks. Maybe, you've even been surprised when an event you've planned pops up in your Apple calendar at a specific time with a correct location without you putting it there. AI technology can process large amounts of data, which would otherwise be tiring for a human, resulting in possible errors. Therefore, automating repetitive tasks saves you a lot of time and energy you could spend on more meaningful and creative work.
- Making your work easier by helping optimise your business operations, increasing efficiency, and reducing costs
AI makes your work life easier with more than merely helping you write emails. Employing AI technology for your machines will help predict and prevent equipment failures, reducing downtime and maintenance costs. For instance, if you work in production, you can increase the reliability of your equipment by implementing AI that can continuously monitor and analyse your machines. By providing you with diagnostics and predictions, you will avoid interruptions and identify areas for improvement.
If your work involves customer support, AI can help provide this at all times through chatbots and virtual assistants. A human is still needed to answer complex questions; however, usual inquiries can be answered quickly and accurately by AI-powered bots that analyse all the data from your website.
- Employ intelligent virtual assistants that can help you in your daily life
These intelligent virtual assistants are helpful in your daily life too. From Alexa and Siri to other virtual assistants, you can directly ask for tasks otherwise done manually. It can set reminders, monitor health, tell you the news, and answer questions you would've probably Googled. It's as if you were asking information about a topic to your friend - the only difference is you might get a more accurate and objective answer.
An exciting development in this field you can study is the emergence of service robots useful in tasks such as cleaning and sanitation, delivery, or rehabilitation. These are the AI-powered robots that operate semi- or fully autonomously. This transition makes your technology more personalised and autonomous.
- Improve your security and protection against fraud
Feeling safe is a must for every human. Video surveillance makes us feel safe, yet it's a daunting task for a human behind the cameras. AI-operated video surveillance can assess whether the situation is hazardous with the help of predefined algorithms. When an activity seems suspicious for the system, the security guards immediately get a notification. This way of optimising promises more safety as a human's tired eye may miss a threat or, even if identified, lose the alertness to act when needed.
Moreover, AI is an optimal way of detecting fraudulent activities. Since it can analyse large amounts of data, it can predict and assess whether a particular activity is a fraud. For instance, when a bank calls or sends you a text about a potentially fraudulent transaction, it is usually detected using algorithms. Consequently, by studying AI, you can improve your security at work and in your personal life.
- Obtain more personalised learning experiences
In this age, it's increasingly important to personalise learning experiences even more. The 'one size fits all' is an outdated approach that is still commonly used. However, what if you could acquire a more personalised path by studying and applying AI to it?! An individual gets more influence on how to move through the process instead of following a predefined method. AI technology can assess your level and adapt accordingly. A famous example that might've already popped up in your head after reading this is Duolingo - a language-learning online app. With the help of AI, the lessons in the app are tailored to your level and pace.
- Understand and treat mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety
Mental health is as important as your physical health. Mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, are gaining more attention. AI can help analyse data and identify risk factors for mental health disorders, leading to earlier interventions and treatments. The development of AI for diagnosis seems promising, as it detected anxiety symptoms with 92% accuracy. Therapists and human interference still remain a vital part of the treatment. AI can assist professionals in analysing, diagnosing, and treating disorders better.
- Enhance your entertainment experiences by receiving personalised recommendations and attending events
Nobody wants to have movies and music in their recommended list if it's not within their genre or interest. Thanks to employing AI that can evaluate your likings through your previous activities, apps such as Spotify and Netflix can personalise recommendations.
AI's influence on our entertainment goes beyond this. A museum in Bologna, Italy, implemented artificial intelligence to better curate exhibitions by analysing the visitors' facial expressions and emotional reactions. Interestingly, there's an emergence of AI art or music. You can now also create or simply immerse in AI-generated content. The first physical AI gallery, Dead End AI Gallery, was opened in Amsterdam; A portrait created by artificial intelligence sold for $432500 at Christie's auction; an AI-generated picture won a prize in 2022. The possibilities in the entertainment industry are limitless, and you can simply enjoy or experiment with it by studying AI.
Embrace AI technology for the Good of the World
- Create a more personalised and efficient education sector
Making strides in the education sector is vital for the world. AI can contribute to it on an individual level and globally too. Through data analysis, AI-powered technology can help produce personalised learning for students, which could result in fewer chances of dropping out. Alternatively, this could be an insightful source for teachers to understand their students' preferences and capabilities. With this information, professors themselves can optimise their teaching accordingly.
Education sectors can also benefit from having chatbots answer frequently asked questions. By saving time from this, humans can focus on answering more complex questions to provide better help to students.
- Reduce the number of accidents by developing self-driving cars
Self-driving cars are becoming hype, and many startups or tech companies are taking up the challenge to develop them. AI-powered systems can detect other vehicles, pedestrians, or cyclists and respond to traffic changes and road conditions. Its key focus would be on safety, reducing the risk of accidents. Self-driving cars are the thing of the future that you can contribute to if you study AI.
- Develop smart homes that are more sustainable by reducing waste
Sustainability is critical to making the world a better place to live. AI can help us make more sustainable choices at home if we implement smart devices. AI-powered systems can help regulate temperature, lighting, and energy usage in homes and buildings, reducing waste and saving costs. It can also help monitor and manage water usage at a time when water waste has become a global concern. We don't realise the amount of waste we produce daily, but thankfully, AI devices can help us reach optimal utilisation.
- Take part in solving the climate crisis
The climate crisis has been on everyone's tongues identifying and is probably the biggest problem we face today. Employing AI can be an efficient tool that could help us overcome this challenge. For instance, AI can create more efficient and sustainable supply chains, one of the sources of continuously creating environmental waste. AI technology can also help analyse data to optimise renewable energy generation. Like in any other field, the opportunities are countless and still in development. Therefore, by studying AI, you could largely influence the process of solving the climate crisis.
- Help reduce inequalities by assisting people with disabilities
Accessibility is one of the reasons inequalities exist in the world. AI can help reduce this through virtual assistance, helping people with disabilities with daily tasks, or monitoring health through voice detection. Voice assistance is helpful as it aids in communication and understanding the surroundings.
AI technology has raised many concerns, and inequality is one of them. Unfortunately, since human prejudices exist in the historical data fed to the machines, the results from AI are also discriminatory. Yet, plans are underway to reduce this, and by studying AI, you can take part in solving the issue and working on unbiased data.
- Contribute to combating poverty
Next to inequalities and climate crisis comes the issue of poverty. With the help of AI, it's become easier to predict and track poverty levels in different areas and find those in need by obtaining and analysing data. This data can be satellite images fed into the machine, both daytime and nighttime imagery, to find patterns and predict the distribution of poverty. Charities employ help from AI for a more targeted outreach to communities that need their efforts.
Some companies are experimenting with robotics to assist with agriculture as it is a significant aspect of making a living for poorer communities. With the help of AI's ability to track large amounts of information, scientists can understand plant growth, create crops more efficiently and improve agricultural yield. Thus, by studying AI, you can considerably contribute to combating poverty by making more efficient efforts in different areas.
- Assist with reducing human trafficking
Human trafficking remains a pervasive issue, and in the internet age, traffickers have found ways of luring victims through online advertisements. Again, AI technology can help, as algorithms can search and review suspect advertisements while analysing data to identify potential victims. AI can serve as an efficient assistant for detectives who otherwise go through hundreds of online ads and identify the missing person on one of the adult services. With the help of technology, you can go through millions of ads and have an outreach on a transnational level.
- Better predict natural disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes
We can feel powerless against natural disasters as it seems inevitable to prevent and has tragic consequences. Yet, what if we could better predict when the hurricane will hit? What if we could respond to it more efficiently? With the assistance of AI-powered technologies, monitoring satellite images to predict such disasters is now made possible, which can help humans be more prepared and plan funds and other resources for help. AI can also help spread the news while quickly analysing the damage to identify the aid necessary for the area for better disaster management.
- Better predict the spread of infectious diseases
After living through the pandemic, COVID-19, predicting diseases has become a clear priority. AI technology is a promising solution as now scientists can better predict the spread and identify targets. Predicting the spread of infectious diseases can be tiring for the human mind as it involves many aspects, from demographics and environmental conditions to individual factors. Thus, different AI systems can come in handy to acquire accurate information from analysing complex data for better preparation by studying it and working on a drug.
- Create and employ intelligent robots and other automated systems that perform dangerous and challenging tasks for humans
AI technology can be a helpful tool not only to save time and energy but also to avoid dangerous situations. There are many examples of how people used to die or permanently damage their health due to their work conditions. With recent developments, testing AI-powered robots in hazardous environments, from mining to space exploration, is underway. AI-powered drones can help with search and rescue operations; robotics are used for monitoring and assessing the damage in burning buildings, cleaning up nuclear and radioactive areas, and defusing bombs - the possibilities seem limitless. There are already multiple successful examples, and it's only going to develop more, altering the lives of humanity for the better.
- Take part in transforming healthcare and improving patient experience
Living a healthy life is a critical need for every human, and improving the sector can greatly impact the world. AI has already found its place in healthcare through numerous processes. Identifying the medical issue as early as possible is essential, and AI is said to be largely successful in this. These machines can better diagnose specific types of cancers, detect some other diseases earlier and identify high-risk patients. Additionally, AI-powered medical devices and systems can help diagnose people remotely - efficient and optimal for those unable to be physically present. An intriguing example of employing AI-powered healthcare technologies is the super nurse program in one of the hospitals in Tel Aviv; the machine can monitor multiple patients in different rooms by measuring their blood pressure or breathing. This “super nurse” can understand when the patient's condition has worsened and alarm doctors.
Conclusion
Perhaps we have seen one too many dystopian science fiction films and tv series to envision AI as the evil in the world. Yet, through many instances and reasons identified above, learning more about AI can be a fulfilling choice for yourself and the world. Reasons to study AI will help you enter the fast-evolving field where you will be needed and appreciated. You can be imaginative, creative, and innovative to experiment with the endless possibilities of AI. In turn, you'll contribute to the work you're proud of while making your everyday life and other processes more efficient. Even with its controversial name, artificial intelligence has a promising future, and you can be a part of it.
Which artificial intelligence tools are you using in your life already? Will you be embracing more options? Let us know below!
