AI - Too Intelligent For Its Own Good?

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is the simulation of human intelligence in machines through computer systems. American computer scientist John McCarthy offers the following definition in the 2004 paper What is Artificial Intelligence?, “It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to biologically observable methods .” AI is transforming our world by revolutionizing industries, automating tasks and decision-making, and unlocking new frontiers of knowledge and innovation. While AI is undeniably revolutionizing industries, ethical and other limitations of its use raise the question of whether it is as good as it sounds.

How does AI transform our industry?

AI is ubiquitous in society and is increasingly deployed across sectors. It is not a futuristic vision, but rather a present reality. This continually evolving technology is used to reshape industries and improve efficiency. In finance, AI has made its way into the field through its advanced algorithmic trading and ability to detect fraud; into the medical field by performing data-driven treatments, as well as using different ways to make discoveries; and into logistics through the use of automation. AI has been acting as a driving force behind significant transformations, by augmenting human capabilities in significant ways and revolutionizing the workforce in our modern world. However, in finance, healthcare, and logistics, what are its contributions and limits, and does it do more harm than good?

AI in Finance

The role of AI is significant in the finance industry, as it offers tremendous opportunities for economic development. It has brought notable changes in important aspects of algorithmic trading, stock exchanges, and fraud detection.

In algorithmic trading, AI systems analyze massive datasets to execute trades at lightning speed. This system optimizes investment strategies while taking advantage of market fluctuations. The impact of AI in finance is seen through the investments made in the United States in recent years, as they have already tripled between 2013 and 2014 from $4 billion to a total amount of $12.2 billion. As stated in Stocks and Bots of the New York Times Magazine, observers in that sector have explained, “Decisions about loans are now being made by software that can take into account a variety of finely parsed data about a borrower, rather than just a credit score and a background check.” AI is utilized in undertaking decisions based on analytical considerations in mere minutes and is designed to minimize the influence of human emotion or bias in investing. This enhances the efficiency of investors and offers more reliable results in a financial landscape.

In the context of a more detailed look into AI’s impact on stock exchange in the financial industry, algorithms have also been observed to detect abnormalities and identify potential market manipulations and/or deviant fraud cases. AI has been programmed to help identify suspicious and unusual transactions and activities, enhancing security against financial crimes. AI detects fraud through the involvement of multiple accounts, devices, and locations, or fraud that is spread across different channels such as online and in-person transactions. It is explained in “Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Economy” from the Executive Office during the Obama administration, that AI helps managers find problems early in the cycle before they reach dangerous levels. The algorithms used in finance are often a combination of different machine learning (ML) models. ML is a subset of AI, as it is used to analyze large amounts of data to reveal hidden patterns and predict outcomes. It is a constant improvement, as the more data ML algorithms are exposed to, the better they perform over time. As the volume of financial transactions continues to grow, the ability to tackle big data analysis sets increases. AI’s impact on the finance industry continues to evolve and redefine the industry, making it a driving force in the transformation of the financial world.

AI in Healthcare

AI technology is rapidly advancing healthcare. Through predictive analytics, personalized medicine, and more efficient diagnosis and treatment, AI is making huge strides in improving the efficiency of patient treatments, and transforms the entire industry. 

AI in healthcare is significant in its ways of making data-driven decisions. By efficiently analyzing large amounts of data, AI can identify trends that human beings would take much longer to identify. It can analyze these trends, along with patient medical history and past data from tests. As researchers at the Mayo Clinic have proven, by aggregating all this data, as well as that on population and statistics, AI identifies the best treatment options much faster than diagnosis carried out by human doctors.

In addition, AI is used to develop new drugs and treatments. By analyzing data from clinical trials, AI can identify patterns that might help find better treatment methods using existing drugs, or entirely new ways of treating diseases. Further, AI screens vast numbers of compounds, to test for effectiveness and success rate of treatment against certain diseases. This technology was showcased in 2021 when researchers at the Mayo Clinic used AI to virtually screen 30 million drugs considered to be possibly effective against COVID-19. The AI was able to narrow down the list of viable candidates by modeling the effects of those compounds, and eventually produced a list of just 25 candidates believed to be effective against the virus. 

"We used a multidrug platform to screen the drug candidates," says Thomas Caulfield, Ph.D., a molecular neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic, "We looked at FDA-approved and clinically tested drugs, as well as novel compounds. By using the computational power of advanced technology, we could determine the best drug, gleaned from a compound library, for further investigation." In a paper published in Biomolecules, researchers are said to have used these results to accelerate drug discovery to identify the most promising targets for additional study. This all contributed to the discovery and advancement of new treatments for COVID-19. AI has helped transform the medical industry in many aspects - by improving patient care, making data-driven decisions, and using ways such as virtual screen testing to develop new drugs, and much more.

Humphries, Matthew. “Zipline Develops a ‘practically Silent’ Autonomous Delivery Drone.” PCMAG.

Zipline is an autonomous fixed-wing aircraft drone which is transforming access to health care, consumer products, as well as food. It has operations in seven countries across three continents, and more than 50 million commercial autonomous miles flown to date. Zipline can launch within minutes, and travel in any weather. This all started with Zipline originally delivering blood and medical products in Rwanda in 2016, and has since expanded to retail, such as agriculture and animal health products. To date, they have delivered to thousands of homes, hospitals, and businesses in the United States, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya and Japan. As such, Zipline is used to save lives, reduce emissions, increase economic opportunity, and provide new logistics services.

Many AI companies like Zipline not only help transform industries in our world - they strive to help people in various aspects as mentioned above. In a conversation with Ryan Nolan, global co-head of Software in Goldman Sachs Investment Banking, and Keller Cliffton, CEO and founder of Zipline, Clifton explains the mission of Zipline as follows: “We wanted to build the first logistics system that would serve all people equally.”

The extent of AI

Undeniably, AI provides significant benefits for our world across sectors, as seen in their rapid inclusion in the finance, healthcare, and logistics sectors, and continues to grow rapidly. However, to what extent can AI continue helping us? Some major issues brought about by the use of AI are ethical concerns, lack of emotional intelligence and creativity, and unemployment.

In all fields, data privacy is a critical ethical concern, as AI systems operate by processing vast amounts of personal data. Especially in healthcare and customer service, any breach of the systems would lead to personal and sensitive information being exposed - medical conditions, addresses, and other private records, if fallen into the wrong hands, would potentially lead to grave danger. Such security concerns demand that regulation in this area be up to date and efficient monitoring enforced, to justify the efficiencies brought about by such technology. From another angle, AI makes its decisions or recommendations based on data - the big assumption, therefore, is that such data is unbiased. If the full picture is not given, the machine will dispense a flawed analysis or diagnosis, which in the context of finance, may lead to market distortions, and in the case of a medical diagnosis, can be potentially life-threatening.

AI, by its very nature, lacks human touch. The human touch encompasses empathy, the ability to recognize nuances, and understanding within context, which are all important factors in the fields of therapy (for example, when a patient is reluctant to provide information, such reasons may need to be looked into), as well as the provision of certain financial services (for example, are certain financial instruments appropriate for its target investors?). Arguably, AI performs at its best when providing logistics solutions - mechanical tasks that require little creativity or sensitivity, such as the deliverance of supplies, as in the case of Zipline. However, this leads to a separate problem - unemployment.

Sure enough, AI in logistics, finance, and healthcare brings cost benefits and efficiency from an employer’s perspective. This in turn leads to a gain by the end customer in the form of possible cost savings, by eliminating or reducing wages of the human workforce. However, from a government’s perspective on a larger scale, and the middle-class family breadwinner’s perspective on a smaller scale, is a vast reduction in employment necessarily a good thing?

One can readily argue that AI replaces humans in the implementation of menial tasks, thereby forcing humans to add value in aspects like creativity, and high-level judgement calls. However, from a social angle, not every family can afford the education and training that leads to input at such a higher-level education. What then, will be their means of livelihood? Survival of the fittest is an easy counter-argument - however, this ignores social stability, which in the current landscape, is something that governments, grappling with geopolitical tensions around the world, would do well to have.

Conclusion: Does it do more harm than good?

AI brings many benefits across different sectors, as illustrated in finance, healthcare, and logistics. However, its potential is limited by ethical concerns, including data privacy and bias, and increasing unemployment in our society. AI’s impact on social stability and economic disparities must be considered alongside its advantages. Some limitations of AI can be mitigated by regulation and efficient monitoring. However, at the end of the day, a good dose of common sense - that stems from human experience and judgement - is required to effectively control what is ultimately a product of human creativity.

Works Cited

“Building the First Logistics System That Serves All People Equally.” Zipline, www.flyzipline.com/about. 

Coban, Mathew A., et al. “Attacking Covid-19 Progression Using Multi-Drug Therapy for Synergetic Target Engagement.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 23 May 2021, www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/11/6/787/htm. 

Executive Office of the President, “Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Economy,” December 2016, pp. 27-28.

How Is Artificial Intelligence Used in Fraud Detection? - Cointelegraph, https://cointelegraph.com/explained/how-is-artificial-intelligence-used-in-fraud-detection 

Humphries, Matthew. “Zipline Develops a ‘practically Silent’ Autonomous Delivery Drone.” PCMAG, PCMag, 15 Mar. 2023, www.pcmag.com/news/zipline-develops-a-practically-silent-autonomous-delivery-drone. 

International, Fraudcom. “Artificial Intelligence - How It’s Used to Detect Financial Fraud.” Fraud.Com, 31 Mar. 2023, www.fraud.com/post/artificial-intelligence#:~:text=AI%2Dpowered%20systems%20can%20monitor,this%20activity%20for%20further%20investigation. 

Jack Karsten, Darrell M. West, et al. “How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming the World.” Brookings, 27 June 2023, www.brookings.edu/articles/how-artificial-intelligence-is-transforming-the-world/. 

“Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, CEO and Co-Founder of Zipline.” Goldman Sachs, 15 June 2023, www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/talks-at-gs/keller-rinaudo-cliffton.html. 

Nathaniel Popper, “Stocks and Bots,” New York Times Magazine, February 28, 2016.

“Using AI to Screen 30 Million Drug Candidates against SARS-COV-2 - Mayo Clinic News Network.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 16 July 2021, https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/using-ai-to-screen-30-million-drug-candidates-against-sars-cov-2/ 

What Is Artificial Intelligence?, https://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai/