The State Of Artificial Intelligence In 2020

Since we wake up and until we go to bed, we live surrounded by Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, through the utilities that our mobile offers with voice assistants (Siri and Alexa); cameras using smart focus, face detection or facial transformations, and web applications that interact with smart functionalities based on recommendations or the treatment of information.

Communication of complex issues such as AI implies greater specialization by communicators and knowledge of scientific dissemination techniques. According to the Digital Frontiers 2019 study, which has been echoed by different specialized newspapers and blogs, 62% of respondents (a total of 1,500) are unaware of Artificial intelligence and other technologies. 

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Specifically, 60% of respondents believe that Artificial intelligence is a robot. In this sense, the engineer Nuria Oliver explains in an interview that, trying to answer this question, she did a street survey to ask people what they thought AI was. Most of the people answered that they did not know the term and those who claimed to know it related it to Chinese robots. This anecdotal curiosity brings to the table the need to report and do it rigorously on technological advances in general and on AI in particular.

Furthermore, the report alerts on the importance of including a range of voices in the discussions. “Academics, activists, politicians, civilians, and public officials, among others, can all contribute to a rich and sophisticated debate around this technology, the report clarifies.

Artificial Intelligence in Everyday life

Robotics and Artificial intelligence have become essential in the different facets of everyday life, both in the workplace, in private life, or in personal relationships. This implies certain challenges that urgently need to rethink both the structures and the conception of production itself at all levels. In this debate, the changes taking place in jobs and professional profiles have a special role. According to the Andalusian economist, Manuel Hidalgo Pérez in his work “The employment of the future”, nations will adapt to technological advances to the extent that their inhabitants are flexible, active, and adapt to uninterrupted learning.

In the work of Calvo-Rubio and Ufarte, the perception that exists in the professional and academic sector about the use of Artificial intelligence Technology in journalism is analyzed. The results indicate that this technology will not have a negative impact on the journalistic labor market. And it also points out that there is a consensus that the quality of automated news presents important deficiencies, as well as the need to bet on a solid training for journalists that integrates the use of emerging technologies and considers the associated ethical issues.

How Artificial Intelligence can change the future

Precisely, one way to counter the ethical risks associated with technology is for society to be duly informed about these advances. In general terms, academic publications on rigor Artificial intelligence and contextualization in communication about science and technology on the internet are scarce.  The monographic “Journalism and scientific dissemination. Trends in the Ibero-American sphere ” was led by Professor Carolina Moreno, who presents an overview of science communication, with some chapters focused on the internet, including a wide catalog of useful tools for scientists and communicators.

Another interesting investigation along this line, with a long history, is that of Colson, which analyzes the different channels used for the dissemination of information on science and the views of journalists on scientist-bloggers and vice versa. This research concludes that science journalists generally do not consider science blogs as valuable sources of information. 

Many are awarded by different associations. Another blog that addressed technology combining very good ingredients was Retiario, by the late popularizer Pepe Cervera, a biologist, paleontologist, and journalism professor, who was also an “essential” in Naukas quotes.

Discovering and enacting the path
to safe Artificial Intelligence

In their study of teens’ interest in internet science, Weigold and Treise conducted a content analysis of a sample of science websites. Among the strengths detected, it should be noted that many of these sites had a specific objective, a well-defined audience, presence of interactive elements, attractive design, and multimedia elements. 

They often managed to turn science into engaging content, using humor and entertainment as a means of sparking interest. In the second part of this study, the authors analyze the reaction of adolescents to these contents through focus groups and conclude that among the characteristics of the contents that most attract users are the value of entertainment, usefulness, frequency upgradeable, easy to navigate, an abundance of graphics and interactivity.

Other studies also delve into new narratives applied to the dissemination of health-related topics, an area that will continue to gain prominence after the current pandemic COVID-19, with the aim of improving communication between experts, public health policies, and the general public. The document published by the World Health Organization entitled “WHO Strategic Communications Framework for effective communications”, is also committed to giving importance to stories to effectively reach audiences, as well as using multimedia resources to make them more attractive content. In this regard, WHO makes communicators available to the Who Media Center, a website that provides journalists with information to create a compelling story, as well as photos, infographics, videos, and links to other resources, such as data files, datasheets, and online questions and answers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) Uses:

You may be wondering what AI refers to, it does not have a specific definition, but we could define it as follows: Any behavior that a machine performs and that we humans classify as intelligent.

This intelligence that the machines acquire is achieved through algorithms, which receive a significant number of samples to classify them correctly and know how to act before the stimulus we give them. Therefore, it is very important that the samples that are provided are of quality, but the action that would be taken would not be correct.

To make it better understood, an example of artificial intelligence would be the recommendation of Netflix content. This website receives information on the movies/series we watch, through its algorithm it classifies them and offers us similar content to those we have already viewed. He has intelligent behavior, knows what we like, and proposes it to us.

The problem is that today, the majority of the population sees AI as an enemy. Many worries that it may cause their dismissal, that they may invade the world, or simply that people prefer to live in the past as it is more comfortable than evolving.

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