From industry to healthcare to the media and even the creative arts, artificial intelligence is already having an impact on our daily lives. It's hailed by advocates as a gift to humanity, but others worry about the long-term effects on society.
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00:00Artificial intelligence is amazing with its potential to change reality as we have found it so far.
00:17Of course, artificial intelligence helps in many simulations.
00:22As humans, we have evolved through thousands of years, right?
00:27And this rapid space of development now is a matter of months.
00:33It's like giving one of the early astronomers a telescope.
00:43Modern robots nowadays learn a lot with artificial intelligence.
00:51But what about the future?
01:02Developed and fiercely defended by some, criticized when not openly feared by others,
01:08in the mouth of all, AI, artificial intelligence, generates these days passionate expectations,
01:14but also generalized concerns throughout the European Union.
01:18Who are the potential winners and who are the potential losers of this new digital revolution?
01:24On Friday, this report begins in one of the countries where this debate begins to be heard strongly.
01:30Here, in Austria.
01:38At the Technical University of Vienna, researchers are testing new prototypes equipped with artificial intelligence.
01:48This robot has been designed to autonomously create three-dimensional maps of the interior of buildings.
01:54It could help save lives in rescue operations where humans cannot access.
02:18And all of this is part of a modern robot.
02:23Scientists also use AI to develop robots capable of simulating how elastic objects react to human touch.
02:36The technology could be useful for future architects or aeronautical engineers.
02:43An autonomous robot works in a kind of loop.
02:46This loop has three different steps.
02:48One is sensing the environment, so understanding what is around.
02:52The second is decision-making.
02:54And the third one is the course of action, so what kind of actions it needs to plan and do in order to perform a service.
03:02So in each of these three, AI plays a very crucial role.
03:06It is not surprising, therefore, that here AI is considered a golden opportunity, if it is used properly.
03:36We consider what is it good for, what can we use it for, and how do we apply it.
03:41We use it wisely, I would say.
03:44We consider where it makes sense, where it can improve our work, but not use it blindly.
03:50So we want to understand what is going on.
03:56Three out of four European workers have already used AI in some way.
04:07AI develops virtual reality tools.
04:13It helps to transcribe medieval manuscripts.
04:18It contributes to the design of autonomous vehicles.
04:24Or futuristic buildings.
04:28But its use also concerns schools and universities,
04:32while workers and trade unions fear its effect in certain labor niches.
04:38And even artists confront their growing capacities with our human creativity.
04:49This artist, for example, asked for ideas for different generative AI tools
04:54for a cultural event in a Viennese canal.
05:00Artists literally gave life to the texts suggested by eccentrics that could seem.
05:08Its hyper-realistic implementation made up an audiovisual exhibition.
05:15Whether it inspires you depends on how you try to use it.
05:21If you take it as a source of reality, I don't think you can go any further.
05:26But if you say, aha, she writes to us, we should set up a canal cleaning team,
05:34then it's a very funny idea, and we actually implemented it.
05:39We went with nets and pulled the waste out of the canal.
05:45Renat says that artists also observe this incipient revolution of AI
05:51with curiosity, amazement and caution.
05:57We wanted to show the audience that artificial intelligence is not always frightening.
06:06It is frightening with its potential to change reality.
06:12But it can be something great, it can be something very bad.
06:20It is useful, and it is very important that people are very aware
06:26of what they are doing with artificial intelligence.
06:35Even in Vienna, I meet with researchers who use AI
06:39to optimize intensive care units in hospitals to save more lives.
06:46AI systems have existed since the 1950s.
06:49The big difference now, explain these experts,
06:52is their growing generative capacity and how we use it.
07:00These software systems are being built into our phones,
07:04into the computers that we use.
07:07These software systems work in a predictable manner
07:11and they actually solve the problems that they are supposed to do.
07:14That's certainly the responsibility of the developers of artificial intelligence systems.
07:21In human history, we have always developed tools
07:25and we have been very successful in developing tools.
07:28And usually, most of the time, those tools have made our lives easier.
07:38In search of examples of how AI is making our lives easier,
07:42I travel to Innsbruck.
07:46This startup uses it to transcribe historical documents
07:50that are so far unclear, cryptic, wrong or simply illegible,
07:54thus expanding our understanding of the past.
07:58AI has allowed the creation of 35 jobs here.
08:29And when you combine the two, that's when you get the most powerful results then.
08:33No one could read 10,000 pages in a meaningful time frame,
08:38but the AI can.
08:40And it can tell you, look, these are especially interesting parts of these documents.
08:44It's like giving one of the early astronomers a telescope,
08:49but it's much more, because imagine the telescope could talk to you
08:54and give you hints as to where a star is.
08:58And I think that's really beautiful.
09:01But this beauty also has its risks,
09:04and according to some voices, nowhere is more urgent to address them than in schools.
09:10This center offers bilingual education to about 800 students.
09:16Screens and computers have largely been replaced by blackboards or notebooks.
09:21The term AI is omnipresent in many classrooms.
09:24It can be used to expand knowledge,
09:27but it can also end creativity, the teachers admit.
09:32They claim that their students use it in a constructive way,
09:35not just to collect data effortlessly, without meaning,
09:39or, what's worse, to copy in homework or exams.
09:44The challenge is for us as educators is to make sure that the tasks
09:48that we create for the students don't allow them to just use AI
09:53as a simple way of getting tasks done.
09:57So we encourage them to use AI to develop a quick understanding,
10:03and then we go into inquiry learning,
10:07where we want them to reflect and analyze the information that they have,
10:11and then make their own opinions, use their own research,
10:15and develop their own conclusions.
10:19There are also voices who wonder if AI could become an educational tool
10:24or even replace teachers.
10:27It won't be soon, says the school director.
10:31We would like the students to be critical thinkers,
10:34that they look behind the scenes, that they question what they read,
10:38and that's what AI cannot provide, that's only what teachers can provide.
10:42Opportunities and threats related to AI also seem evident in this architecture study.
10:47They have just won a project to develop 1,200 residential units in Turkey
10:52and another to build federal buildings in Berlin.
10:57AI played a crucial role in both.
11:02In the past, with algorithms, with mathematical methods,
11:06we set up simulations for days and weeks,
11:09and now we can set up such simulations in the shortest possible time.
11:14But these architects admit that AI could also become a solid competitor.
11:20Planning works with a lot of departments and specialists,
11:25and artificial intelligence can also be used.
11:29Planning works with a lot of departments and specialists,
11:34and artificial intelligence can only work if there is harmony.
11:39In planning, it is very difficult to bring all disciplines into one line,
11:45but we often see that many architects work with artificial intelligence.
11:59The debate has also been very present here in Estonia,
12:03in one of the most advanced digital countries in the whole of the European Union.
12:14My first appointment is on board this autonomous vehicle.
12:23It can circulate through previously mapped public roads in 3D.
12:28Artificial intelligence partially controls some of its systems.
12:35AI tools are also offering their designers new business lines.
12:42AI tools, they haven't only changed the efficiency of developing the autonomous systems itself,
12:48but we are gathering from the vehicles a lot of data,
12:51and a lot of AI tools are there for us to understand what does this data mean to us,
12:56what we have to more concentrate in the development process,
13:00what has to be made more efficient, even in the sales processes, in understanding our clients.
13:19In fact, AI is already used as an active mediator in commercial negotiations.
13:26Created 5 years ago, this startup has developed chatbots from IA,
13:31which allow large companies to contact thousands of suppliers simultaneously
13:36and negotiate and determine the most advantageous contracts.
13:41The startup currently employs 100 people.
13:46I remember when we started to think about the idea,
13:49then I told my father about building an AI bot
13:53who is doing negotiations between large enterprises,
13:56and he told me that, Casper, I really wanted to be supportive to you with your new business,
14:03but this is just nonsense.
14:05Negotiations are for humans.
14:07We like to see each other, we like to engage and interact.
14:11No human on the planet would like to have a negotiation with a chatbot.
14:16Please, find something else.
14:20Adapting to new technologies is a risk for your business, for your personal life,
14:25to do something that you don't know the outcome.
14:28On the other hand, the question is, is it riskier than status quo of doing nothing?
14:36But this constant innovation is already a challenge for many.
14:42I visit one of the largest translation agencies in the country.
14:46Established 30 years ago, it employs around 40 people,
14:49between teams and freelancers.
14:52Here, workers don't necessarily fear for their jobs,
14:55but they already notice how AI is changing their working conditions.
15:01Large language modules can do a very good translation,
15:04but they are not 100% exact.
15:06We know that if they don't have enough data, they can hallucinate.
15:10I think humans will always need to be the ones that make the final review
15:16to see if everything is correct.
15:18Now, machine is translating so much faster, so translators,
15:22they are expected to handle more text, more fast.
15:26But as the machine does half of the work, or even more,
15:29then they get paid less for that.
15:31They have to do more work and get paid less.
15:33So this is also very frustrating.
15:36This growing feeling of frustration is also perceived in other sectors,
15:41such as graphic design.
15:46This illustrator quotes me in an exhibition called Magic Forest.
15:50International artists have used digital or analog tools
15:54to produce these illustrations.
15:56AI alone cannot create this form of art yet, she says.
16:05It is amazing to see how a human-style illustrator
16:09combines both emotional, technical, and internal ideas.
16:18It is so unique to her.
16:21It is her style, and it is indestructible.
16:25It is an art made by this person,
16:28and her humor, and her movements.
16:36However, the risk that AI ends up being as sophisticated
16:41as it is to fill some of these gaps is real.
16:44But it is not too late to propose solutions, she says.
16:49But people, but us.
16:51Like the joke that is going around.
16:55We invented robots so that there would be someone
16:59who would do the dirty work,
17:01so that we could do art, culture, and writing.
17:04And yet we do the dirty work,
17:06and the robots do art, culture, and writing.
17:09This is a situation that we don't want.
17:12And then there is, well,
17:15in our so-called full-fledged reality,
17:18a responsibility to regulate
17:22so that it would not be possible to really destroy reality.
17:29During my filming, I have heard several times
17:31the phrase, you will not lose your job because of AI,
17:34you will lose your job at the hands of someone who uses AI.
17:38How can workers prepare themselves
17:41trying to improve their qualifications,
17:44which in itself is a considerable challenge,
17:47says the Secretary of Politics
17:49of the Confederation of Unions of Estonia.
17:53People tend to fear the unknown,
17:55regardless if it is good or bad.
17:58The companies, they are not willing
18:01to always invest huge amounts of money
18:05in upskilling and reskilling the workers.
18:10They tend to do it to the extent
18:12that is absolutely necessary for the company.
18:16Actually, we see that many companies
18:19don't know how to use AI.
18:23I finish my report by visiting the workshop
18:25of the artists Bárbara and Mar.
18:27They are working on a new installation
18:29in which a robotic hand equipped with artificial intelligence
18:33performs a tedious task,
18:35to count the visitors of an exhibition.
18:40Their goal is to promote a critical thinking
18:42about the place of AI in our future societies
18:46and labor markets.
18:49A few years ago, it was said
18:51that the first work that would be automated
18:53would be truck drivers.
18:55But when you puncture a wheel,
18:57when you run out of oil,
18:59what does the truck driver leave you?
19:02In any case, just for this 5%,
19:04the other 95% is no longer worth it.
19:06So, sometimes I think
19:08this reflection is missing more
19:10to see that they can sell us the smoke they want.
19:14But in the end, there is sometimes this 5%
19:17that if they explain the story to you in some way
19:20as they want, they don't see it.
19:22But then it may be
19:24that the whole castle of Naipe falls.
19:28Two out of three surveyed in a recent survey
19:31said that fewer workers will be needed
19:34as AI is implanted in Europe.
19:38But it is still unclear
19:40to what extent this technology
19:42will influence the daily work life
19:44of companies and employees on the continent.
19:52For more UN videos visit www.un.org