While the productive benefits of AI remain a hot topic, something that is often overlooked are the economic effects. Currently the United States is a very economically divided country, and according to Devin Coldewey of Telecrunch, AI may perpetuate this divide. The rationale for this thought is that AI mostly helps people that are already very well off and may take the place of people that are less well off. The ideas brought up in Devin Coldeway's article on how to combat the economic divide brought about by AI are for the United States to invest in AI so jobs are not outsourced, to educate and train children for jobs of the future that will use AI, and to modernize our labor practices in terms of minimum wage, job security, and benefits so that people will depreciated jobs will not be displaced. I wholeheartedly agree with Coldewey's plan to combat the economic effects of AI and think the above mentioned policies would allow for technological progress without taking a toll on the middle or lower class working American. Coldewey's plan would set America up to be a leading force in AI development and implementation, while stilling allowing less education or skilled workers to maintain in the workforce (Coldewey).
Works Cited
Coldewey, Devin. "The White House’s Report on AI and the Economy Warns of Increasing inequality." TechCrunch. TechCrunch, 20 Dec. 2016. Web. 13 Jan. 2017. <https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/20/the-white-houses-report-on-ai-and-the-economy-warns-of-increasing-inequality/>.
Comments
Samuel Kim
You did a very good job describing AI. I wrote a very similar post stating that the benefits of AI are very large, but the opportunity of disaster is still there. I agree that with the further development of AI, the dangers may be reduced and hopefully AI will become widespread.
Brandom Mengel
It really is amazing how quickly 3D printing is evolving! I had never thought that buildings would be 3D printed, but it seems like an incredible technological advance given how often problems arise in new homes due to faulty construction. 3D printing would greatly reduce the chances of a building being constructed improperly, and according to your source would cost an astounding 50% less! I agree that people may end up losing jobs to 3D printers, but hopefully more would be created as people would need to monitor the printers and ensure the construction process moved smoothly. I too am excited to see where technology will take us in regards to 3D printing!
Ray Powell
Ray, I hadn't thought much about the applications of AI for HVAC systems, but your ideas seem very promising. I hope they will be further incorporated and provide us with cleaner, safer, and less polluted work environments. I hope that our sensor technology is advanced enough to accommodate these changes, but I'm sure if we are not there now we will be there soon.
Brandom Mengel
It really is amazing how quickly 3D printing is evolving! I had never thought that buildings would be 3D printed, but it seems like an incredible technological advance given how often problems arise in new homes due to faulty construction. 3D printing would greatly reduce the chances of a building being constructed improperly, and according to your source would cost an astounding 50% less! I agree that people may end up losing jobs to 3D printers, but hopefully more would be created as people would need to monitor the printers and ensure the construction process moved smoothly. I too am excited to see where technology will take us in regards to 3D printing!
Ray Powell
Ray, I hadn't thought much about the applications of AI for HVAC systems, but your ideas seem very promising. I hope they will be further incorporated and provide us with cleaner, safer, and less polluted work environments. I hope that our sensor technology is advanced enough to accommodate these changes, but I'm sure if we are not there now we will be there soon.
I've come across a similar technology that actually does a job humans don't prefer to do. Little robots were inserted inside sewer systems to inspect the condition of pipes and suggest possible improvements. There robots were equipped with a videocamera, that allowed the engineer on the ground to see the footage and steer the robot in the right direction, maybe snap some close-up picture of problematic pipe sections, etc. The size and flexibility of this robot allowed it to be inserted in pipes that could possibly not fit a human being.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Quicabot seems like a very exciting technology that effectively assesses building conditions. It seems effective in the way of really being able to detect faulty installments correctly; it could be doing a better job than the human eye in that aspect. I think it's a great idea that it works alongside a human, at least for the first few years while the technology isn't perfected and able to make decisions on its own about conditions it hasn't encountered before.
So Group C was given the slightly different task of observing robotics, artificial intelligence, and 3D printing as opposed to Group B's acknowledgment of structure and BIM. I am really glad I looked at Peter's blog because I did not know what "Quicabot" was. This inspection robot is incredible for structural observations as well as HVAC leakage. I honestly did not know this technology was here already, I imagine it to be in the distant future. I think the future of Quicabot is to become integrated with BIM, it could do its inspection scan and report everything into the building model to be stored. Maybe this scanning inspection robot can do periodic structural inspections, too, on structures in a similar way we are trying to with drones.
ReplyDeletePeter,
ReplyDeleteThe Quicabot seems to have already cemented a spot in the construction industry thus far. As you said, if the Quicabot is already said to have a more reliable judgement and can inspect a building in less than half the time a human can, why would we work alongside it? If a human is already inspecting the building, purchasing the intellectual knowledge or the actual robot would be a waste of resources in my mind. Personally I am for the increase of robotics in the construction industry, however I think the design needs to work alongside the human instead of replacing. It seems as though the human takes a backseat to the Quicabot instead of having the robot aid the human in inspecting the building.
Dannemann,
ReplyDeleteQuicabot seems to be a very interesting feature that can be used in construction. I do think that human can make better judgements than robots. If human and robots can work together inspecting buildings, I have no doubts that there will be better reports. Robots can do things that human cannot do, and vice-versa. Now, if the industry implements this idea of having both robots and humans working together, there will not be loss of jobs. Now, this is easy to say, but we have to take into consideration the budget of the company. Do you think Quicabot robots will do a better job? How accurate are they? How often do they need maintenance? And how much does it cost? I believe these questions were asked and discussed before. What do you think?
Quicabot is a robot I have never heard of and I'm so glad I read your post. I think it is so interesting that it can inspect a building faster and better than a human. As a coop I inspected a few buildings with an experienced coworker and it is not a very thorough process. It is easy to miss a vital flaw or to focus on something that isn't too important. I think the only question I may have about Quicabot is how it would handle a malfunction and what that might look like in a building inspection report.
ReplyDelete