So who’s afraid of Artificial Intelligence? Whatever you think about AI, it’s here to stay. And it is growing bigger and more powerful day by day.
In some places in America, “McDonald’s is using robotics to make your food,” Dr Michael Torrence, president of Motlow State Community College, told The Rotary Club of McMinnville at its weekly luncheon Thursday at First Presbyterian Church.
But there’s more. Cameras at those fast food stores might be grabbing your image as you approach the drive-through. With facial recognition software and massive computing power, McDonald’s robots might anticipate your food order.
Do you still like the Big Mac with mustard, no mayo? And have you been ordering large fries instead of their smaller size? And, of course, you always order sweet tea and an apple turnover.
Your past preferences are stored in the “cloud” and can be instantly downloaded to serve up exactly what you want, with speed and accuracy. All of this results from a ‘customer profile.
“AI is a tool you are using nearly every day,” Torrence said, noting that the technology is imbedded in our smart phones and the platforms they connect with through the internet. Spell check and auto-fill are just two examples of the ubiquity and influence of the Large Language Learning models that power AI, a potential that was emerging in the infancy of electronic computers in the 1950s.
“I don’t think anyone in this room needs to worry about AI or algorithms taking our jobs,” Torrence assured the Rotary audience.
“The results of AI come from the human heart,” he asserted, noting that people are still in charge of the inputs and mechanisms that underpin Artificial Intelligence. In this sense, AI shares with fire the prospects of delivering great benefits to mankind — but also the potential for unimaginable harm, destruction, loss and suffering.
“Man is the greatest threat,” he emphasized.
One major example of the good vs. evil dichotomy, Torrence observed, is in the area of healthcare and the possibilities of genetic re-engineering, lab-created organs or inter-species organ and tissue transplants.
“Is there a way we can use technology until we have cures for dementia or diabetes?” he asked rhetorically. “If we could devise a platform to give you more time” perhaps that would figure into the calculations of bioethics, Torrence mused. In any event, it might be a tool that could extend lives threatened by disease and confer a better quality of life in our waning days.
Motlow College offers a range of courses in information technology, computer networking, cybersecurity and AI, the guest speaker said in a radio interview recorded following the Rotary luncheon. That half-hour conversation will air on McMinnville Public Radio 91.3-WCPI this Tuesday at 5 p.m and again Thursday at 1 p.m.
In that dialogue he stresses the personal and economic value of skill training from such institutions as Motlow. Successful completion of a degree or certificate program at the community college translates in a general social benefit, diffusing throughout the community and the entire state.
“The success of one Tennessean is a success for all Tennesseans. The failure of one is a failure for all Tennesseans,” he commented, underscoring the value-added to the whole social fabric.
Torrence earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of South Dakota, followed by the PhD in Exceptional Learning (literacy) at Tennessee Technological University. He became president of the multi-campus Motlow State Community College in May 2018.
The statewide system of community colleges and the Colleges of Applied Technology are governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents, with Dr. Flora Tydings as chancellor.
