By Dr Sajad Hussein Kamarally
Today, I found myself thinking about how much technology has changed our lives. For the better? Or for the worse? I honestly don’t know.May be it is a little of both.
You see, there is something very human about us. We have an inborn streak of laziness. The moment we discover something that means we no longer have to work quite so hard, we gladly embrace it.
And that brings me to Artificial Intelligence,(AI).
If AI can do a student’s homework, what happens to the student?He may get the answer,but does he understand it? Does he understand the principle behind it? The concept? The reason why the answer is what it is? More importantly, has he learned how to think? That is what worries me.
The danger is not AI itself. The danger is what happens when we allow AI to do the thinking for us.
A student who constantly asks AI for the answer may gradually lose the patience to struggle with a difficult problem. He may stop asking, “Why?” and become satisfied with simply asking, “What is the answer?” There is a world of difference between the two.
I am certainly not suggesting that AI should be banned. That would be neither possible nor wise. AI can be enormously useful.
It can help a doctor analyse information. It can help a teacher prepare learning materials. It can help a small business owner draft a letter. It can help researchers organise information. It can save us time and make many everyday tasks easier.
But we must be judicious. We need to draw a red line. A line that protects something more precious than convenience, our ability to think for ourselves. So where should that line be?
First, use AI as an assistant, not as a replacement. Let AI help with calculations, typing, translation, research and routine tasks, but thinking, judgement, decision-making and responsibility should remain ours.
Second, let our children struggle a little. When a child faces a difficult question, don't let the first instinct be to ask AI. Let the child try. Let him become confused. Let her make a mistake. Let them ask questions and perhaps even get the answer wrong.Sometimes it is precisely in that struggle that the mind grows.And that is where character grows too.
Third, remember what technology cannot give us.It cannot give us sincerity,it cannot teach us humility, it cannot make us genuinely kind.It cannot replace the warmth of a grandmother's embrace, the patience of a teacher, the sacrifice of a parent or the friendship of another human being.
It can only imitate words, but human relationships are built through experience, sacrifice, trust and love. These are part of what makes us human. And as a great-grandfather, I sometimes worry about the future.
Will my grandchildren grow up smart but soft? Fast but shallow? Will they know how to find an answer, but forget how to ask the right question?
I sometimes think the answer may begin with something very simple, at home during dinner, put down the phone. Talk to one another, ask questions.Disagree.Argue respectfully.Think.Make mistakes.Try again.
If we are not careful, we may reach a point where technology does everything for us, except the one thing we should never surrender:the responsibility to think.
This reminds me of a piece of wisdom attributed to the late Dawoodi Bohra spiritual leader, Syedna Taher Saifuddin Saheb (AQ):
“Do not be a slave to this world, but make the world your slave.”
There is great wisdom in those words.There is a message for the age of AI too. Technology is a wonderful servant, but it is a dangerous master.
Let us use AI.Let us benefit from it.Let us teach our children to master it, but let us never allow it to master us.
Dr Sajad H Kamarally (sajadhk05@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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