The most surprising thing to me in the Ben Shneiderman interview is his insistence that Artificial Intelligence is just a tool to enhance already existing capabilities. This idea that AI and Machine Learning could just be a tool for human beings, like a hammer or an automobile, is very interesting to me. I know that some of the apprehension about AI is that it is going to replace human beings. This idea sparked a thought while I was watching this interview because AI isn’t really analogous to a hammer as people were likely not apprehensive to use a hammer or saw when it was invented. So, it does surprise me that he doesn’t go a bit further into the differentiation between the power of AI and other tools. Maybe it could be compared to things like automobiles and airplanes, which may have seen the same kind of apprehension as AI is experiencing.
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I think this is really interesting because unlike regular tools, machine learning and AI can grow by itself. As artificial intelligence gains more information, it can be repurposed as a different tool. So, although this goes against Professor Shneiderman's views, it seems like AI should not be classified necessarily as a tool.
I’m not sure no one feared hammers... think of their unintended uses in violent crimes, alas.