The rapidly changing technology landscape has necessitated the use for faster and more reliable forms of machines that support the human workforce. There is possibly a very rare population that has not heard or is not aware of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact in the near future. For a large part there is a lot of misconception, misunderstanding and skepticism around AI and its implications on the human race.

For skeptics, the mention of AI invokes images of gun totting, trigger happy robots or monstrous machines with the power to cause grave injury. This is based on their overarching reliance on sci-fi movies as well as their own limited understanding of AI.

 For the longest time AI has shaped our financial markets across the world. From calculating, the spot prices of crude, to game changing financial market predictions, to calculating the ticket or hotel prices for our next vacation, AI has been part and parcel of our lives since the beginning of this century.

 The rapid advances in technology have brought AI into our palms literally. Imagine a life without your smartphone. ‘Avatar’, an AI technology that enables SIRI, is no monster. Can you imagine an iPhone without SIRI in it? Imagine the relief of the army families, when an AI drone flies into enemy territory under heavy fire instead of live men.

 Yes, an AI based defence system that is devoid of emotional and value based judgement, a moral compass and compassion, has all the trappings of the ultimate fascist force in history. A single rogue AI machine can perhaps create millions of others like it and simulate human bombing squads which operate on the same paradigm.

 Like any other technology, AI has had its fair share of successes, failures, judgements and controversies. For all of its success however, AI still remains a largely under represented technology due to lack of human understanding.

 AI is not here to take away our jobs but to make us faster and more capable than we already are. The immensely capable human mind can learn and adapt to emerging AI systems as long as we are willing. Automation only means that we drop redundancies and monotony to focus on more challenging assignments. AI is here to stay. Our options therefore, are clear and binary. You can love or hate AI but you can no longer ignore AI.