Al Applications Exciting, But May Spawn Controversies In Human Societies–Don Warns

A retired professor of Data and Information Science Department, University of Ibadan, Mutawakilu Adisa Tiamiyu, has warned that the emerging Artificial intelligence (AI) applications may seem exciting but are also likely to spawn various controversies in human societies.

Delivering a lecture titled: “Oddyssey Of An Economist In Information Science” to mark his retirement from the institution and 70th birthday, the university don said the world was now at threshold of Artificial Intelligence mega-revolution, nature and impact on human societies which no one can currently predict correctly.

According to him, the information world of humans had existed ever since they were created to perceive things and later learned to draw, write, read and interpret.

Tiamiyu added that humanity was in dilemma concerning the development and deployment of Al applications with enabled sentient capabilities.

“Today, Artificial Intelligence software applications have progressed very fast to the extent that there is hardly any natural human activity that cannot or have been mimicked and tested to be performed by created machines.

“Increasingly, many are actually now being used in real life activities that affect humans and their environments.

“Al software are now also being used for Big Data Analytic and for decision making and actions based on the analytics findings, often bereft of any human real time intermediation in diverse contacts,” he said.

The institution’s deputy vice chancellor (Administration) Professor Ezekiel Olusola Ayoola, decried the rate at which professors are leaving or retiring from the institution.

Ayoola who represented  Kayode Adebowale said; “Our experience in administration at the university in the past few years you’ve come on board is that our erudite professors are leaving us one by one and we recognized the fact that whatever the university is able to attain in terms of ranking, international recognition cannot divorce by the effort of our erudite professors that are leaving us.

“And the fact that we are also at this time struggling with so many things in order to make earn meets things that were influence to the university administration, we only wish the best for the best and hope for the best.”