Artificial intelligence and the path to sustainable development

Artificial intelligence and the path to sustainable development

Man has never tired throughout his history of trying to invent tools and devices that help him perform his daily tasks. During successive centuries, this matter became an attempt to find a way to carry out some tasks - completely - instead of man. Then the matter developed into a quest to invent a machine that can simulate the way the human mind thinks; In search of solutions to very complex problems, and from here the term “artificial intelligence” appeared.

Human interest in the concept of artificial intelligence may have appeared timidly among the pages of a number of novels and stories in the nineteenth century, and then in cinematic films and theatres, all of which attempted to present imaginative images of how to integrate the human element with machines. Some of them even predicted the dominance of machines - in the future - over the human race, and examples of these works are many.

Although “Artificial Intelligence” or (AI) - in its contemporary sense - began in the 1950s, this term did not enjoy the same momentum that it has now - with the exception of the last two decades - due to the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence techniques in various devices and programs in various applications, which led a major technological revolution in many fields, until it subsequently led to... Redefining our reality in a new way that is more intelligent, and if you like, more artificial.

Artificial intelligence - like other modern technologies - carries within it many solutions that support the achievement of sustainable development goals, such as: accelerated development in the quality and efficiency of various services and production processes, and finding new solutions to problems that humanity thought were eternal. But on the other hand, artificial intelligence can have a severe negative impact on many human activities by replacing the human element with machines, and the concerns this raises are no secret to you.

In the pages of the special file of this issue, we will try to present a complete picture of artificial intelligence - what it is and what it is - in an attempt to understand its dimensions, and how it can play an important role in helping us achieve the goals ofsustainable development, and ensuring a better future for us and the whole world.

What is artificial intelligence?

The term “artificial intelligence” has witnessed, over successive decades, a change in the nature of our perception of it and how we define its concept, as it has become more comprehensive and expanded over time. Initially, we defined artificial intelligence as one of the branches of computer science concerned with creating - as well as developing - intelligent devices and machines that can carry out tasks that would normally require human intervention to carry out.

Our deeper understanding of artificial intelligence - according to the variables of our current reality - has made our narrow view of its reality more comprehensive. Due to the association of this artificial intelligence with other terms, such as “Machine Learning”, “Deep Learning”, and other terms.

Therefore, we can say: Artificial intelligence is a scientific field concerned with building computers and machines that can think, learn, and act in a way that usually requires human intelligence, or includes data whose scope exceeds what humans can analyze. Artificial intelligence is a broad field that includes many disciplines, including: computer science, data analysis, statistics, hardware and software engineering, linguistics, neuroscience, and even philosophy and psychology.

In general, artificial intelligence systems can perform tasks related to human cognitive functions, such as understanding words and their meanings, or even playing games and identifying patterns, as these systems can perform multiple tasks by processing huge amounts of data, and searching for different patterns that enable them to model their decisions.

Who among us can forget the three historic matches, which brought together the then Russian world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, and the computer called “Deep Blue,” which was specially developed by IBM to play chess? The first match was in 1989, where the Russian player was able to defeat the computer, then the second match was held in 1996 with a stronger version of the computer, but this was not enough to defeat the greatest player in the history of the game of chess.

Work at “IBM” did not stop after the last defeat. One year later - specifically in the year 1997 - the world awaited the third match between man and machine, but this time the result was unexpected, as “Deep Blue” was able to defeat the world champion, and at that time many considered this defeat a milestone in the history of artificial intelligence.

Despite their superior capabilities, human supervision of artificial intelligence systems is still required. Because this has a role in enhancing the resulting good decisions and reducing bad decisions, some artificial intelligence systems are designed to learn without supervision. For example, an AI can play a video game over and over again; Until he finally discovers the rules and how to win.

History of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence in its contemporary sense appeared in the first half of the twentieth century, where it made its way into science fiction films that presented the concept of the “robot,” which can think and make decisions. By the 1950s, we had a generation of scientists - especially mathematicians, as well as philosophers - who believed that the concept of artificial intelligence (or AI) was something that could be understood theoretically and practically, and among them was “Alan.” Turing".

Turing was a young British man - who later earned the title: the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence - who was able to discover the mathematical possibility of applying artificial intelligence. Turing saw that humans use the information available to them - as well as the causes and circumstances surrounding each situation - to solve problems and make decisions; So if we can transfer this human ability to machines, then they can become smart enough to make decisions. This was the logical framework that Turing published in a paper in 1950, entitled “Computing Machines and Intelligence,” a paper in which he discussed how to build intelligent machines and how to test their intelligence.

Unfortunately, Truing’s theory - despite its revolutionary nature - did not find the appropriate tools to implement it on the ground, as computers needed a radical change! To be clear, computers at the time lacked the basic requirements for intelligence. It was not able to store orders, but rather its limited ability was limited only to executing these orders. In other words, computers can be programmed to do what they should do, but they will not remember what they did.

The other thing is that computing was very expensive. In the early 1950s, the cost of renting a computer reached two hundred thousand dollars a month. Therefore, these devices were only available in prestigious universities and large technology companies that were able to bear these costs. Therefore, convincing any investor - at the time - to pump his money into developing this crazy idea was not an easy matter at all.

Five years later, computer scientist Allen Newell, programmer Cliff Shaw, and engineer Herbert Simon designed the first program that could imitate human problem-solving skills, and it was the program that many considered the first artificial intelligence program. The scientific community then began to feel that artificial intelligence was a theory that could be applied, and this opened the door to further research and studies.

The period from 1957 to 1974 witnessed a great boom in artificial intelligence, thanks to the great development in the capabilities of computers to store more information, in addition to the fact that it became cheaper and faster to implement, and at that time it became more widely available. Machine learning algorithms also improved, and investments in this field increased continuously.

This rapid movement of research and development revealed many enormous obstacles in the path of artificial intelligence, and the biggest of these obstacles were: the computer’s lack of computational power to do anything essential. On the one hand, storage space was still insufficient, and on the other hand, the speed of data processing was still modest; This led to a slowdown in research and development over a period of approximately ten years.

Ironically, in the absence of government funding and public interest, AI flourished during the 1990s and 2000s—many of AI's notable goals being achieved. We previously mentioned that the year 1997 witnessed the victory of “Deep Blue” from IBM over the world chess champion, “Gary Kasparov”, and in the same year the speech recognition program, developed by “Dragon Systems” was launched on the Windows system, and the launch of this program was another big step towards interpreting spoken language by computers.

Now we live in the era of “Big Data”, an era in which we have the ability to collect huge amounts of information, which is impossible for anyone to process; Consequently, reliance on artificial intelligence has already become fruitful in many industries, such as: technology, banking, marketing, and entertainment, especially with the revolutionary development in the capabilities of computers, whether in their storage or computational capabilities. This led to many breakthroughs in the field of computer science in general and artificial intelligence in particular.

So, what does the future hold? In the near future, the language of artificial intelligence will appear to be the primary language of planet Earth. We see this clearly day after day in our daily interactions. For example: When was the last time you contacted a company and spoke directly to a human being? You often talk to an intelligent, speaking assistant who helps you reach what you want. You may even find someone calling you, as it is a voice program that conveys a promotional message to you about a product. With the development of artificial intelligence capabilities, it will not be strange for us to have full conversations with artificial intelligence programs in the future.

In the future, we can also expect to see cars operating without a driver, something that we have begun to see signs of in some of the unique technologies that some modern cars are equipped with, such as automated parking and changing lanes automatically, and all of this without your hands touching the steering wheel. The greatest goal of developing artificial intelligence is “general intelligence,” and we want machines and programs to have cognitive capabilities that exceed those of humans in all tasks.

What are the types of artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence has provided new opportunities for improvement and development in important areas, such as: health, education, and the environment, thanks to its ability to carry out some tasks more efficiently and systematically than humans. For example, we find that smart technologies in various buildings and vehicles contribute significantly to pivotal issues, such as: reducing carbon emissions, or supporting people with disabilities. In another context, machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence, has enabled engineers to build robots, self-driving cars, and other applications.

We can make artificial intelligence into three main categories according to its ability to learn: The first category: weak or narrow artificial intelligence (narrow AI), the second: general or strong artificial intelligence (general AI), and the last: super AI. These categories explain the capabilities of artificial intelligence through the rate of their development while performing a set of precisely defined tasks, which are tasks that require the same ability to think like humans, or perform tasks that exceed human capabilities, but we will not go into detail in explaining these three categories, and instead we will highlight the diversification of the researcher and professor of integrative biology at Michigan State University, Arend Hintz, who made artificial intelligence into four main types, which we will discuss in the following:

First - Reactive Machines“Reactive Machines”

Interactive machines are artificial intelligence systems that do not contain memory and have a specific task. This means that the data entered into these machines have outputs of the same nature and type. We find this type in machine learning models, as they collect customer data - such as purchase history or search history - and use it to provide appropriate recommendations to the customers themselves, which is something we all feel when browsing the Internet, as they show us recommendations related to things that we have previously searched for.

A clear example of this type is the IBM chess computer, which we mentioned earlier. This computer can recognize its own pieces and the pieces of its opponents on the chessboard to make future predictions, but it does not have the memory to use past mistakes to make future decisions. Rather, it only predicts the next possible moves and chooses the best move. Interactive machines can therefore be considered a model of artificial superintelligence.

Second - Limited Memory“Limited Memory”

The next type of AI is limited memory, which mimics the way neurons in our brains work, which means it gets smarter over time, as it receives more data to train on.

Unlike interactive machines, limited memory can look into the past to remember certain things or situations over time. These observations are then programmed into artificial intelligence systems, where they can perform their various actions based on the data of the past and present moment. However, in limited memory this data is not preserved in the long term, so that it can learn from it. An example of this: some self-driving technologies that allow the car to change its path according to information collected during previous trips.

Third - Theory of Mind“Theory of Mind”

The first and second types of artificial intelligence are two types that currently exist on the ground, and the third type, “theory of mind,” and the fourth, “self-awareness,” are types of artificial intelligence that will be built in the future. Therefore, there are no examples of it in reality.

If these last two types are built, artificial intelligence will then be able to understand the world around it more deeply, absorbing thoughts, emotions, and beliefs. Then determine how it behaves and deals with these inputs.

We humans understand how our thoughts and emotions affect others, and how others affect us, and this is the basis of human relationships in our society, but in the future, artificial intelligence machines of this type may be able to understand intentions and predict behavior as if they were simulating human relationships.

Fourth - Self-Awareness“Self-Awareness”

Self-awareness is a concept that goes beyond the theory of mind and understanding emotions, as the system or machine is aware of itself, and has the ability to sense or predict the emotions of others. For example, “I'm hungry” becomes “I know I'm hungry,” or “I want to eat meat because it's my favorite food.”

The maximum stage of the development of artificial intelligence will be the design of systems and machines that have a sense of self and an awareness of the reason for their existence, and this type - as we said - does not exist on the ground yet. We are a long way from self-aware AI; We are still researching how our brains work in learning and decision making.

The role of artificial intelligence in development

Artificial intelligence has the ability to solve some of the biggest challenges facing humanity, and we see this in almost every sector. All over the world, we are witnessing, in effect, a revolution in the adoption of artificial intelligence, a revolution that is driving growth in operations in many sectors. For example, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have recently appeared, which is a set of features in a vehicle that improve the quality of its safety systems. Thus, accidents are largely avoided.

In the healthcare sector, using advanced artificial intelligence techniques, biomedical researchers are working to increase the pace of drug discovery by identifying chemicals, molecules, and compounds that may be more accurately targeted to specific diseases. On the other hand, artificial intelligence technologies allow financial services companies to better identify fraudulent or corrupt activities.

We cannot forget here the important roles of artificial intelligence in combating climate change, such as improving the efficiency of various industrial processes, reducing the waste of resources, predicting weather patterns and wind movement - and other roles - to confront pollution more effectively.

Artificial intelligence is an ideal ally that sustainable development needs; In order to design, implement, advise and plan for the future and sustainability of our planet. Technology, such as artificial intelligence, will help us build more efficiently, use resources sustainably, reduce and manage waste more effectively, and much more.

Also, the combination of artificial intelligence and sustainable development will help develop various industries in a way that allows our human civilization to better advance, while meeting current needs without compromising future generations, especially in light of the dangerous phenomena that we are suffering now, such as the phenomenon of climate change, in addition to other major challenges.

According to a study published in the journal “Nature”, artificial intelligence can help achieve most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as this technology can become a major tool for facilitating the adoption of a circular economy and building smart cities that use their resources efficiently.

A clear example of the contribution of artificial intelligence to sustainability is traffic management, where artificial intelligence can predict traffic jams and suggest alternative routes. Thus reducing fuel consumption. This technology can also predict times of increased transportation demand. This enables transport companies to schedule their flights appropriately, making it easier for passengers to find their appropriate flights on the one hand, and reducing the impact on the environment on the other hand.

Artificial intelligence can also help enhance the efficiency of renewable energies, something that is actually applied by many companies these days. Through artificial intelligence, it is possible to prevent and diagnose power plant malfunctions, in addition to predicting the amounts of energy required in the following days, and adjusting the plants to meet these needs more efficiently.

Outside the energy sector, there are many industries and companies that can improve thanks to artificial intelligence. In agriculture, for example, artificial intelligence is being used to make irrigation and fertilization more efficient. Thanks to humidity, temperature and fertilization sensors, artificial intelligence can predict crop needs. One of the most innovative solutions within agricultural sustainability: drones, which help farmers continuously monitor large agricultural areas, in addition to analyzing images and using the analysis results in comprehensive pest control.

For industry in general, artificial intelligence provides highly efficient warehousing, manufacturing and distribution systems. In addition, artificial vision systems can identify errors on assembly lines that are not visible to the human eye, as well as potential safety or disaster risks. This last aspect is especially important in industries such as the construction industry, where safety is a paramount necessity.

Another example of using artificial intelligence to achieve broader sustainability is the technology developed in tunnel boring machines. This type of machine is particularly complex, as during the excavation process any landslide can completely or partially stop the underground excavation work. Here comes the role of artificial intelligence, as Oracle was able to develop a forecasting system that processes continuous information issued by 3,000 variables. In order to predict the occurrence of any error during the drilling process, this will make tunneling projects, for example, more economical and more efficient than before. This is why artificial intelligence is an essential element in the process of predicting errors and reducing problems that may affect rates of sustainable development.

Artificial Intelligence and the Environment

Artificial intelligence has a role in manufacturing, education, and other fields, but can this artificial intelligence contribute to saving the planet? How can it help us address the effects of climate change? Can it negatively affect the environment? These are all questions that we will discuss in the following points.

1- Climate monitoring

We already have a lot of technology to monitor our climate, but integrating artificial intelligence with such devices could allow us to take our monitoring capabilities to the next level. With the help of artificial intelligence, it is possible to identify certain climate patterns that were not possible to observe using traditional methods. Furthermore, AI can draw important conclusions about the direction our climate is taking, allowing us to better mitigate negative impacts.

To achieve this, it may be useful to equip orbiting satellites with artificial intelligence capabilities, as a bigger picture of the state of the planet can be painted, and artificial intelligence climate monitoring can also be used on a smaller scale; To evaluate the changing nature of a particular ecosystem.

2- Measuring carbon footprint

Carbon emissions are a major cause of climate change. Our World in Data reports that carbon dioxide emissions have reached 1.5 trillion tons since 1750. It is clear to most of us that tackling climate change largely involves reducing carbon emissions, but this has not happened, or is happening at a slow pace.

With artificial intelligence, the carbon footprints of large companies, such as oil and gas companies, clothing manufacturers, and giant agricultural entities, can be tracked; This is done on an ongoing basis to determine the impact of their operations on our planet. In addition, artificial intelligence can calculate the carbon footprint of individuals or entire populations, such as the residents of a major city or a small town.

Also, the use of predictive artificial intelligence (i.e. data analysis and machine learning to make predictions) may contribute to predicting - in the future - carbon emissions, allowing us to see how things will go based on our current activities, and this prediction can help establish environmental laws and regulations, imposed by governments and international and regional agreements.

Another potentially interesting use of artificial intelligence in reducing the global carbon footprint is to identify the sources of carbon emissions, highlighting the main culprits of this problem. This can be done on a broad or small scale, but either way this global definition can provide us with some basic information about what - or who - is harming our planet.

3- Monitoring changes in land use

Nowadays, the use of our planet’s land plays a major role in climate change. Indiscriminate agriculture, deforestation, and urban sprawl contribute to global warming, through carbon emissions and the removal of natural habitats. This is why it is important to monitor the methods of land exploitation or misuse permanently and accurately.

We can use AI in this way to see how we can improve our land use practices, and perhaps how we can gain new ideas about how to use land more intelligently. For example, using areas of desert to create solar panel farms, or using coastal areas to harness tidal energy.

4- Generating new environmentally friendly ideas

Given that AI is a form of intelligent technology that can learn and correlate information, it could be useful in generating new and innovative ideas that could help address climate change. For example, an artificial intelligence system can be fed with data about the ways in which types of energy are used, as well as the technology available in our modern era, and a statement of the environmental goals that we want to reach. After this, the system can list some options for producing energy in a smarter way that helps reduce resource use and carbon emissions, and perhaps saves money as well.

AI can also be used at the end-user level; To save energy in the home, or give businesses more efficient ways to operate machinery and transport goods, etc. AI can also be integrated into environmentally focused applications; So that users can find new ways to reduce their carbon footprint in their daily lives.

Although we already have human experts who can contribute to this field, the vast amount of data that AI systems can consume—as well as their ability to notice patterns and search for solutions—makes them a promising candidate in our quest to be kinder to our planet.

5- Ringing the alarm bell for environmental disasters

A frightening consequence of climate change is the increased frequency of natural disasters, such as floods and forest fires. These events can be devastating and can take the lives of many people. So it is crucial that we have the technology to monitor the planet; To alert concerned parties of any imminent threats.

AI can be used in sensory equipment, surveillance equipment, and similar technologies; To observe natural patterns within different environments; Then raise an alarm whenever something changes. For example, artificial intelligence can monitor weather systems, predict rainfall, warn of high temperatures in forests, and much more.

In addition to the above, artificial intelligence may be able, for example, to develop effective plans for evacuation, rescue, or reconstruction if a disaster occurs. Artificial intelligence can also be used to find suitable evacuation routes, and it can help architects build types of disaster-resistant infrastructure. To mitigate the damage if it occurs.

6- The negative environmental aspect of artificial intelligence

Although there are many ways in which artificial intelligence can help us combat climate change, this technology, like others, is actually harming the environment.

Developing and testing artificial intelligence systems takes a long time and consumes large amounts of energy, with reports indicating that a single artificial intelligence model can emit up to 300 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent, the same amount as five average-aged cars.

It is important here to note that despite all the potential benefits, the processes of developing and creating artificial intelligence technologies have a large carbon footprint, and this is a negative impact that we should not ignore in light of the many benefits that could accrue to humanity from relying on artificial intelligence.

But what about the ethical aspect of artificial intelligence? Can it be transformed from a development tool into a control tool in the hands of developed countries, so that they can control other countries? We will leave the answer to these two questions to the pen of Dr. Muhammad Al-Khayyat, “Chairman of the New and Renewable Energy Authority.”

Honorable Artificial Intelligence

We were discussing a project implementation situation when I mentioned the importance of sending an email to the construction company; In order to reflect the institution’s position, I mentioned several topics to include in the message. In less than a minute, a colleague indicated to me that the mail proposal was ready to be displayed on the screen for the audience to discuss. I looked at her in astonishment, and my tongue said: “How is this?!” But my astonishment increased when I started reading from the screen. The text was largely acceptable except for some minor notes, and when I asked her: “How, so quickly?!” She replied: “It is the presence of artificial intelligence!”

It is said that tens of thousands of citizens were appointed secret informants during the police rule in East Germany, before the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 1989; This is for the purpose of obtaining high-level security reports. This led to the intelligence headquarters receiving - daily - thousands of reports that needed to be carefully analyzed to draw conclusions for thousands more. And then the officials were facing work pressure they had not imagined, and facing questionable decisions.

Today, the digital revolution is taking care of this, as phones and computers send streams of data about the details of our lives - both the citizen and the informant - to data centers spread across the globe. Artificial intelligence turns it into a massive laboratory for human behavior, and an experimental field for social and economic sciences and psychology, and because monitoring has become possible and easy, guidance has become easy.

Hence, the cameras deployed in the streets, offices, and bus stops - in addition to smartphone cameras - are nothing but eyes that monitor every movement, and even the microphone installed in our phones is nothing but an ear that hears what is moving around it. Artificial intelligence is a keen watchdog, sorting, analyzing and making decisions, and it is an image that is closest to the nature of the big brother in the novel “1984” by the English writer “George Orwell”.

Also, as soon as the cashier slides a customer’s credit card into the slot designated for it, all of the customer’s desires are revealed, and thus companies determine which products are in greater demand, the size of their stock and those available in the markets, and when to request additional shipments, as well as broadcasting marketing messages that differ according to the target group.

To expand the base of loyalty and devotion to brands and stores, some stores use smart shopping carts, which guide customers via the frequent customer card - a card that stores give to their regular customers - to discount sites, with some quick advice that suits his desires. All of these services and others would not have been possible without artificial intelligence algorithms that rely on collecting and digesting the largest possible amount of data, which has become known as “Big Data.”

But big data has bad uses, and the most famous example of this is what Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta - formerly Facebook - faced in 2018, when he was interrogated by the US Congress against the backdrop of what was known as the Facebook leaks scandal and the hacking of the personal data of millions of users and its analysis by Cambridge Analytica; Which led to the resignation of its CEO, Alexander Nix, especially after it was discovered that the company used some of this data to blackmail politicians and celebrities. Until they pay sums of money in exchange for the company's silence about some of their work. This is in contrast to using data to know voters’ trends and party affiliations, with a focus on those with a wavering voice who have not yet decided on their choices. Thus, selecting messages and advertisements directed to them with the aim of directing their affiliations.

Not only that, but predicting trends in financial markets, stocks, stock market indices, currency prices, and futures contracts - such as oil prices - has become mainly based on forecasting based on scientific foundations. The same applies to medicine, knowing the patient’s health condition and the diseases he has experienced, as doctors can predict the occurrence of some diseases. Therefore, early detection reduces its effects, if not helps avoid them. From here, the uses of artificial intelligence programs grow in all aspects of life. As long as there is historical data and simulation programs, predicting the future becomes dependent on pressing the personal computer button. To find out what has not happened yet.

These are real and diverse models that answer the question: How can we predict our future actions - how amazing - that have become the result of simulation programs digesting our memories and our past? This may arouse in us curiosity, and perhaps some concern. Because of the ability of these devices to make human beings disappear.

We must remember that when we express our concern about the presence of artificial intelligence, we are referring - indirectly - to our concern about us humans who program these electronic circuits; To control - using special software - several mechanical parts, which we later call a robot, instilling in it some characteristics that appear good but are evil on the inside.