Humans beings will retain their edge over artificial intelligence (AI) for some time yet, say scientists at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (PRUE). The findings are on contrary to the claim by Elon Musk, who is better known as the CEO of electric car maker Tesla and space firm SpaceX, that humans risk being overtaken by artificial intelligence within the next five years (by 2025) (as reported in The New York Times). Elon Musk is also the co-founder of neurotechnology company Neuralink and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI.
“Having analysed profile studies over the past 15 years and data from the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking, we have shown that humans are guaranteed to be more competitive in intellectual activities at the present pace of AI development. No machine can replace the human mind in creating and perfecting creative and scientific ideas in the coming decades,” says Alexander Alekseev, Professor at the Department of Innovations at PRUE. Institute for Management Development publishes IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking Yearbook measuring the ‘capacity and readiness of 63 economies to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver for economic transformation in business, government and wider society’.
PRUE’s study ‘Labor division and advantages and limits of participation in the creation of intangible assets in industry 4.0: humans versus machines’ is published in the Journal of Intellectual Capital. The propose of the study ‘is to solve the set problem and to study the competition and perspectives of the division of labour of humans and machines during the creation of intangible assets in Industry 4.0’.
PRUE’s study is the first in modern economic science to attempt to compare specific human with artificial intelligence activities in order to highlight their advantages in creating certain innovative products.
There are certain areas where machines will dominate humans as per the study. Citing the study, the researchers say that the collection and analysis of a variety of marketing information, formatting and processing digital databases, will be an area where machines will undoubtedly dominate. Machines use in routine software development processes and as R&D administrators are also promising.
The study also shows that robotics and AI are used much more intensively in economic modernisation in countries with low levels of innovation regulation and weak patent rights protection. Another interesting result is that the value of intellectual products created with machine technology is much higher in developing digital societies than in developed ones.
Another interesting aspect of the study is the conclusion that one of the key problems of innovation is the deficient legal and regulatory framework. “The results suggest that a detailed legislative framework is in effect a constraint, which is clearly visible when comparing data from countries with developed legislation, such as the Netherlands or Singapore, and countries where high-tech regulation is still developing – for instance in Brazil, China or, say, Russia,” said Alexander Alekseev.