TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, the fear of the Y2K bug had gripped the world and India was no exception. The fear was that computers would crash when the year 1999 ended due to a misunderstanding of how years were stored. Computers were programmed to store two digits for the year, so a year written as 00 could be read as 1900 instead of 2000. It proved to be a false alarm, but 2000 became a turning point for India's IT industry.
Come 2024, and people were quite similarly engrossed with the fear of artificial intelligence (AI). True, the technology has the potential to reshape virtually every aspect of human life. From healthcare and education to manufacturing, logistics, and even entertainment, this emerging technology is revolutionising industries, improving efficiencies, and opening up new possibilities. Then why the fear? This is because it's the first technology in history which has the potential to get out of human control. The debate that dominated conversations during 2024 and will continue to do so in subsequent years is: Is AI a blessing for mankind, or will it turn out to be a Frankenstein? This was best summarised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he pointed out that global security will face a big threat if AI-laced weapons were to reach terrorist organisations.
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