AI: The good news and the surprising ‘news’ from South Korea

The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is on the rise in many organizations across various fields. AI has the power to help businesses as well as employees by providing greater data insights, better threat protection, more efficient automation and other advances.

However, if misused, AI can be a detriment to individuals, organizations, and society overall. For instance, “bots” are now rampant among social media, generating political propaganda or “fake news” intended to adversely impact or unjustly inflate people’s opinions of various political candidates or personalities, thereby lowering the quality of discourse and public faith in reporting institutions.

Therefore, it is imperative to establish moral guidelines and boundaries for the use of AI in business, and possibly beyond.

Organizations will have to rely on the skills and expertise of machine learning (ML) engineers and AI architects.

The position of Artificial Intelligence Architect requires individuals with impeccable technical and engineering backgrounds, as well as the ability to see the big, overarching picture of a world supported by AI. Incorporating AI into everyday lives of people, including their personal, career, and business activities, requires an individual with vision and the capability to implement it successfully.

Machine learning is a critical component of AI. Machine learning refers to a software’s ability to learn and therefore predict certain outcomes much like a human brain. And for businesses to make AI work, they require Machine Learning Engineers responsible for building and maintaining AI algorithms.

Machine learning engineers must able to think critically and possess the ability to problem-solving.

Having said this, you may be interested to read the following story of the TheFutureParty, claiming that the newly elected South Korean president enlisteddeep fake doppelganger to get the youth vote.

As per TheFutureParty, newly elected South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, won over the youth vote by creating an AI avatar of himself that his campaign controlled to make videos. The result: a politician that appeared more charming than the real man may actually be. With Yoon’s victory showing that the tech works, politicians in other nations may try to do the same thing… unless lawmakers act fast to outlaw official deepfakes.

Funny, likable, artificial.

•People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol developed an AI copy of himself to be used by his campaign team to answer people’s questions and debate opponents.

•The purpose of the AI Yoon was to program a version of himself that would appeal more to younger voters (Yoon is 61) by appearing wittier and smoother.

•The videos of AI Yoon (more than 80 clips) went viral in South Korea, clocking over 14.5 million views, and raised his popularity with 20-somethings over ten percentage points.

Authenticity or optimization?

      Here’s something that will make your head spin even more: during the campaign, People Power Party head Lee Jun-seok said, “Yoon is learning from his AI Yoon messages.”

Translation: his AI double is a more effective politician than he is. And in another bit of irony, AI Yoon team-head Baik Kyeong-hoon said that the goal of the avatar was for voters to see “the human side of Yoon — not the stern image he projects on television.”

At first, the ruling Democratic Party and President Lee Jae-myung criticized the use of an AI clone as “fraudulent and “a threat to democracy.” But when the polls started going up for Yoon, they developed their own avatar of Lee.

After this interesting FutureParty story, you will agree that it is imperative to establish moral guidelines and boundaries for the use of AI in business, and possibly beyond.

I feel a bit scared about what AI can do and how we can potentially be manipulated in the wrong direction if we don’t control the AI Architects and the MI Engineers. I am really interested in your views. Contact me at [email protected]