What If Artificial Intelligence Prevailed?

The effect of AI is set to unfold further in 2024. (ShutterStock)
The effect of AI is set to unfold further in 2024. (ShutterStock)
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What If Artificial Intelligence Prevailed?

The effect of AI is set to unfold further in 2024. (ShutterStock)
The effect of AI is set to unfold further in 2024. (ShutterStock)

In the dynamic landscape of 2023, one of the pivotal factors driving the ascent of technology company stocks lies in the prevailing optimism surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and its anticipated impact. The effect of AI is set to unfold further in 2024.

However, the question that looms large is whether AI poses a threat to the job market, potentially disrupting the livelihoods of the majority of workers and employees starting from the upcoming year.

This inquiry has not only been posed by many observers, but has also been championed by tech magnate Elon Musk, who advocates for legislations to curb the proliferation of AI. Musk argues that machines, endowed with faster problem-solving and data processing capabilities, might ultimately turn against humanity.

Yet, the lingering question remains: is this assertion an exaggeration, or is it a plausible scenario?

Many viewpoints suggest that AI will obliterate the realm of asset management and financial markets, supplanting traditional practices.

However, such a perspective is inherently limited in comprehending the intricacies of both AI and human intelligence. AI fundamentally operates based on the quantity of input from historical information, employing statistical analysis to sift through and formulate logic.

Conversely, human relationships with the past are subjective, and depth of understanding is often confined to specific details. Human choices regarding issue details are frequently not driven by specific logical reasons, as they may be influenced by entrenched beliefs or unfounded suspicions.

Human behavior is often characterized by irrationality, yet within the realm of the human mind lies the capacity for logic. Consequently, many human opinions and thoughts prove unpredictable, even as human logical behavior pertains to specifics and details rather than adhering to the past as an absolute rule.

The intelligent and successful human mind engages with the past qualitatively, often inclined toward skepticism and criticism, in stark contrast to machines, which may struggle to delve into crucial details and rely quantitatively on the past, lacking a qualitative understanding even if equipped with logical reasoning.

Take, for instance, the divergence of human intelligence in predicting Federal Reserve policies—whether to raise, defer, or reduce interest rates—an inconsistency that reverberates through financial markets. Similarly, in the 2007 financial crisis, human intelligence varied in assessing the quality of mortgage assets, leading to the profound economic turmoil that shook markets.

In both crises, a minority sensed the impending danger early on and took preemptive action—a distinctly human trait stemming from the unrestricted and independent nature of the human mind.

Machines, on the other hand, struggle to transcend the average human estimates and often fall prey to errors. For instance, during the coronavirus pandemic, the lack of historical information posed a challenge for AI, resulting in predominantly speculative outputs and fears.

This highlighted the inadequacy of AI in developing suitable models for proposing optimal solutions in the absence of historical data.

AI represents a significant leap in human progress, streamlining traditional and routine tasks, mitigating some human errors, and expanding the scope for innovation and initiative.

The beauty of innovation lies in its maturation over time. While it is anticipated that average human lifespan will increase in the future, the peril of this intelligence lies in its potential to eliminate jobs requiring human initiative and interpersonal skills, potentially widening social disparities and global wealth gaps.

Plato’s ancient assertion that the elite use their intellect while the lower class relies on physical labor resonates through the ages, highlighting the enduring societal implications.

Ultimately, AI serves as an augmentation to human evolution rather than a threat. Therefore, humans must prioritize continuous education, recognizing that knowledge knows no age or bounds.

Humanity should break away from conventional thinking, critically evaluate the past, and, above all, remember to laugh, love, dream, and maintain optimism for the future.



Israeli Soldiers Describe Clearance of 'Kill Zone' on Gaza's Edge

Soldiers sit on top of APC's, at the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, March 18, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Soldiers sit on top of APC's, at the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, March 18, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
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Israeli Soldiers Describe Clearance of 'Kill Zone' on Gaza's Edge

Soldiers sit on top of APC's, at the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, March 18, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Soldiers sit on top of APC's, at the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, March 18, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo

Israeli troops flattened farmland and cleared entire residential districts in Gaza to open a "kill zone" around the enclave, according to a report on Monday that quoted soldiers testifying about the harsh methods used in the operation.

The report, from the Israeli rights group Breaking the Silence, cited soldiers who served in Gaza during the creation of the buffer zone, which was extended to between 800-1,500 meters inside the enclave by December 2024 and which has since been expanded further by Israeli troops.

Israel says the buffer zone encircling Gaza is needed to prevent a repeat of the October 7, 2023 attack by thousands of Hamas-led fighters and gunmen who poured across the previous 300 metre-deep buffer zone to assault a string of Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip.

"The borderline is a kill zone, a lower area, a lowland," the report quotes a captain in the Armored Corps as saying. "We have a commanding view of it, and they do too."

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report, Reuters reported.

The testimony came from soldiers who were serving in Gaza at the end of 2023, soon after Israeli troops entered the enclave, until early 2024. It did not cover the most recent operations to greatly enlarge the ground held by the military.

In the early expansion of the zone, soldiers said troops using bulldozers and heavy excavators along with thousands of mines and explosives destroyed around 3,500 buildings as well as agricultural and industrial areas that could have been vital in postwar reconstruction. Around 35% of the farmland in Gaza, much of which is around the edges of the territory, was destroyed, according to a separate report by the Israeli rights group Gisha.

"Essentially, everything gets mowed down, everything," the report quoted one reserve soldier serving in the Armored Corps as saying. "Every building and every structure." Another soldier said the area looked "like Hiroshima".

Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers that aims to raise awareness of the experience of troops serving in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, said it had spoken to soldiers who took part in the operation to create the perimeter and quoted them without giving their names.

One soldier from a combat engineering unit described the sense of shock he felt when he saw the destruction already wrought by the initial bombardment of the northern area of the Gaza Strip when his unit was first sent in to begin its clearance operation.

"It was surreal, even before we destroyed the houses when we went in. It was surreal, like you were in a movie," he said.

"What I saw there, as far as I can judge, was beyond what I can justify as needed," he said. "It's about proportionality."

'JUST A PILE OF RUBBLE'

Soldiers described digging up farmland, including olive trees and fields of eggplant and cauliflower as well as destroying industrial zones including one with a large Coca Cola plant and a pharmaceutical company.

One soldier described "a huge industrial area, huge factories, and after it's just a pile of rubble, piles of broken concrete."

The Israeli operation has so far killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, which do not distinguish between civilians and armed fighters. The Israeli military estimates it has killed around 20,000 fighters.

The bombardment has also flattened large areas of the coastal enclave, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in bomb-damaged buildings, tents or temporary shelters.

The report said that many of the buildings demolished were deemed by the military to have been used by Hamas fighters, and it quoted a soldier as saying a few contained the belongings of hostages. But many others were demolished without any such connection.

Palestinians were not allowed to enter the zone and were fired on if they did, but the report quoted soldiers saying the rules of engagement were loose and heavily dependent on commanders on the spot.

"Company commanders make all kinds of decisions about this, so it ultimately very much depends on who they are. But there is no system of accountability in general," the captain in the Armored Corps said.

It quoted another soldier saying that in general adult males seen in the buffer zone were killed but warning shots were fired in the case of women or children.

"Most of the time, the people who breach the perimeter are adult men. Children or women didn't enter this area," the soldier said.