Advantages and Disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 2024

Think of yourself as a business professional—a busy bee who takes the help of technology to balance work and home life. Every morning, the AI virtual assistant supports you in scheduling meetings, organising tasks, and preparing emails based on your routine interactions.

At the office, the AI systems handle customer data and generate insights, helping you develop marketing campaigns, sales, etc. How about an AI-powered smart system at home that regulates the thermostat, controls lights and plays your favourite tracks? AI has made a seamless transition from a productive workday to a comfortable evening at home with technological advancements.

Generative AI and GPT-4 models, the latest chapters in AI’s evolution, have led to a proliferation of AI generators that can manage queries to develop text, audio, images and related types of content. About 55% of organisations have adopted AI to different degrees, which supports the scope of automation for businesses.

AI has been adopted in almost every industry, like healthcare, ecommerce, banking, customer service, marketing, software development, automobiles, etc., due to its increased focus on perception, reasoning, and business capabilities. In this blog, we will learn more about the importance of Artificial Intelligence, the advantages of AI, its drawbacks, and its use cases in detail.

From a bird’s eye view, Artificial Intelligence offers computer programs the capability to think and learn. With a simulation of human intelligence for machines, it enables us to do tasks for which we would usually depend on humans. It works beyond mere automation and encompasses a wide spectrum of AI skills that let machines understand, learn, respond and engage like human beings.

Tesla, which rolled out its Full Self-Driving Beta programme, is a groundbreaking implementation of AI that has made significant progress in navigation, object recognition, and safety. Let’s check out some handpicked technological solutions that are outcomes of AI:

• Smartphones: Voice assistants like Siri use Artificial Intelligence to perceive and respond to commands.
• Streaming: Streaming platforms like Netflix use AI to provide movie, show and music recommendations based on your preferences. 
• Navigation apps: Applications like Google Maps use AI to offer real-time traffic information and updates on the fastest routes. 
• Healthcare: AI helps doctors diagnose diseases and analyse medical information to plan treatments. An example is the development of better pangenomes by Google with sequencing technologies and AI to adopt a detailed identification of more genetic traits, which aids in disease research and drug development. 
• Smart homes: Devices such as Alexa are used to control home appliances with the help of voice commands.

AI has also contributed well to helping businesses thrive in the competitive global ecosystem. With an AI ML services company, you can use the latest data-driven technologies to refine your business.

AI offers prompt resolution for various business challenges through precision in decision-making and timely future forecasting. The language models, such as Gemini created by Google and ChatGPT developed by OpenAI, illustrate the constant evolution they bring to support innovators, developers and businesses.

Facebook used AI to automate content moderation and minimise the spread of harmful content. However, AI failed to identify the intended content and also removed some of the legitimate content from the platform. This led to widespread criticism regarding the efficiency of AI.

Identifying the significant pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence helps a business adopt the technology and mitigate the potential risks it can bring to the workplace. Just like a double-faced coin, AI has its advantages and disadvantages. One should be careful to stay away from vulnerabilities and business barriers. Read more to understand the advantages and disadvantages of AI for your business.

The advantages of Artificial Intelligence are boundless, ranging from task automation to informed decision-making, medical diagnosis, the advancement of autonomous vehicles, and many more. According to a Gartner survey of July 2023, 79% of corporate strategists said technologies such as AI would be crucial for business success in the next two years. Here are the advantages of AI: 

1. Personalisation

AI enables personalisation to work on the user’s preferences, powers recommendation systems for content and products, targeted advertising, and personalised marketing. In ecommerce, AI customises purchase experiences and offers personalised recommendations on products likely to be purchased. AI also adapts the content and user interfaces according to the user’s preferences to enhance user engagement across different domains.

For example, Netflix uses AI algorithms to understand the user’s viewing history, needs, and interactions to recommend TV shows and movies that the user is likely to watch. This leverages machine learning models and gives a personalised viewing experience to every subscriber, thereby increasing retention rates. 

2. Uninterrupted Operations

Human brain demands time and breaks to function optimally and maintain productivity. AI can work uninterrupted without taking breaks. They think faster than humans and implement multiple tasks concurrently with appropriate results. They can also manage tedious processes easily with AI algorithms.

For example, online customer support chatbots offer instant support to customers from anywhere, anytime. With AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP), chatbots can resolve issues, answer queries, and report high-level requests to human agents to ensure streamlined customer service 24x7.  

3. Helps to Make Unbiased Decisions

Whether we like them or not, emotions are what drive human beings. AI, on the contrary, doesn’t respond to emotions; instead, it is practical and adopts a rational approach. AI has no biased views, which ensures the decisions are more accurate.

For example, AI-driven recruitment systems can screen candidates based on their qualifications instead of their demographics. It eliminates hiring bias, leading to a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

4. Implements Automation

As a part of our everyday work, we might be doing many repetitive tasks, like sending thank you emails, checking a document for bugs, etc. Using AI can help automate these chores and avoid these boring tasks, which allows people to be more creative.

For example, using robots in manufacturing assembly lines helps manage repetitive tasks like welding, packaging, etc., with precision, minimising overall costs and enhancing efficiency.

5. Research & Development

AI analyses massive datasets, detects patterns, and predicts outcomes that make decision-making effective while accelerating innovation. It automates processes, which lets researchers emphasise complex problem-solving and other tasks.

For example, Amazon is the best example of how AI serves the retail industry. Amazon uses AI algorithms to learn customer behaviour, analyse product demand and manage inventory. This has helped the brand optimise its supply chain, minimise costs, and ensure that the popular product stays in stock.

6. Improves Processes & Workflows

AI facilitates the automation of monotonous tasks in segments like data entry, data collection, email responses, invoice processing, etc. With AI-based systems and automated management of processes, employees get time to focus on the tasks that demand human supervision.

For example, an AI chatbot resolves basic user queries about account balances and transaction history and reduces wait times, making banking more efficient.

7. Big Data-Driven Decisions  

AI has the skills and algorithms to process and derive conclusions from big data in less time. AI can easily grasp and extract the information required for analysis. AI can also process this data further with transformation and interpretation.

For example, Google uses AI algorithms to deliver accurate search results and advertisements, which helps optimise ad revenue through real-time management and personalisation of results based on user behaviour.  

8. Control and Transparency  

Traditional programming gives developers complete control over the logic and software behaviour, which enables precise customisation and produces consistent outcomes. If the program does not work as desired, developers can trace back the codebase to detect and correct the issue. AI systems, especially complex models such as deep neural networks, could be difficult to manage and interpret.

They usually work like ‘black boxes’ in which input and output are known; however, the process the model uses to move from one to the other is unclear. This becomes problematic in industries that emphasise process and decision-making ability.

9. Learning and Data Handling

Conventional programming is rigid as it depends on structured data to run programs, and it is difficult to process unstructured data. To train the program with a piece of new information, the programmer should add new data manually or adjust processes. Traditionally coded programs even confront independent iteration.

For instance, they might not be able to incorporate unforeseen circumstances without performing explicit programming. Since AI systems use a huge amount of data for learning, they are ideal for processing unstructured data such as images, videos, and natural language text. AI systems can also learn continuously with new data and experiences, which lets them improve their performance with time and makes them highly significant in dynamic environments where the ideal solution can evolve with time. 

10. Exploration & Discovery

Moving forward, AI will be potentially built to go beyond tasks such as the identification of patterns in data and designing experiments. There will be more “AI scientists” capable of acting independently and collaborating with human scientists.

For example, AI-driven scientific research can conduct huge data analysis, and explore advanced patterns and insights that can result in revolutionary discoveries. AI algorithms can identify complex relationships, understand hidden correlations, and create hypotheses that human researchers might have overlooked, increasing the pace of scientific innovation. 

While Artificial Intelligence holds many advantages, there are also disadvantages of AI to be taken into account. In addition to understanding the benefits of Artificial Intelligence, the limitations of Artificial Intelligence, like ethical concerns, bias, privacy, and security risks, should also be taken care of.  Let’s dive into the major demerits of Artificial Intelligence to be taken care of:

1. Costly Implementation

AI is improving eventually, demanding a timely hardware and software upgrade to meet the advanced requirements. Complex machines and systems need maintenance and repair, which is one of the drawbacks of Artificial Intelligence and leads to a surge in implementation costs.

2. Lack of Emotion

Undoubtedly, machines are much better when we talk about working efficiently. However, they can’t replace the human connection that builds the team. Machines can’t make a bond with human beings, which is one of the major risks of Artificial Intelligence and a crucial aspect when dealing with team management.

3. Works with Pre-Loaded Facts

Artificial Intelligence works based on pre-loaded information, hence, AI is proficient at repeatedly performing the same task. However, we should manually alter the code for any modifications or improvements. AI can’t match human intelligence, instead, it holds infinite datasets, which can’t ensure accuracy. They complete tasks they have been programmed for; otherwise, they fail frequently or provide useless results. 

4. Ethical Problems

Ethics and morality are human features that can be complex to incorporate into AI. The worries about the possible negative effects of AI, including the concern that one day it might grow beyond control and eliminate humanity, have posed a threat to many organisations.

5. Demands Reskilling

AI changes employment patterns by minimising the workforce's repetitive tasks while creating new job roles. It shifts the job requirements and eliminates conventional positions on one side while creating many opportunities on the other, especially in AI development, machine learning, and data analysis. This reallocation witnesses a major change in the employment alignment, demanding employees adapt and reskill for the new AI-specific roles.

Now that we know the advantages and disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence, let’s explore the use cases of Artificial Intelligence for various business operations: 

Automation 

AI automation manages repetitive tasks, enhances efficiency and minimises human errors. In manufacturing, AI-driven robots perform product assembly, inspect for defects, and control inventory. These robots leverage machine learning to optimise production, adapt to new tasks, and forecast maintenance needs, which ensures efficient operations. It improves productivity and lets human workers focus on other complex tasks. 

Chatbots

Tech giants such as Microsoft and IBM use AI-driven chatbots capable of engaging in human-like communication. The IBM Watsonx Assistant-powered chatbots offer precise and swift responses and manage complex transactions. It employs robotic process automation and AI-powered chatbots with the best customer support for website visitors.  

Cybersecurity

AI improves threat detection through real-time analysis of a wide range of datasets, detecting anomalies and potential threats. AI excels in behavioural analytics, analysing deviations from regular user behaviour to detect insider threats (threats within an organisation) and zero-day attacks (hackers exploit the flaw before developers can address it). AI identifies patterns, minimises false positives and reduces alert fatigue. Continuous monitoring and adaptive learning offer real-time insights and ongoing updates that uphold cybersecurity defence.  

Custom GPT Applications 

AI improves custom GPT applications with automated content development, personalised responses and improvements in user interactions through Natural Language Processing. According to the most recent data from March 2024, ChatGPT has made approximately 180.5 million users and a record of 1.6 billion visits in January 2024 alone.

Custom GPT services help businesses through tailored AI solutions that improve productivity, customer experience and decision-making. They can be fine-tuned to align with your business objectives, improving innovation and efficiency. By continuously learning from successful data patterns, they automate tasks and bring better results to the business quickly.

Autonomous Weapons

Ethical concerns occur due to the development of AI-powered autonomous weapons. The concerns about accountability and chances for misuse emphasise the need to use such weapons by adopting international agreements and regulations. Adopting responsible deployment becomes crucial to eliminating harmful consequences.  

Creativity & Ownership 

A piece of art belongs to its owner after they complete it. Likewise, consider a human creator creating digital art with the help of a text prompt for the AI system. It would be unclear because either a person or an organisation programmed it. As AI advances,  concerns about infringement, commercialisation and ownership are under debate. It becomes important for lawmakers to clarify ownership rights and offer guidelines to combat potential infringements.

Social Manipulation & Misinformation 

Fake news, misinformation and disinformation have influenced sectors like competitive business, politics, and several related fields. AI algorithms can be leveraged to manipulate public opinion, spread misinformation, and elevate social divisions. For instance, recent technologies such as deepfakes that can generate fabricated, realistic content (audiovisuals) pose a serious risk to political stability. It demands the necessary countermeasures and vigilance to effectively address the potential challenges.

Security, Privacy, and Surveillance 

The effectiveness of AI often depends on the availability of massive volumes of personal data. With the expansion of AI usage, concerns grow about how this data is gathered, stored, and used. For instance, China uses facial recognition technology to augment their surveillance network, which critics say leads to the discrimination of specific groups. AI considers protecting users’ privacy and human rights as the top factors and emphasises reliable safeguards against potential data breaches, unauthorised access to sensitive data and protection from detailed surveillance.

Every new invention or breakthrough will have its opportunities and roadblocks. It is in our hands to take care of them and use the advantages of Artificial Intelligence to create a better version of the technology we use. Businesses should be well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence so that they can foster the ethical use of AI in the workplace.

Ready to use AI & ML services for your business? At WAC, we offer Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning services to let your business stay at the forefront of the global marketplace, which lets you thrive and make informed decisions about the business.

Our team also offers AI-driven ecommerce solutions to refine your revenue-generating process and sharpen the conversion funnel. To know more about the AI consulting and AI-driven solutions we provide, let’s talk!