With the emergence of new AI platforms available to the general public, such as ChatGBT, each user predominantly views the tool through their own learned and developed cognitive patterns, pondering how such a tool might transform their personal lives. This contemplation encompasses both opportunities and threats. The latter has been the subject of much speculation recently, with a prevailing fear among many that the innovation of such tools will trigger a new industrial revolution, in which machines modify nearly every human-mediated aspect (Wright, 2023). However, this fear is so dominant, and from such a self-absorbed perspective, that it completely overshadows the potential for innovation in value creation.
By integrating data from entirely disparate disciplines, ideas can emerge that humans, due to their inherent capacities, could never conceive. Individuals from diverse backgrounds sometimes face barriers to mutual understanding because they perceive aspects in entirely different ways, also called system thinking (Cabrera et al., 2008). ChatGBT can act as a genuine mediator in this context, bridging these two disciplines and offering a holistic, more complex, and innovative solution. Therefore, in my opinion, we need not only fear what AI will assume but can also eagerly anticipate what AI might introduce and contribute to a discipline or perhaps even create entirely. While humans have a penchant for maintaining the status quo, by engaging with this evolution, they can lead and find solutions they can adapt, thereby becoming as disruptive as an AI tool.
For instance, consider two seemingly unrelated disciplines: neuroscience and culinary arts. At first glance, the two appear to share little in common. However, AI’s analytical capabilities can reveal profound connections. From one perspective, someone could consider the development of specific dishes designed to stimulate certain areas of the brain, perhaps evoking memories from specific life stages or extracting particular emotions.Restaurants might introduce menus aimed at enhancing happiness, calmness, or focus. Consequently, chefs would not only influence one’s appetite but also learn how to manipulate cognitive responses or hormone levels through food, introducing a novel dimension to the culinary experience.Concurrently, more research could explore how food might prevent brain malfunctions, such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, leading to the formulation of dedicated diets. While these are all speculative innovations, they demonstrate that AI has the potential to blend and transform both fields, not just limiting humans but opening new avenues and opportunities concerning our understanding of food and brain function. The facilitative role AI plays in conceiving and enabling such solutions holds vast potential for the future, something we should not merely dread but genuinely anticipate!
References:
Cabrera, D., Colosi, L., & Lobdell, C. E. (2008). Systems thinking. Evaluation and Program Planning, 31(3), 299–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2007.12.001
Wright, N. (2023, April 4). How artificial intelligence will reshape the global order: the coming competition between digital authoritarianism and liberal democracy. Foreign Affairs. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2018-07-10/how-artificial-intelligence-will-reshape-global-order
