In this blog post, we’ll explore the changes AI will bring to human society and its future potential, focusing on the defense, healthcare, and labor sectors.
A New Perspective on Artificial Intelligence
In 2014, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense announced that a drone, believed to have been sent by North Korea, had crashed after filming the area along South Korea’s east coast. Since then, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and drone technology has advanced rapidly, and today, unmanned systems incorporating artificial intelligence have established themselves as core defense technologies in countries around the world. Against this backdrop, interest in cutting-edge unmanned technologies such as artificial intelligence is growing even further. After hearing this news, I, too, became interested in artificial intelligence and read ‘The Most Human of Humans’ by Brian Christian, which presents a new perspective on AI through the Turing Test.
What impressed me most about this book was its view of AI not merely as a competitor to humans, but as an entity that makes humans more human. If AI were to surpass humans in the Turing Test, humans would be compelled to reflect on what it means to be human and strive even harder to improve themselves. Conversely, even if humans continue to maintain their advantage in the Turing Test, they must not become complacent but must strive for continuous growth. This perspective alone shows that Brian Christian did not view AI as something to be feared.
Furthermore, the most striking part of this book was the discussion on the impact of artificial intelligence on future jobs. Many people fear artificial intelligence because they believe it will replace countless jobs in the future. However, the book presents a different perspective: the fact that machines or artificial intelligence are taking over human work is not simply a result of technological advancement, but rather a consequence of capitalist structures and the labor environment.
Even today, many workers feel that the tasks they perform are no different from those of a robot. There is also the aspect that humans themselves have shaped their work into repetitive and mechanical forms. And in fact, this phenomenon had been steadily occurring even before the widespread adoption of AI. Ultimately, once human work has become mechanized in this way, it is highly likely that the process of actual machines or AI taking over those tasks will follow naturally.
The argument presented by Brian Christian in his book offers a new perspective on the impact of AI on employment. I would like to convey to those who view the spread of AI with anxiety that it can have a positive impact on future society. Let’s now examine the positive changes AI will bring, focusing on the defense, healthcare, and labor sectors.
The Expected Role of AI in the Defense Sector
Currently, the use of AI technology is rapidly expanding in the defense sector. AI is being applied in various fields—such as autonomous unmanned systems, surveillance and reconnaissance drones, and decision-support systems—and its potential for future development is immense. Unmanned robots equipped with AI can carry out operations that would be too dangerous for humans to perform directly; they can also be deployed to the field before troops are sent in to accurately assess the situation, thereby protecting humans from threats. This is expected to enhance mission capabilities and reduce casualties among service members.
In particular, AI robots represent a technology with immense potential for application in the defense sector. While various unmanned systems are already in operation, the integration of AI technology is expected to yield even greater results. For example, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been developing humanoid robots for use in disaster response and hazardous environments. These robots are designed to use various sensors to independently detect and overcome obstacles, enabling them to move stably even across rugged terrain. Additionally, by performing a variety of pre-programmed actions, they can reduce the operator’s workload and shorten task completion times.
Since these AI robots can move stably even across rough terrain, they can be effectively utilized for supply delivery and missions in mountainous regions. In particular, they are expected to deliver outstanding results in missions that are difficult for humans to perform directly, such as explosive ordnance disposal, searching contaminated areas for chemical, biological, and radiological hazards, and inspecting hazardous facilities.
Unmanned robots equipped with artificial intelligence can also play a crucial role in disaster response. For example, if high-performance disaster-response humanoid robots had been sufficiently deployed during the Fukushima nuclear accident, they might have helped reduce radiation leaks and protect more lives. Since then, various companies have continued to develop humanoid robots for use at disaster sites, advancing capabilities such as obstacle detection, ladder climbing, and navigation through rough terrain.
These robots can be deployed in environments where radiation levels are too high for humans to enter, where they can carry out rescue operations, investigate the causes of accidents, and prevent further damage. The role of AI robots in disaster response is expected to expand even further in the future.
If AI-based autonomous driving technology were applied to transport vehicles used for military logistics support, it could significantly enhance the safety of drivers and passengers. Autonomous driving technology enables vehicles to perceive their surroundings using various sensors and navigation systems and navigate to their destinations independently. Military autonomous vehicles can transport equipment and supplies more safely by analyzing battlefield conditions in real time, bypassing hazardous areas, and selecting the optimal route.
Of course, at the current level of technology, fully unmanned operation is not possible in all situations. Human judgment is still required on complex roads or in unpredictable battlefield environments. However, if a combat situation arises during operation, the driver will not have to focus solely on driving, which can help ensure their safety and allow them to perform other tasks.
The Expanding Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Medical Field
IBM’s AI system, Watson, once garnered significant attention in the medical field and was utilized in various hospitals. Since then, medical AI technology has advanced further, and today, rather than relying on a single specific system, a variety of medical AI platforms are being used in multiple fields, including image interpretation, disease prediction, treatment planning, and new drug development. The core function is to comprehensively analyze healthcare-related data, disease information, and patient medical records to support medical professionals’ diagnoses and treatments. This technology is also used in patient triage and emergency care to help quickly assess a patient’s condition and suggest appropriate treatment options.
One of the early examples of medical AI was Watson’s use in supporting healthcare professionals’ decision-making during cancer treatment. By analyzing patients’ medical records and test results and proposing treatment options based on a vast body of medical literature and clinical data, it played a role in assisting the medical team’s judgment.
Today, medical AI has advanced to the point where it comprehensively analyzes patient information, medical records, and test results to propose various treatment options based on the latest medical research and clinical data. While the final diagnosis and treatment are determined by medical professionals, AI is becoming a vital tool that enables them to make decisions more quickly and accurately.
Furthermore, the advancement of medical AI is helping to reduce the workload of medical professionals and shorten patient wait times. By assisting with repetitive data analysis and image interpretation, medical professionals can focus more on patient care and developing treatment plans, while patients can receive medical services more quickly. In the future, medical AI is expected to evolve further in a direction that focuses on collaboration with medical professionals rather than replacing them.
In addition, psychotherapy robots such as Japan’s “Paro” are also gaining attention. Paro is an AI robot modeled after a seal that converses with people and responds differently based on the intensity of touch detected by various sensors embedded in its body. Since it reacts differently when stroked gently versus when handled roughly, it provides an experience similar to interacting with a living creature.
These psychotherapy robots are being utilized in various fields, including elderly care, dementia treatment, and psychotherapy for patients in need of emotional stability, and they also have the potential to help alleviate stress and depression arising from military life.
Will AI eliminate jobs, or create new opportunities?
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing even the domains of experts through machine learning.
In the past, researchers at the University of Oxford predicted that various professional occupations were highly likely to be affected by automation. However, there is now a growing consensus that, rather than completely replacing professionals, artificial intelligence is evolving to enhance productivity and assist with work tasks. In fact, various types of physical labor involving manual movements are also being gradually automated alongside advances in robotics technology; ultimately, most occupations are likely to undergo a process of transformation rather than replacement.
“Computers are astonishingly fast and accurate, but incredibly stupid. Humans are astonishingly slow and inaccurate, but incredibly smart. When these two join forces, they possess unimaginable power.”
This statement clearly illustrates that humans and computers have different strengths. For humans, distinguishing between cats or walking is very easy, but playing chess is difficult. Conversely, while artificial intelligence excels at chess, recognizing objects and moving freely in the real world like a human has long remained a difficult challenge. This Moravec’s Paradox implies that humans and artificial intelligence should not be in a competitive relationship but rather a cooperative one, where they complement each other’s shortcomings. Since the best way to predict the future is to shape it ourselves, we can look forward to a future of new jobs created through the collaboration of artificial intelligence and humans.
For example, concerns have consistently been raised that professions such as journalism will disappear as productivity in specialized fields improves significantly. However, if overall information consumption and demand for content increase, this does not necessarily mean that jobs will decrease. In a hyper-connected society, demand for personalized services and content is continuously growing, and the landscape is expanding from a mass media-centric environment to a market featuring diverse personal media and specialized content. Amid these changes, journalists and content creators who actively utilize AI may actually gain new opportunities.
Personalization is not a trend limited to the media sector. As AI boosts productivity in nearly every field—including finance, law, education, consulting, and healthcare—the market for personalized services is highly likely to expand further. AI integrated with healthcare can contribute to providing high-quality medical services to more people and help reduce disparities in healthcare access based on region and environment.
To put it simply, the advent of the tiller reduced the need for people to plow fields by hand. However, at the same time, there was a new demand for people to design and manufacture tillers, as well as those to sell, maintain, and operate them. While technological advancements may transform certain occupations, they also create new jobs and industries.
Furthermore, many people worry that the development of artificial intelligence will further widen the wealth gap. Indeed, there is a possibility that the benefits of technological advancement will be concentrated among specific social classes. However, this issue is not inherent to the technology itself but rather a challenge that must be addressed through social institutions and policies.
For example, American investor Warren Buffett has long advocated that high-income earners should pay a higher share of taxes, and this stance led to the so-called “Buffett Tax” becoming a topic of public debate. As such, if appropriate wealth redistribution policies and social safety nets are put in place, more people will be able to share in the benefits brought about by technological advancement.
Artificial Intelligence Is a Collaborator, Not an Enemy, to Humans
So far, we have examined evidence—focused on the three areas of national defense, healthcare, and employment—that artificial intelligence can be a collaborator rather than an enemy to humans. In the field of national defense, we identified various potential applications, such as unmanned robots, disaster response robots, and autonomous military supply vehicles. In the healthcare sector, we examined the potential for AI to support medical professionals’ decision-making by analyzing vast amounts of medical data, as well as the potential for therapeutic robots. Finally, in the labor sector, we confirmed that AI will not take away all human jobs but can collaborate with humans to create new jobs and new industries.
I hope that through this article, readers will consider AI not merely as a source of fear, as Brian Christian has said, but as an entity with which we can collaborate. This conclusion may seem somewhat idealistic. However, keeping an open mind about AI is the first step toward preparing for a future in which we live alongside it.
If a world arrives where AI becomes a true partner rather than an enemy to humans, and we work together in mutual cooperation, we can look forward to a society where fewer people lose their lives during rescue operations at disaster sites, fewer people suffer from a lack of proper counseling and treatment, and the number of workers who lose their lives in hazardous work environments gradually decreases.
