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There is no denying that artificial intelligence (AI) possesses the power to bring about transformative changes to industries and our lives. However, despite this immense potential, widespread adoption of AI is yet to be realized. This is primarily due to the scarcity of skilled workers, the expensive costs involved in the development, and the limited availability of resources for everyone.
Nevertheless, If we can empower individuals to easily utilize AI technology, we can spark a broad adoption that reaches every aspect of society. In doing so, we can ensure that the benefits of AI reach far and wider.
This idea has led big tech companies like Microsoft and Google to advocate and develop what is known as the democratization of AI.
What Is the Democratization of AI?
Democratization of AI deals with bringing AI to everyone, no matter their background or resources. The key objective is to provide equal opportunities for everyone to benefit from AI in order to enhance innovation and foster creativity.
The democratization of AI is a broad subject and involves various aspects, including:
- Accessibility
- Education and training
- Collaboration and openness
- Ethical considerations
Accessibility
The accessibility aspect deals with the development of AI tools and platforms so that anyone, especially those who are not AI experts, can use them with ease. This involves creating accessible AI tools with user-friendly interfaces that everyone can understand.
This also involves streamlining the entire AI development process, making it as smooth and simple as possible for everyone involved.
Education and training
The education and training aspect refers to developing and providing resources, training programs, and educational initiatives to the public, providing them with the knowledge and skills required to effectively understand, develop, and utilize AI technologies.
Collaboration and openness
The collaboration and openness deal with engaging a wider community to contribute to the development and improvement of AI algorithms, models, and applications.
Ethical considerations
Ethical considerations involve developing and deploying AI in an ethical and responsible manner by addressing concerns such as biases, privacy, transparency, and fairness.
Types of AI Democratizations
AI can be democratized in different ways. Four major types are discussed below.
Data Democratization
It deals with making it easier for users to bring data into data warehouses and lakes. Since AI needs lots of data to learn, allowing people to freely access the data can be helpful for trying out AI tools and transfer learning.
Kaggle is perhaps the most widely known example of data democratization in the real world. It offers numerous open-source datasets that users can freely access and utilize to train their own models.
Algorithm Democratization
This is about making AI algorithms accessible to everyone without needing expert skills. There are a few tools that allow people to use AI without any coding expertise, such as:
Algorithm democratization also means sharing new algorithms developed through research. Github, a popular platform with over 128 million public repositories, is commonly used for sharing these algorithms.
Computing Democratization
It refers to the accessibility and availability of computing resources, tools, and infrastructure to a broader audience. This means making computing power and resources more affordable and accessible for the people.
Cloud computing platforms that allow users to access scalable computing resources on demand include:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
In this regard, one prominent example is Google Colab which provides high-computing graphics processing units (GPUs) for free without requiring powerful hardware on your local system. With just a Gmail account, anyone can use Colab’s hardware and create AI models for free.
You can also upgrade to Colab Pro, where you will be provided with additional random access memory (RAM) for faster training of your models.
Once your model is trained, you can effortlessly integrate it into your applications.
Knowledge Democratization
It deals with making knowledge, expertise, and learning resources easily accessible to a wide range of people. A number of platforms offer online AI courses and certifications from top universities to anyone. Some of the most popular are:
These platforms provide educational opportunities to learn about AI conveniently.
Open-source communities like GitHub and Stack Overflow also contribute to knowledge democratization by providing platforms for sharing code, discussing AI techniques, and seeking help from others.
Additionally, chatbots have been introduced to guide developers in writing AI programs.
By making AI education and resources available to more people, knowledge democratization ensures that individuals can acquire the skills and understanding necessary to use AI.
Pros and Cons of Democratized AI
Advantages
Skill shortage reduction: Democratized AI reduces the shortage of skilled individuals and lowers the high development cost of implementing AI.
Cost efficiency: With democratized AI, there is no longer a need to purchase expensive data, tools, and computing resources, resulting in lower costs for utilizing AI.
Enhanced productivity: Democratized AI allows individuals to focus on their tasks instead of building AI techniques, which increases productivity and reduces the time required for the development process.
Business innovation: By making AI more accessible, democratized AI expands the potential for businesses to explore new use cases.
Barrier removal: Democratized AI removes obstacles for individuals and organizations to begin with AI. This means that people worldwide, regardless of their financial limitations, can easily start their AI journey.
Disadvantages
Untrained control: Democratization of AI means anyone can create and control AI, even without the proper training or skills. This can cause issues like bias, discrimination, or mistakes as the system is built without proper care and control. Additionally, the non-experts might struggle to recognize these problems unless the system is built and managed. This can lead companies to a difficult position where they need to regain trust and fix any harm caused.
Accessibility vs. Education: There is a trade-off between accessibility and education and training aspects. The accessibility enables non-experts to build AI systems without AI knowledge, discouraging learning AI, education, and training. This can, in turn, impact users with the knowledge and skills to responsibly use AI tools. The more AI tools are accessible, the fewer people will be interested in learning about AI.
Privacy concerns: The democratization of AI often involves sharing data on the cloud, which raises privacy concerns and may deter individuals from utilizing these tools due to the sensitivity of their data.
The Bottom Line
The democratization of AI means making AI available to everyone, regardless of their background or resources. It involves making AI accessible, providing education and training, promoting collaboration and openness, and considering ethical factors.
We can democratize AI by sharing data, algorithms, computing resources, and knowledge.
This has several benefits, such as addressing the shortage of skilled AI professionals, saving time and money in the AI development process, and making it easier for anyone to get started.
However, if AI systems are developed without proper knowledge, they can have problems like bias and discrimination, which can create unwanted situations for businesses.
