It seems AI is all the rage these days.
As with all new technologies, their capacity for doing good and for doing bad is immense. While AI can be used to speed up medical and critical life-savings tests, diagnosis, and complex analyses, be more effective in decision making, faster cloud and edge computing, (the list goes on) however, it can also be used to speed up password unlocking, decryption and analysis of confidential data, site blocking, fake news and imagery and lots of other nefarious activities.
Whatever new technologies are invented only serves to reinforce the critical factor of the human connection and the ever-increasing importance of EI - Emotional Intelligence!
AI is not EI, far from it. If AI is to operate for the benefit of society, EI must be given additional priority and reinforcement. It must be taught in schools, universities, organisations, institutions and businesses. Compassion, kindness, respect for others, self-confidence, assertiveness, risk tolerance, empathy, active listening, tact, diplomacy and so on, are essential EI skills to manage life in a complex and often difficult environment. Without EI, AI’s huge potential contribution to society can so easily be derailed.
The responsibility for making sure EI is used properly and for the right purposes is ours and ours alone. It is a daunting but very necessary mission and it should be our top priority!
Our book, The Way: Finding Peace in Turbulent Times can help navigate this and teach people the skills needed to enhance our own EI.