The Days of Making Our Own Decisions Are Almost Over

We’re moving into a time where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to make the majority of our decisions for us.

01:03 15 June 2023

We’re moving into a time where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to make the majority of our decisions for us. That might seem a little bit sci-fi but the rate at which AI is evolving certainly suggests we’re going to defer a lot of processes to computers in the coming years. Indeed, we only have to look at the current power of ChatGPT. The OpenAI program is capable of passing medical exams, spitting out scripts, and answering complex questions. 

Chatbots might seem impressive at this stage but, in ten years, we’ll see them as little more than an iPod compared to the latest iPhone. The point here is that AI is going to become far more sophisticated and, therefore, more powerful. This means it will be capable of many more things, including decision-making. The seeds of development were sown at least a decade ago.

As soon as developers discovered the power of big data and the ability to collate almost endless gigabytes of data from various online sources, decision-making has become easier. The best example of this is comparison websites. When was the last time you manually searched through car insurance providers for the best quotes? When was the last time you called up an insurance broker and asked for help? It’s probably been a long time. 

Instant Insurance Quotes

We’re not saying you can’t do these things, it’s just that they’re not as efficient or effective as comparison sites. Let’s put this into practice. Go to Compare.com and you can enter your zip code, your car’s age, make, model, and various pieces of usage information to start comparing. Within a minute or so, you’ll have dozens of quotes from a variety of insurance companies, including USAA, Geico, and Nationwide. 

What’s notable is that comparison sites have evolved in recent years. You can get the latest quotes based on the date and market conditions. Basically, what’s happening with insurance comparison sites is that you’re getting up-to-the-minute information that’s tailored to you. These services aren’t unique to the insurance sector. Casino gaming has become a multi-billion-dollar industry over the last 20+ years and, today, there are hundreds of sites out there. 

Comparison Portals Save Us Time

How do we identify the best online casino brands among the oversaturated scene of competitors? We compare and contrast, just as we do with insurance. A prime example of this is CasinoBonusCA, which reviews casinos and their latest offers. Casinos and their offers are listed along with star ratings in preview panels. Users can then check the “comparison” box to create a list of options. Finally, they can tap “compare” to list their picks side-by-side and see how each compares to the other in various categories. 

Again, the benefit of doing this is that users get easy access to the latest market data that they can then tailor to their needs. What you’ll notice is that in both of these examples, a certain amount of manual input is required. It’s minimal, but it’s necessary. Of course, we could argue that some amount of control is desirable. Technology is presenting us with options, but we’re in control of choosing the one we want. There’s nothing wrong with that, but could it be better?

Computers Can Make Better Decisions than Humans

We all assume we’re logical and rational 100% of the time. We tend to overestimate our abilities in certain scenarios. For example, you might think you can judge dangers on the road better than a self-driving AI system. That’s not the case. According to Andrej Karpathy, Director of artificial intelligence and Autopilot Vision at Tesla, smart cars process images 10X faster than humans. 

If this is true in cars, why can’t AI programs make better decisions about things such as insurance? An AI program could monitor driving patterns and use that to determine the type of policy that’s best. This would remove any need for us to make decisions on our own. We’re already seeing this phenomenon in our homes. 

Energy monitoring systems and other smart apps are making decisions about when to turn on heating systems and lights. Therefore, in a few years, it’s not a stretch to assume AI programs can make more decisions on our behalf. Not only that, they’ll make better decisions than we can. That’s a scary but exciting prospect and it’s all down to the exponential development of AI.