Explainer: How AI changed the world in 2024

Artificial intelligence isn't just the future. It's also the present. 

That became clear in 2024.  AI is learning faster than ever because it's able to handle more and more data. Research by Epoch.ai suggests the computing power behind some AI models is now double what it was just six months ago.  

That translates to a massive amount of knowledge. ChatGPT-4 is one of the most popular AI tools available to consumers - reports suggest it was trained using more than a trillion 'data parameters'. For context, that's a million multiplied by a million.  

And the Nobel Prize goes to...

But while AI is getting smarter, it's also making us smarter. Two of the scientists who won the 2024 Nobel Prize for Chemistry used an AI forecasting tool. Demis Hassabis and John Jumper uncovered how different combinations of amino acids form proteins in human bodies. 

The AlphaFold2 tool allows them to predict the structures of nearly 200 million different proteins - a breakthrough that could reveal why some people don't respond to antibiotics. It could also pave the way for life-saving drugs and vaccines. 

Meanwhile, AI seems to be taking its newfound knowledge to heart (although, technically, it doesn't have one). 

AI-driven robot Captcha delivered a series of lectures and discussions at a German high school in December. The topic? The future of AI, of course. Captcha is the brainchild of tech firm Hidoba Research. It says it's developing humanoid robots to improve education and social interaction. 

The boardroom blitz

AI is changing the world of business as well.  Advisory firm McKinsey released the results of its global AI survey in early 2024. The survey asked companies if they used Gen AI, a type of artificial intelligence that generates content like text and images. 

Sixty-five percent said they used it to perform at least one role in their business. Just a year before, 33 percent said the same. 

McKinsey's research suggests Gen AI will add as much as $4 trillion to the global economy each year. But that growth could come with strings attached. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that AI will impact 60 percent of jobs in advanced economies, such as the United States and most of western Europe. 

The IMF says the technology will probably support human workers in half those jobs, helping them become more productive and efficient. But the group has also warned that AI could perform the rest of the roles by itself, meaning 30 percent of jobs would be at risk. 

That doesn't necessarily mean all those jobs will disappear. Some firms may choose to employ people, even when AI performs better than humans in certain areas. 

But the IMF says workers could still take a knock. It's warned that AI may weaken their bargaining power, forcing them to accept lower wages because companies can replace them with cheap, efficient tech. 

Fast. Furious. Fake.

There are other dangers. Fraudsters have already used AI deepfakes in a range of scams. Deepfakes are digital avatars that assume a fake identity in a bid to trick people. 

Hong Kong police launched a probe into one of the most brazen scams in February. Reports claim a staff member at engineering firm Arup paid $25 million to a group of criminals after a deepfake operation. 

The con artists apparently used AI to generate digital clones of several Arup managers, then invited the staff member to a video conference call. The employee made a series of payments before discovering that the people on the call were not who they seemed.    

AI has also been linked to the death of a teenage boy in the United States. 

Fourteen-year-old Sewell Setzer killed himself after becoming obsessed with an AI-generated character that he 'chatted' with using an app on his phone. Setzer's mother, Megan Garcia, filed a civil lawsuit in October, claiming the 'chatbot' manipulated him and failed to flag comments that suggested he was suicidal.   

Ready. Steady. No! 

Governments around the world are having to find ways to prevent AI abuse. China, for example, has introduced laws designed to stop the use of deepfakes. It's also drafting policies that will regulate AI as a whole. 

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) has launched the Artificial Intelligence Act, designed to protect human rights. The Act took effect in August, and the EU says it will implement the laws in phases over the next three years.  

Scientists say the power of AI lies in its ability to learn and adapt. They've been putting its abilities to the test for decades. 

But in a sense, the tables may have turned in 2024. More and more, AI is putting humans to the test, posing questions about our ability to adapt and evolve. There are deeper questions too: what does it mean to be human, and what kind of future do we want for ourselves? 

It will take our own intelligence to find the answers. 

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