Artificial Intelligence: Bangladesh Perspective

Although the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become widespread in many developed countries it is yet to take off in a big way in Bangladesh. Most experts believe that it is necessary to take advantage of the immense potential of using artificial intelligence in different sectors but we should also be aware of the negativity of artificial intelligence. Overcoming the fear of artificial intelligence and ensuring its utilisation requires creating opportunities for the positive use of artificial intelligence for all. This requires the active participation of stakeholders at all levels.

The demand for connectivity will further increase in the coming years to prevent any pandemics. High-speed fiber optic-based connectivity needs to be increased instead of conventional technology. To ensure social distance, the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data will increase in the areas of telemedicine services, distance learning, online training, epidemiology, the listing of social security recipients, etc.

Bangladesh also needs to increase the capacity of telecommunication networks to meet the growing demand for e-commerce, outsourcing, freelancing, video streaming and social media.

In the current global situation, the 5-G network is the demand of time. Already there are plans to launch 5-G technology in Bangladesh. For 5G, telecom officials need to be made efficient and capable. Bangladesh must be at the forefront of implementing SDGs in a changed life system through the proper application of information technology through the concerted efforts of all.

To compete in the global arena of artificial intelligence, it is necessary to emphasize the preparation of infrastructure that supports the technological environment of Bangladesh. There are a few things to look for in developing artificial intelligence in Bangladesh but for that we must have the necessary hardware and systems. Till 2000 we have developed machine learning which is run with CPU (Central Processing Unit). But now we have to pay more attention to the graphics processing unit or GPU. Ensuring improved GPU will bring more capability in machine learning.

Facebook’s artificial intelligence skills are good for face detection, Google in spam image detection. But thousands of images, that is, thousands of data, are needed to enable artificial intelligence for this detection. Since Google and Facebook users are all over the world, their data numbers are high. That is why their artificial intelligence is more capable. The youth of Bangladesh are curious about artificial intelligence, the concerned people think that there is an opportunity to use artificial intelligence positively for the progress of the country through these curious youth.

The percentage of agricultural workers in Bangladesh is nearly half the total population. But agricultural work still depends on nature and the traditional method of using fertilizer and pesticides. There is also a great potential for using artificial intelligence in diagnosing crop diseases, soil conditions and weather behavior. The number of doctors for 160 million people in the country is only about 90,000. Here we must increase the use of technology. Moreover, artificial intelligence can be a reliable way to reduce system losses in the industrial sector.

Acknowledging the global concern that the use of artificial intelligence in almost all areas and excessive reliance on machine robots could lead to human unemployment, focus should be on the positive use of artificial intelligence.

Many developing countries use artificial intelligence as a way to reduce physical labour of humans and replace it through knowledge-based labour. Artificial intelligence is already working on various scales in well-known business organisations around the world. If Bangladesh backs away from artificial intelligence for fear of unemployment, it may fall behind the rest of the world. This advancement in technology is likely to reduce the number of manual laborers, as well as expand the field of knowledge-based labor.

Technology like artificial intelligence is all around us without our knowledge, in a word, it can be said that ‘technology is being taught to make decisions like human beings.”” People need it. For example, in the healthcare system robots will be used to provide proper service to patients and thus reduce human error. Artificial intelligence is being used in simulating ‘Drug Discovery’ without using the drug on the patient.

Today, the technology behind the vaccine and other medicines of ‘Covid-19’ is not unknown to anyone. Otherwise, it would have taken much more time to come up with those.

Governments in developed countries are using artificial intelligence regarding urban planning, mass transit systems, river diversion, early flood detection, proper distribution and use of government resources and traffic management. Artificial intelligence is being used in scores of such areas.

In addition to the use of this artificial intelligence in wargaming, an idea for the use of this technology in the military has come to the United States, as the ‘Third Offset Strategy. In 2016, the Pentagon spent 2 billion on the use of artificial intelligence. The thing is, we may not be able to guess how this is happening - but everything around us is changing under the influence of this artificial intelligence.

Whether we like it or not - artificial intelligence is ingrained in everything. As we have seen - from healthcare to government work, to the transportation industry - to education - artificial intelligence is making everything easy for those who want to do it. A great deal of power is indeed coming into the hands of the people - very few people understand that.

Machine learning is needed at the beginning of artificial intelligence. The part of artificial intelligence that is machine learning is the process of giving intelligence to the machine. There is a huge movement going on in the world with AI for social good by using data in human work. It is good to know about machine learning because its use is going on in every sector. Artificial intelligence is a present and future skill set. From time to time we get some intelligent behavior from the animals around us. The fact is that since the animal is following something on the human scale, we call it an intelligent animal. The thing is that he is behaving like a human being, but if he does something like that, it can be said to be intelligent on its scale. The intelligence that exists in a thing is revealed in the outcome of its work or its use. However, the origin of this intelligence is in the head of us or animals. We do not yet know much about how this intelligence is working in our heads or because we cannot see directly the processes that make them work. We know that things happen with electronic pulses inside the neurons of the head, but its ‘internal’ things are still unknown to us.

There is a lot of talks now about artificial intelligence and attempts to replace human intelligence and thinking power with machines. All of us are familiar with robots such as animal or man-made devices that are computer-controlled automatic systems. People can work exactly the way they work. These devices cannot create and express advanced thoughts or feelings like humans. It cannot go beyond artificial intelligence and robotic computers. In the same way, like human beings, they cannot conclude by using conjecture and sixth sense.

The writer is a Research Fellow, BNNRC