Fast Intelligence - the era where answers to complex questions are just a text prompt or voice query away. Will we need to change our intelligence diet?

The convenience of Fast Intelligence is undeniable. We can get answers to our questions much faster and more efficiently than ever before with just a text prompt or voice request. We're seeing Fast Intelligence spread across our society. Daily news feeds, office tools, and working methods implement generative AI in all activities. Fast Intelligence is adopted across generations due to its ease of use and universal access.

 We are now living in an age with fast intelligence at our fingertips.

Yet our society has been here before. Our regular consumption of Fast Food has increased obesity, heart disease and shortened lives. Our wearing of Fast Fashion has increased pollution, damaged the environment, and harmed labourers. Our society's fast addictions, whilst maybe beneficial at the moment of consumption, are hurting ourselves and our world.

A person can indeed make informed choices about the food that they eat and the clothes that they wear, yet many do not. Even with clear labelling, more accessible access to information, and government regulation encouraging producers to be more honest about the costs and harms involved in their products, consumers find accurate information hard to obtain and challenging to comprehend. Given choices, our society often opts for the laziest, fastest solution.

Fast products are too tempting to refuse, even when we know they harm us. We fuel our fast addictions, and unless we change, then Fast Intelligence will prove even more harmful and even more addictive.

Accuracy

One of the biggest challenges of fast Intelligence is the issue of accuracy. Relying solely on Fast Intelligence to provide answers requires us to trust that the information we receive is accurate and reliable. Unfortunately, this may not always be the case.

There are many sources of information online that could be more trustworthy, and it can be difficult to tell the difference between reliable and unreliable sources. For instance, a search engine may present information that is popular or frequently searched for rather than factual or correct. Fast Intelligence increases this risk by merging multiple sources, often without clear traceability. Cases are also common where Fast Intelligence has hallucinated references or made-up links.

This is why it is essential to be cautious when using fast Intelligence and to verify the information received with other sources such as books, academic articles or research papers.

Transparency

Another challenge of fast Intelligence is the issue of transparency. When we obtain an answer from fast Intelligence, we seldom see how it was generated. We need to determine if the answer was based on solid evidence or simply a guess. Datasets can be biased, weighing disproportionate items or sources too much. There needs to be more transparency, making evaluating the quality of the information we receive easier. Furthermore, the algorithms used to generate answers can be biased or incomplete, leading to limited perspectives or even misinformation. 

Therefore, it is essential to understand how the technology works, what data it uses to generate answers and to question the information when in doubt.

Critical Thinking

The issue of critical thinking is a significant challenge with fast Intelligence. Fast Intelligence can make us less likely to engage in critical thinking and to question the information we receive. Lack of can lead to a culture of individuals who consume half-truths or unhealthy answers because it's the easiest option.

We can be tempted to rely on fast Intelligence instead of seeking out multiple sources of information or engaging in thoughtful analysis. To address this, we need to develop our critical thinking skills, question the information we receive, and learn to evaluate the quality of the information we receive.

However, Fast Intelligence can conduct malicious purposes such as spreading misinformation, propaganda, or fake news. It can also perpetuate biases, stereotypes, or discrimination, leading to unfair treatment or marginalisation of certain groups. For instance, algorithms used in facial recognition software have been shown to have racial biases, leading to false identification and wrongful arrests of people of colour.

Like fast food and fashion, Fast Intelligence has much potential to revolutionise how we access, process, and consume information. It offers convenience, speed, and efficiency, saving time and effort. There are positives. For instance, we can use fast Intelligence to find the nearest restaurant quickly, get directions to a new place, or learn about a new topic. It is increasingly used to diagnose illness faster and research complex medical topics quicker.

Equally, there are always times when a quick burger may be the perfect option, although if every meal becomes a greasy burger, we probably need to review our decisions.

Universal Access

And this is the most significant risk of Fast Intelligence. Availability and access limit our consumption of food or fashion. We may crave a burger at 1 a.m., but come 4 a.m., very few grills will be open. Access limits our consumption.

Fast intelligence is only a prompt away at any time of day and is increasingly available for any challenge or problem. Like our addiction to social networks and online gossip through fast media, we can consume Fast Intelligence 24 hours a day, every year.

This ease of access will increase our addictions and, in turn, our risk of hurt.

In our second part, we will examine how to change our Fast Intelligence diet.