Artificial Intelligence, an Intricate Part of the 4th Industrial Revolution – Motifs and Implications for Human Development?

This current decade witnessed an upsurge in scholarly research on the phenomenon dubbed the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR. This was largely influenced by the claims of its advocates that the 4IR is bringing changes at the global scale never seen before and therefore that the world will never be the same. Such claims are no new to academic scholarship. Francis Fukuyama before wrote about the end of history and others wrote about globalisation as marking an end to fragmented world. Whether such claims are founded or not, the point is that they are made based on observation under the subject that has always captured the imagination and interest of social scientists i.e., seeking to understand and explain epochal changes in human history. Presently, we have seen a shift in this interest to artificial intelligence (AI). The question though is: just how new is this AI phenomenon? Closely linked to this is, what drives it and what implications does it have for human development in the long term? Is it likely to mark progress or the opposite of it? This paper examines the AI phenomenon through a critical review of evidence. The drive behind its rapid growth and its implications for human development, as understood through the United Nations Development Programme’s index, are also examined.