HEALTH ISSUES

1. CHOLERA DISEASE

TAGS: PRELIMS- GS-II- HEALTH ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: According to the World Health Organization, the African continent is likely to see its worst cholera crisis this decade, driven by extreme weather events and poor water supply and sanitation infrastructure.

THE EXPLANATION:

About Cholera disease:

• It is a life-threatening infectious disease and a public health hazard.
• It is an acute, diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholera.
• Symptoms: Profuse watery diarrhoea, Vomiting,  Leg cramps etc
• It is transmitted to humans through water or food which is contaminated with the cholera bacterium.
• The disease can spread rapidly in areas with inadequate treatment of sewage and drinking water.
• Currently, there are three WHO pre-qualified oral cholera vaccines (OCV), Dukoral, Shanchol, and Euvichol-Plus. All three vaccines require two doses for full protection.

2. WHAT IS THE MARBURG VIRUS DISEASE?

TAGS: PRELIMS- GS-II- HEALTH ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: The World Health Organization recently said that Equatorial Guinea had confirmed its first-ever outbreak of Marburg disease.

THE EXPLANATION:

About Marburg virus disease (MVD):

• MVD, earlier known as Marburg hemorrhagic fever, is a rare but severe hemorrhagic fever that affects both people and non-human primates.
• Causative agent: MVD is caused by the Marburg virus, a genetically unique zoonotic (animal-borne) RNA virus. Marburg and Ebola viruses are both members of the Filoviridae family (filovirus).
• Marburg virus was first recognized in 1967, when outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever occurred simultaneously in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia).
• The reservoir host of the Marburg virus is the African fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus.
• Transmission: The Marburg virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through human-to-human transmission.
• Fatality: The average MVD case fatality rate is around 50%.

Treatment:

• There is no specific treatment for Marburg virus disease.
• Supportive therapy, such as intravenous fluids, electrolyte replacement, supplemental oxygen, as well as blood and blood products replacement, improves survival.

What are Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs)?

• VHFs are a group of diseases that are caused by several distinct families of viruses.
• The term “viral hemorrhagic fever” refers to a condition that affects many organ systems of the body, damages the overall cardiovascular system, and reduces the body’s ability to function on its own.
• Some VHFs cause mild illnesses, while others can cause severe, life-threatening diseases.
• Most VHFs have no known cure or vaccine.

 INDIAN AGRICULTURE

3. INFOCROP SIMULATION MODEL

THE CONTEXT: Recently, scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in Delhi conducted a first-of-its-kind experiment to quantify the impact of the hot weather on crop yield in Punjab and Haryana by using InfoCrop version 2.1.

THE EXPLANATION:

About InfoCrop simulation Model:

• In 2004, InfoCrop version 1 was launched by the IARI which is being updated regularly.
• It is a dynamic simulation model for the assessment of crop yields, losses due to pests, and the environmental impact of agroecosystems in tropical environments.
• It has the life cycle data for almost all the local varieties of 11 crops: paddy, wheat, maize, sorghum, pearl millet, pigeon pea, chickpea, soybean, groundnut, potato and cotton.
• It provides daily and summary outputs on various growth and yield parameters, nitrogen uptake, greenhouse gas emissions, soil water and nitrogen balance.
• InfoCrop version 2.1, India’s only dynamic crop simulation model developed and released by the IARI in 2015 to study the long-term impact of climate change and crop management practices on yield.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

4. WHAT IS TAPAS UAV?

TAGS: PRELIMS- GS-III-SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Prime Minister of India has shared aerial coverage of Ground and Air displays captured from an indigenously developed Medium Altitude Long Endurance TAPAS UAV during rehearsal from a height of 12000 feet.

THE EXPLANATION:

About TAPAS UAV:

• It is known as Tapas-BH (Tactical Airborne Platform for Aerial Surveillance-Beyond Horizon 201), formerly referred to as Rustom-II.
• The UAV is named after Rustom Damania, a former professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• It is designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bengaluru with production partners being Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Bharat Electronics Limited.
• It is being developed to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles and is capable of carrying different combinations of advanced payloads and capable of auto-landing among others.
• It is being designed to acquire real-time, high-quality pictures and signal intelligence from fields of concern at medium to long ranges.
• Technologically it matches contemporary UAVs available and is also cheaper than the imported ones.

PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

5. ALL INDIA DOMESTIC WORKERS SURVEY

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: The Minister of State for Labour and Employment recently informed Lok Sabha that the Labour Bureau has undertaken an All India Domestic Workers Survey.

THE EXPLANATION:

About All India Domestic Workers Survey:

• This is the first-ever such survey in independent India which was initiated in 2021.
• The survey would cover all States and Union Territories, covering 1.5 lakh households in 742 districts.
• The main objectives of the survey are:
  • Estimate the number/proportion of domestic workers at the National and State level.
  • Household Estimates of Live-in/Live-out DWs.
  • The average number of DWs engaged by different types of households.

VALUE ADDITION:

About Labour bureau:

• Labour Bureau is an attached office under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, which was set up on 1st October 1946.
• It is entrusted with the work of compilation, collection, analysis and dissemination of statistics on different aspects of labour.
• It releases Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers, Agricultural/Rural Labourers, Retail Price Index of Selected Essential Commodities in Urban Areas etc.
• Quick Employment Survey and Employment-Unemployment survey are also being conducted by Labour Bureau.

THE CONTEXT: ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot that has been developed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) research company OpenAI. The chatbot understands natural language and responds in a human-like manner. Looking at the current scenario of what ChatGPT it is to be seen whether it is a threat or a boon to humans. On one side it has immense capabilities to help and assist humans but also potentially has an ability to replace the human effort, eventually wiping off many jobs in the industry. Jobs that are not just confined to one industry but many. The fact that it can write software and malware is itself a threat to the tech world. The ability to generate human-like written text has prompted suggestions that the technology could replace even journalists. However, at its current stage, the chatbot lacks nuance, critical-thinking skills, or ethical decision-making abilities. Thus there is a different viewpoint about the future consequences of ChatGPT. This current article analyse various aspects related to the ChatGPT.

BACK TO BASICS

WHAT IS ChatGPT

• ChatGPT is a variant of the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) language model that was developed specifically for generating human-like text in a conversational context.
• ChatGPT is a chatbot that the startup called OpenAI released in November. The technology works by learning from vast amounts of data how to answer any prompt by a user in a human-like way, offering information like a search engine would or prose.

WHAT IS GPT

• Chat bots like GPT are powered by large amounts of data and computing techniques to make predictions about stringing words together in a meaningful way. They not only tap into a vast amount of vocabulary and information, but also understand words in context. This helps them mimic speech patterns while dispatching encyclopedic knowledge.

WHAT CAN IT DO?

• The potential use cases for such a tool are practically limitless. ChatGPT can tackle a range of assignments, from writing a sensitive condolence letter and explaining string theory in a child-friendly way to translating tax forms and providing first aid to a choking baby. Though the resulting text didn’t always sound natural and some phrases were generic to the point of feeling inappropriate, ChatGPT took within 5 to 15 seconds to provide a helpful reply that felt relatively human, though lacking a distinct personality or any quirks.

FUTURE OF SOCIETY

IMPACT ON LEARNING: Teachers and academicians have expressed concerns over ChatGPT’s impact learning outcome of the students.
ISSUE OF PLAGIARISM: Teachers and academicians have expressed concerns over ChatGPT’s impact on written assignments. Thus the learning outcome may be impacted. They note that the bot could be used to turn in plagiarised essays that could be hard to detect for time-pressed invigilators. Most recently, New York City’s education department banned ChatGPT in its public schools. The authorities have forbidden the bot’s use in all devices and networks connected to schools. It is not that plagiarism is new a problem in academic institutions; ChatGPT has changed the way AI is used to create new content. This makes it hard to single out copied content.
There are questions about how individuals such as exam invigilators, editors, and teachers will identify AI-generated content that others might pass off as their original work. Within seconds, ChatGPT provided a high-school level essay and a fake letter of recommendation for a job. ChatGPT also generated authentic-sounding news reports that were filled with misinformation. Thus, it can also generate the fake news.

IMPACT ON WORK

• HOW ChatGPT DISRUPTS INDUSTRIES: ChatGPT has the potential to take over certain roles traditionally held by humans, such as copywriting, answering customer service inquiries, writing news reports, and creating legal documents. As AI continues to improve, more and more current jobs will be threatened by automation. But AI presents opportunities as well and will create new jobs and different kinds of organisations. The question isn’t whether AI will be good enough to take on more cognitive tasks but rather how we’ll adapt.
• ChatGPT is designed to generate natural language responses when given input from a user — making it potentially useful in a variety of business applications where human-like conversation with customers or clients is desirable.
• The cybercriminal community has already shown significant interest and is jumping onto this latest trend to generate malicious code. THREAT OF CYBER SECURITY: The new AI-based chatbot tool developed by OpenAI can be leveraged to write code and malware that help cyber threat actors. ChatGPT, the new AI sensation, is helping even less skilled cyber threat actors write codes and launch cyberattacks effortlessly.it has become a new favourite tool for participants in the Dark Web.
• One instance of the use of ChatGPT that was carried out on New Year’s Eve of 2022 was the creation of Dark Web Marketplaces scripts. The marketplace’s main role is to provide a platform for the automated trade of illegal goods like stolen accounts or payment cards, malware, or even drugs and ammunition, with all payments in cryptocurrencies.
• PRIVACY CONCERNS: There are also potential privacy concerns. ChatGPT can be vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks, as it is connected to the internet and could potentially be used to spread malicious content or viruses. Malicious cybercriminals could also manipulate people into divulging personal information using the chatbot, then use that information for fraudulent purposes or for targeted phishing attacks.
• However, there are certain benefits of ChatGPT. Tools like ChatGPT can create enormous opportunities for companies strategically leveraging technology. Chat-based AI can augment how humans work by automating repetitive tasks while providing more engaging interactions with users.
• More Intelligent search engine can be built with this new technology. Microsoft is looking to implement ChatGPT into its search engine Bing. Microsoft has been battling to take Google on as a search engine for years now, looking for any feature that can help it stand out. Thus ChatGPT will help develop new interactive and advanced search engines than traditional search engines.

ChatGPT, GENERATIVE AI AND THE FUTURE OF CREATIVE WORK

Generative AI is an artificial intelligence, rather than simply analysing or acting on existing data. A “stunningly lifelike conversational language system” designed to “answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests,” The Times described it as the “world’s first truly useful chatbot”. Based on natural language generation technology, it is “implemented in such a way that you just chat with it in a web browser as if you were slacking with a colleague or interacting with a customer support agent on a website”. It could also transform how the internet itself functions. This is ‘the death of Google’, predicted many.

ChatGPT AND INNOVATION

ChatGPT listed as author on research papers however many scientists disapprove
Publishers are racing to create policies for the chatbot. Journal editors, researchers and publishers are now debating the place of such AI tools in the published literature, and whether it’s appropriate to cite the bot as an author. It would be difficult for the scientific community as authors are responsible for the validity and integrity of their work, and should cite any use of LLMs(ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM)) in the acknowledgements section.

WILL ChatGPT REPLACE HUMANS

• There has been speculation that professions dependent upon content production could be rendered obsolete, including everything from playwrights and professors to programmers and journalists.
• In the days since it was released, academics have generated responses to exam queries that they say would result in full marks if submitted by an undergraduate, and programmers have used the tool to solve coding challenges in obscure programming languages in a matter of seconds.
• The ability to generate human-like written text has prompted suggestions that the technology could replace journalists.
• However at its current stage, the chatbot lacks the nuance, critical-thinking skills or ethical decision-making ability that are essential for successful journalism.Its current knowledge base ends in 2021, rendering some queries and searches useless.
• ChatGPT can also give entirely wrong answers and present misinformation as fact, writing “plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers”, the company concedes.
• OpenAI says that fixing this issue is difficult because there is no source of truth in the data they use to train the model and supervised training can also be misleading “because the ideal answer depends on what the model knows, rather than what the human demonstrator knows”.

ARE THERE ANY LIMITATIONS OF ChatGPT?

• ChatGPT , despite being the model being the latest generation of technology, is not without flaws.
• ChatGPT is not free from biases and its filters can easily be bypassed with simple tricks. So the answer to the question above – is ChatGPT capable of replacing Google search or humans – is a simple no. At least for now.

ISSUE OF BIAS AND ETHICS WITH ChatGPT

A new artificial intelligence chatbot has caused concern among its own policy researchers over its potential misuse to disseminate propaganda and disinformation campaigns online at a faster rate. There’s also the issue of bias. Many users have revealed instances of ChatGPT providing racist or sexist responses. Any nefarious commercial or governmental organization who wanted to weaponize these technologies for disinformation absolutely could.

THE WAY FORWARD:

• As ChatGPT touch several aspects of human life, regulations are needed to ensure safety of the people, protection of privacy, etc.
• Regulations may be linked to the performance of the products. In this case, further use depends on the performance. If ChatGPT-based applications / services are found to be safer than human-based applications/services, more use may be permitted. If it is found to be less safe, the use should be restricted till the further development of technology.
• Policy is needed to handle the impact on the job opportunity. Several critics predicted that the use of ChatGPT is likely to reduce the job opportunity in several sectors. Therefore, policy is needed to provide some type of social security to the workers who may be displaced. Infrastructure and policy are needed to retrain the workers to enable them take up new jobs which may emerge.
• Government has a major role to play in funding R&D and innovation projects. Most of the developed and several developing countries are investing heavily in R&D and innovation in the area of artificial intelligence. India needs to initiate a Programme to support R&D and innovation in this area.
• Centres of Excellence should be created in the academic institutions and R&D centres. Apart from R&D of long-term benefits, these centres should work on the ideas which can lead to startup companies. Industry should be invited to collaborate with these centres to work on the technology and applications of their interest.

THE CONCLUSION: India has a unique opportunity to apply the technology to solve some of its biggest problems such as healthcare facility shortage, low education quality, etc. It is impossible to meet the target of providing good healthcare or quality education using conventional methods. For instance, the number of doctors needed to to provide good quality healthcare is so large that it cannot be achieved in several years. AI technology provides an alternative to achieve the same. Chat GPT has emerged as a powerful tool to utilise the Artificial intelligence to effectively solve problems like health and education and skill development to enhance human capital and reap the benefit of demographic dividend.

MAINS QUESTION

1. Discuss the future of work due to advancements in AI.
2. “Innovation can take a back seat with increasing use of AI’. Analyse the given statement with respect to new developments in AI.

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