Understanding Artificial Intelligence: Meaning, Opportunities, Limitations and Future Directions

  • Unique Paper ID: 205746
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 1
  • PageNo: 9335-9343
  • Abstract:
  • Discussions about Artificial Intelligence (AI) generally revolve around two contrasting narratives: one that marks its transformative potential, which acts like a promotional brochure for the future and another one warns against its risks and unintended consequences. But both views are incomplete as reality is more complex. This paper tries to understand AI in a balanced way not just praising or criticising it. “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor it is neutral” (Kranzberg, 1986). It focuses on three main questions: what is AI actually being used for today? Where does AI truly help people and institutions? Where does AI cause real problems or harms? Artificial Intelligence is best understood as an amplifier rather than a protagonist. Its effects- good or bad- flow from human choices about how to build, deploy and govern it. “AI is a tool. The choice about how it gets deployed is ours “(Etzioni, 2017). These choices are still very much being decided. Ultimately, it argues that the future ambit of AI will depend less on the technology itself and more on the collective choices that mentor its development and application.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{205746,
        author = {Prerna Jain and Ajith Kumar C},
        title = {Understanding Artificial Intelligence: Meaning, Opportunities, Limitations and Future Directions},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {1},
        pages = {9335-9343},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=205746},
        abstract = {Discussions about Artificial Intelligence (AI) generally revolve around two contrasting narratives: one that marks its transformative potential, which acts like a promotional brochure for the future and another one warns against its risks and unintended consequences. But both views are incomplete as reality is more complex. This paper tries to understand AI in a balanced way not just praising or criticising it. “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor it is neutral” (Kranzberg, 1986). It focuses on three main questions: what is AI actually being used for today? Where does AI truly help people and institutions? Where does AI cause real problems or harms? Artificial Intelligence is best understood as an amplifier rather than a protagonist. Its effects- good or bad- flow from human choices about how to build, deploy and govern it. “AI is a tool. The choice about how it gets deployed is ours “(Etzioni, 2017). These choices are still very much being decided. Ultimately, it argues that the future ambit of AI will depend less on the technology itself and more on the collective choices that mentor its development and application.},
        keywords = {Artificial Intelligence, Human-AI collaboration, Uses of AI, Advantages and Disadvantages of AI, Digital Transformation, Responsible AI},
        month = {June},
        }

Cite This Article

Jain, P., & C, A. K. (2026). Understanding Artificial Intelligence: Meaning, Opportunities, Limitations and Future Directions. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 13(1), 9335–9343.

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