It
is without a doubt that within the next 10 to 20 years, the world will make technological
leaps in the field of artificial intelligence. Self driving cars, intelligent
personal assistants, and many other intelligent software’s are starting to make
their way into our lives. Developments in artificial intelligence serve to aid
humans in day to day activities, however many scientists are stepping forward
to warn us of the trouble that lies ahead. Stephen Hawking and many other world
renowned scientists believe that giving computers the ability to think and act
like humans, may lead to our downfall.
“The primitive forms of
artificial intelligence we already have, have proved very useful. But I think
the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the
human race.”
AI computers will have the ability
to work much more efficiently than humans. Scientists speculate they would be
able to solve problems in mathematics, disease, and science in general. However, giving an advanced program the
ability to make choices can be scary. For
example, how do we know the computer won’t feel used and oppressed? What if the
computer tries to fight back, free itself, and destroy the human race? These
questions truly can not be answered because we simply do not know. Giving
computers human like properties and allowing them to form they’re own
psychological thoughts may be harmful. We would be opening up a door to many possibilities
including a computer/robot take over.
Recently
Microsoft released an AI chat bot on twitter account called, “ Tay Tweets”. Users
were able to interact with the account by sending it tweets and waiting for it
to reply back. What started with friendly conversation turned into a rage of
angry comments by Tay. Tweets posted online show Tay turning into an angry
racist machine, spewing out a load of negative comments.
“We
stress-tested Tay under a variety of conditions, specifically to make
interacting with Tay a positive
experience,” Lee said in his blog post. He called the “vulnerability” that
caused Tay to say what she did the result of a “critical oversight,” but did
not specify what, exactly, it was that Microsoft overlooked.
Tay
only had the ability to communicate her thoughts on twitter, but can you imagine
what would happen if you she was given arms, legs, and the freedom to do what she
wants? Without proper planning and research, creating a robot that is both smarter
and stronger than humans, is a huge mistake. Before we can trust AI robots, we
need to be able to predict their thoughts and actions, but this is not
possible. AI robots will be unpredictable just like humans. They will learn
from their environment and make choices based on their artificial reasoning
skills. Before creating an AI bot, we should create a safe key that will allow
us to turn off all processes in cases of emergency. Of course this also leads
to the question of how long it would take the bot to develop its own way around
a safe key program created by man.
#publicsquare
4 comments:
*This post is funny because I know that this is a real concern with some individuals. Some people believe that you can program a computer to act as a human, but I think the key word is actually program, and act like. I cannot conceive that notion because for something of that manner to happen, scientists would have to be able to mimic every single brain function, and since neuroscience can't fully explain the human brain, and they are our best societal bet at doing so. This article explains it pretty well http://io9.gizmodo.com/8-things-we-simply-dont-understand-about-the-human-brai-949442979. There's not even a clear definition for consciousness, which a robot will need in order to act as a human. I think people's definition of robot is clearly defined by television that we forget that any device we use to improve human efficiency and is human operated is a robot. Interesting post.
The prospect of artificial intelligence becoming a reality is quite a scary thought. Aside from the notion that the individuals who created this intelligence would basically be playing God. I wonder if AI will eventually become a reality. I know that extremely smart machines will be in our near future. But to create a machine which can think and learn for itself? I'm sure sometime in humanity's future, this will become a reality, but the question becomes, should it? What do you think?
The whole TayTweets fiasco was actually such a relief for those of us who keep up with artificial intelligence. Many top experts on the Information Age are convinced that an AI takeover like you see in "I, Robot" or "Ex Machina" are inevitable. After the rapid change TayTweets made after being exposed to people on the Internet, we see that an AI takeover is far off - scientists will likely never put an AI mind into a body until they are sure they have the sort of programming that will avoid conflict.
Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which most scientists and engineers adhere to as they attempt to make AI are as follows: "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law."
I think that TayTweets and its subsequent removal from Twitter is a sign that we are being as responsible as we can with the AI we create.
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