The Real Rise of AI
Since the dawn of time, man has fantasized their own apocalyptic demise by some element of the world outside of their own control. It’s a psychological impulse to dramatize an event that could bring an end to the human race, and the form this impulse takes is shaped by current societal norms and events. One could argue that artificial intelligence is the shape that this psychological impulse takes in modern day, and it has been played up in books, movies, and shows. So, is the prospect of a potential AI singularity uprising really as extreme and imminent as portrayed in Hollywood?
Personally, I have my doubts. I think we have over simplified the way we approach the threat of artificial intelligence into one sentence: “Robots will take over the world”. This statement is not a statement that solves problems, not a proactive solution to a probable reality. I don’t believe that our technology has reached a level that will allow it complete independence of human intervention. Take IBM’s Watson, the pinnacle of AI, a testament of how far we’ve come in the world of AI. This computer has proven that a computer can be trained to learn from prior successes and failures, create a catalog of every input and output, and then use these to adapt to a given situation. The goal of Watson is to better serve humans in a natural way, in a manner that is very human like. Sounds like the beginning of a dystopian sci fi movie doesn’t it?
What we don’t take in to account is that Watson, and AI alike, cannot function in a situation without prior programming. We must point a finger, tell Watson what to do, and only then will Watson know what situation it is in. We couldn’t just take Watson from an office environment to a chess game and expect to automatically adapt [1]. We would have to, put extremely simply, flip a switch so that Watson could go in to chess mode*.
It is not the singular Artificial Intelligence that we should be concerned about as a society. That is a Hollywood, borderline fictional, fantasy that has yet to prove as a viable reality. What we should be concerned about is the increasing number of day to day activities that will be handled by AI capable devices. Artificial Intelligence, and the many forms it takes, is not the glamorous robot that is indestructible by humans, even though that’s what we’re waiting to see. Because of this misconception, we don't correlate the innovation in AI technology as a potential threat to modern day life. We're waiting for something bigger.
It comes in the shape of our cars, that will decide for us what is the safest maneuver in an event of an accident. It is that personal helper, that will influence our day to day activates. It is that small military drone, that will only require facial recognition to detect its targets. It’s tattoos with nanobots. It is the inevitability of a society interdependent on a technology that will make moral and ethical answers for our dilemmas. It is a much less glamorous, much more complex topic that should be addressed in a realistic manner.
I want to clarify that I believe that Artificial Intelligence is incredible and I am rooting for its future. But I think our approach is what determines how our future will be impacted. What should be done? For starters, it is imperative we begin preparing for this new future now. With innovative technology comes great social change, and AI will be unprecedented in it’s ability to replace humans for many tasks. We should rid ourselves of this notion that a humanoid robot will take over our world and become more acquainted with the impact that this technology will have on us. I read a great article on Vanity Fair that lays out the multiple scenarios for the future of AI that I think is worth reading to better understand the gravity of the situation [2].
The next is to tackle the deep moral and ethical issues before this technology is in every household. We need to make sure that we retain our rights as individuals and that we are not at the mercy of whatever our AI decides. Minute details like ensuring that AI vehicles are mandated by law to have steering wheels and brake pedals that can override a computer input, so that car manufactures cannot do away with our ability to control the vehicle. Or outlawing technology that could easily be manipulated to cause harm to innocent lives.
Finally, we must ask how we can use this technology to propel human kind forward. What kind of social issues could this solve? Who do we have to train to ensure that those same people aren’t just left behind as the fortunate continue to progress? Artificial Intelligence will bring momentous change to us, for better or worse. Running from it is not the answer, nor is accepting it as an inevitable fate. We have the opportunity to shape the reality of this technology. Are we just going to let a few select people and companies decide what is best for us, as we have always done? Or will we play an active role insuring that this next great revolution brings up everyone, and doesn’t just focus on the winners? This could be one step in finding a proactive solution to issues that have plagued us for hundreds of years.
It is important to recognize the repercussions this technology will have, and not wait for some dystopian fantasy of ours to come true. But on the flip side of the coin, this tech could bring great advances for us as a society, and if we embrace it, it could have unprecedented positive impacts on all aspects of the world.
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*Watson hasn’t been programmed to play chess, that is IBM’s Deep Blue. This example is purely for illustrative purposes.
[1] David Ferrucci et al., "Watson: Beyond Jeopardy!" ScienceDirect 199-200, no. June-July 2013 (May 28, 2012): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0004370212000872#!
[2] Maureen Dowd, "Elon Musk's Billion-Dollar Crusade to Stop the A.I. Apocalypse," The Hive, May 25, 2017, accessed December 08, 2017, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/elon-musk-billion-dollar-crusade-to-stop-ai-space-x