Thoughts on OpenAI
Elon Musk just announced he, along with a few other tech leaders and companies (including Amazon Web Services), is pouring $1B into an open-source artificial intelligence (AI) project. The nonprofit is called OpenAI, and Musk is the co-chair.
Apparently, the aim of the venture is AI research that benefits humanity as a whole, rather than for the profit of a few large corporate entities, according to the group’s blog post. Right now, current research in the field is dominated by the likes of Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Baidu.
This isn’t Musk’s first venture into AI. He was an early investor in AI firm Deep Mind (now owned by Google). He also invested in Vicarious, a Silicon Valley company working to build next generation deep learning algorithms.
Last year, Musk told reporters at CNBC those investments were not for making a financial return but to keep an eye on what’s going on in AI. He claims there could be a potentially dangerous or Terminator type outcome if AI were to get into the wrong hands. “Terminator” is a 1984 film that explores the dark side of AI by depicting a world where self-aware robots set about destroying the human race.
The idea of AI having some type of dangerous element is far fetched. We have a long way to go — lifetimes, perhaps — to even get close to developing computers with human-level intelligence. Right now neural nets, the type of AI that simulates the human mind, is used mainly for image, voice and pattern recognition. Plus computers are logical. They aren’t designed for moral decision making.
In a Q&A submitted to Reddit, Steven Hawking wrote: “The real risk with AI isn’t malice but competence. A super-intelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals, and if those goals aren’t aligned with ours, we’re in trouble.”
But I’m totally on board with establishing a benevolent AI think tank independent from the big corporations. As of now, OpenAI hopes to become a leading AI research institution where researchers publish their work and “our patents (if any) are shared with the world.” AI requires top notch data scientists and a lot of infrastructure (which what Amazon Web Services is contributing to the effort), and all that requires big bucks.
In that sense, OpenAI is good news for small companies. My company Adtile Technologies is also working on an open-source AI project, training models to detect motion. It’s possible our work, and that of other smaller companies, will one day benefit from the research at OpenAI.
About Adtile Technologies
Located in San Diego, California, Adtile is a pioneer and developer of motion-sensing technology for smartphones and tablets. We are working with leading technology companies and Fortune 500 brands. More information is available at www.adtile.me/motion-apps/.