From SIRI to self-driving cars, artificial
intelligence (AI) is progressing rapidly. While science fiction often portrays
AI as robots with human-like characteristics, AI can encompass anything from
Google’s search algorithms to IBM’s Watson to autonomous weapons.
Artificial intelligence today is properly
known as narrow AI (or weak AI), in that it is designed to perform a narrow
task (e.g. only facial recognition or only internet searches or only driving a
car). However, the long-term goal of many researchers is to create general AI
(AGI or strong AI). While narrow AI may outperform humans at whatever its
specific task is, like playing chess or solving equations, AGI would outperform
humans at nearly every cognitive task.
Today, the most popular A.I. techniques are
machine learning and its younger cousin, deep learning. Unlike computer
programs that rigidly follow rules written by humans, both machine learning and
deep learning algorithms can look at a dataset, learn from it, and make new
predictions. Deep learning in particular can make impressive predictions by
discovering data patterns that people might miss.
People say these machines will be benevolent.
They will be perfect. They will truly be these beautiful, benevolent,
creatures. I don't think that is accurate and I don't think that they are going
to be terminating, baby-eating machines either. These machines are going to
reflect our species and our evolutionary process. Everything we are will end up
in these artificially intelligent machines no matter what we do.
It's such a complex and such new technology
in a lot of ways. I think we are afraid of ourselves. That is what it is. We
are afraid of ourselves and our own unconscious minds. When we are building
something that reflects us, it's the one thing we're all afraid to face. We're
afraid to face ourselves. Building machines that mirror our consciousness is a
very frightening proposition because we have seen how evil people can be.
What we are really talking about here is an
artificially intelligent machine that is going to be able to surpass our
intelligence level. At a certain point, you can call it a singularity. There will
be a certain point where these machines have super-human intelligence. The
best-case scenario is that they will be caretakers and they will be our
teachers. They will teach us to be a better species. That is what I am hoping for
as a techno-optimist.
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