by Mark Ollig
Copyright © 2016 Mark Ollig
Copyright © 2016 Mark Ollig
While
reading predictions on how humans will be using (or surrendering to) Artificial
Intelligence, or AI, words one person wisely told me 30 years ago came to mind:
“Consider the source.”
I
consider Stanford University a good source, and decided their 27-page report:
“Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030” was worth reading.
This
September report is the first in what will be a long-term study on AI.
When
I say a “long-term” study, I mean 100 years long, according to Stanford
University.
So,
what do people think of AI?
It
depends on the individual, as I learned there are varying opinions about AI.
Facebook
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he anticipates within 10 years, AI will be
outperforming humans.
“The
basic human senses, like seeing, hearing, language, core things we do I think
it’s possible to get to the point in the next five to 10 years where we have
computer systems that are better than people at each of those things,” he said
in The Verge.
Zuckerberg
also said, in an Aug. 29 Facebook video town hall presentation, he wanted his
home to be managed using AI technology.
His
home will include speech and facial recognition technology, combined with AI.
Use
this link to watch the complete Zuckerberg 57-minute Q&A Facebook video he
made while in Rome: http://tinyurl.com/bits-Z1.
Famous
English theoretical physicist, Professor Steven Hawking takes a cautious
perspective on AI.
“A
super-intelligent AI will be extremely good at accomplishing its goals,” said
Hawking in 2015.
However,
he forewarned: “If those goals aren’t aligned with ours, we’re in trouble.”
Hawking
expressed his concern about AI posing a threat to humanity in the future.
He
predicted to the BBC news in 2014; “The development of full artificial
intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”
In
2015, Hawking signed a letter warning of the dangers of arming robots with
weaponry, and of a potential “global AI arms race.”
Famed
mathematician Alan Turing may have influenced Hawking’s opinions.
“There
would be plenty to do, trying to understand what the machines were trying to
say; i.e., in trying to keep one’s intelligence up to the standard set by the
machines, for it seems probable that once the machine thinking method had started,
it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers. They would be able to
converse with each other to sharpen their wits. At some stage therefore, we
should have to expect the machines to take control,” Turing said in a 1951
lecture he gave called: “Intelligent Machinery, A Heretical Theory.”
British
AI scientist, Rollo Carpenter, creator of the AI Cleverbot program, said; “I
believe we will remain in charge of the technology for a decently long time and
the potential of it to solve many of the world problems will be realized.”
Cleverbot
is an Internet AI robotic chat computer program you can have a dialogue with as
you would another person.
Yours
truly spent about 20 minutes “conversing” with Cleverbot.
I
found it interesting; at times silly, surprisingly amusing, and intellectually
challenging.
The
Stanford University report suggests AI is: “a science and a set of
computational technologies that are inspired by – but typically operate quite
differently from – the ways people use their nervous systems and bodies to
sense, learn, reason, and take action.”
“Being
transparent about their [AI] design and deployment challenges will build trust
and avert unjustified fear and suspicion,” are the reassuring words by Harvard
computer scientist Barbra Grosz, given in an article on the Stanford
University’s engineering webpage.
The
Stanford report predicts by 2030, AI technologies will become predominantly
used in:
•
Entertainment.
•
Home/service robots.
•
Employment and
workplace.
•
Public safety and security.
•
Low-resource
communities.
•
Education.
•
Healthcare.
•
Transportation.
Stanford
University’s complete 27-page report can be read at:
http://tinyurl.com/bits-Stanford1.
For
me, it’s still too early to determine if AI will turn out to be a good or bad
thing for humanity; so stay tuned, folks.
If
you want to match wits with a very clever Internet AI bot, visit:
www.cleverbot.com.
I
leave you with this quote by Alan Turing; “A computer would deserve to be
called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was
human.”
As
always, you can follow me on Twitter at my @bitsandbytes user name.
