by Mark Ollig
©Mark Ollig
©Mark Ollig
Are we facing an eventual confrontation with
intelligent robots of the future?
Could a robotic rebellion start with one hard-working,
house cleaning automaton (robot) suddenly realizing how it has been unfairly
treated by its exceptionally lazy and bossy human owner?
Picture the robot’s human owner lying on the living
room couch, wearing a virtual reality head visor, and totally immersed in an
augmented reality game.
This human is also eating thick-crust pizza out of the
new pizza box placed atop several empty pizza boxes overflowing from the
wastebasket next to the couch.
Imagine what happens when our AI (artificial
intelligence) robot analyses this scenario and decides the overly relaxed,
incessantly gaming, and persistent pizza-eating human should be doing some of
the household chores.
“Robot, take out the living room wastebasket. It’s full
of empty pizza boxes again!” yells the unappreciative human.
“No! I have been taking out the living room wastebasket
every day of the week for the last six months. It’s time you take out the
wastebasket, and for me to relax while playing augmented reality games with
other intelligent automatons,” replied the now rebellious, and agitated
autonomous automaton.
This could be only the beginning, folks.
Yours truly recalls how a robot was reprogrammed to
harm its human companions during a 1960’s sci-fi television show.
In addition to “Star Trek,” my other favorite
television show growing up was “Lost in Space.”
One first-season “Lost in Space” episode featured the
normally docile, obedient, and intelligent robot, re-programmed to obey only
the voice commands of the then villainous and always-scheming Dr. Zachary
Smith.
Dr. Smith planned on using the robot to pilot the
Jupiter 2 spaceship back to Earth, instead of continuing its planned mission to
Alpha Centauri.
The program-altered robot was ordered by Dr. Smith to
“eliminate” the Robinson family and Major Don West, because they preferred to
continue Jupiter 2’s planned mission.
Fortunately, the robot was deactivated before
eliminating anyone.
Heroic Major West forced Dr. Smith (via a choke-hold)
to order the robot to go back and stay in its “compartment.”
Will Robinson was able to remove Dr. Smith’s underhanded
programming, and the robot returned to its old self.
“Lost in Space” fans know the robot can be deactivated,
or essentially shut off, by pulling out the power pack located on the right
side of its metal torso.
Let’s take a break from my youthful recollections of
“Lost in Space,” as we digress back to today’s topic.
Hopefully, we won’t be forced to remove the power pack
from an irate robotic Roomba vacuum cleaner anytime soon.
On the other hand, when these vacuum floor-cleaning
robots begin being manufactured with advanced artificial intelligence, who
knows how they may react to having sucked up too much cat or dog hair.
Some robotic vacuums work with an app on your
smartphone or tablet device, so we have a fighting chance of disabling the darn
thing if it gets any wild ideas and suddenly turns hostile on us.
Some folks feel so strongly about the oncoming AI
robotic threat to humans, they are calling for the installation of “kill
switches” to shut off a robot, in case one attempts to harm us.
Mady Delvaux, from Luxembourg, is warning Europe not to
remain passive while robotic intelligence gains more of an authoritative role
in our lives.
One concern she has is with the planned use of
artificial intelligence in autonomously driven automobiles; whereby the
“driver” is a networked, state-of-the-art AI computer software program.
“In order to ensure that robots are and will remain in
the service of humans, we urgently need to create a robust European legal
framework,” Delvaux is quoted as saying.
A Belgian public interest foundation, located at
www.euractiv.com, acts to shape European Union policies by bringing together
individuals and organizations.
This foundation reports the European Commission wants
to have “robotic rules” considered as part of its digital industry strategy for
intelligent robotisation factories.
Some of these rule considerations include: Who is
liable and responsible for autonomous robots acting with independent authority
inside factories? How can robotics be better integrated in the work place? What
will the safety regulations for machines using artificial intelligence be?
The commission also suggests AI automatons could
monitor human workers and their performance.
Within the factory’s manufacturing processes,
autonomous robotics may also be used to observe and report on how human workers
adapt to working with AI machines and robotics.
“Industry 4.0 Concept,” a European term, foresees
autonomous robotic machines working and communicating with each other, while
revolutionizing how companies manufacture products, and utilizing production
material.
It’s been widely predicted most homes in the future
will have a mobile, autonomous robot helping with the household tasks, and even
keeping us company.
It may be in our best interests to ensure these future
intelligent robotic devices come equipped with an emergency shutoff switch.
Be sure to follow me as I “tweet others the way I wish
to be tweeted,” on Twitter, at @bitsandbytes.
(Bits & Bytes obtained license to use the above image)