feature // 14

Code red

» Could AI spell doom?

: sentiments have been echoed

: by Elon Reeve Musk, the co-

: founder of SpaceX, PayPal, and
: Tesla Motors, at a conference

: at MIT in October: he said that
: “Al is more risky than nuclear

: weapons” and could be “our

: biggest existential threat.”

: Comparing Al to a demon,

: he called for national and

: international regulations on

: the development of AI. Among
: others who joined the line are

: Nick Bostrom, the Swedish

: philosopher and director of

: Oxford’s Future of Humanity,

: who expressed his concern in

: no uncertain terms; he calls it,

: “A society of economic miracles
: and technological awesomeness :
with nobody to benefit.”

Chitwan Khosla
Features Editor
M features@theotherpress.ca

¢¢T the development of full
artificial intelligence
could spell the end of the
human race. Once humans
develop artificial intelligence,
it would take off on its own
and redesign itself at an ever
increasing rate. Humans, who
are limited by slow biological
evolution, couldn’t compete,
and would be superseded.”
This warning comes from
none other than one of the
leading theoretical physicists
of the world, professor Stephen
Hawking. Ironically, the
renowned scientist, who is
suffering from motor neuron
disease-amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS), uses a voice
synthesizer to communicate
that employs artificial
intelligence (AI). It works by

learning the thinking process of

Hawking based on his previous
word usage and then suggesting
words he might want to use
next.

Somewhat similar

Such statements have

revived the debate on the

: further search for improved AI. :
: Could AI replace humans as the :
: most intelligent species on the
: planet? This is a matter of deep

concern.
Fears about developing

: intelligent machines go back

: a long time. Fiction and pop

: culture are rife with depiction
: of machines taking over.

:
(~

: Colossus: The Forbin Project

: (1970), Westworld (1973)

: The Terminator (1984), and

: perhaps the most famous,

: Stanley Kubrick’s A Space

: Odyssey (2001) in which helpful
: computer HAL becomes

: increasingly destructive and
horrifying as the movies goes

: on.

Ray Solomonoff—a pioneer

: in Al—warned in 1967 about

: delegating responsibility to

: machines and first touched on
: the notion of a technological

: singularity (now understood

: as when Al will be beyond

: human control—referred to

: loosely by Solomonoff as the

: “infinity point”). He expressed
: in fear that realization of AI

: will be a sudden occurrence:

: “Ata certain point in the

: development of the research

we will have had no practical

: experience with machine

: intelligence of any serious

: level: a month or so later, we

: will have a very intelligent

: machine and all the problems

: and dangers associated with our
: inexperience.”

Ray Kurzweil—one

: of the leading thinkers

: of future technology and

a director of engineering

: at Google—predicts the

: singularity may happen in

: year 2045. Kurzweil shares

: the concerns of Solomonoff

: and Hawking regarding

: consequences of faster and

: more intelligent machines,

: but he brings forward their

: advantageous side as well.

: He notes that an increasing

: number of responsibilities are
: being assigned to machines.

: From routine mathematical

: calculations on GPS, to

: systems for air traffic control,

: guided missiles, and driverless
: vehicles, there are benefits.

: He agrees that no doubt,

: delegating responsibility to

: intelligent machines has its own :
nightmares.

Other risks involved in

computer taking over man are

: the enormity of mistakes made
: by the machines. Computer

: trading was largely responsible
: for the stock market crash of

: 1987 and power grid closures

: due to computer error are often
: cited as examples. Concerns

: have been expressed that

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: hardware and software glitches
are extremely difficult to

: detect in advance, and could

: cause havoc in large-scale

: systems. Combine it with the ill
: intentions of hackers, and the

: results could be disastrous. Also
: there are variety of other ways

: whereby computer systems

: can get out of control, creating
situations which it might be

: hard to remedy.

Some experts may call the

: singularity “lightyears away”

: or “way overblown,” but others
: think that human devolution

: has already begun. Humans

: have already entrusted many

: intelligent traits such as the

: ability to write, calculate,

: navigate, and memorize facts

: to machines—is that proof

: enough of intelligent machines
: taking over? In the words of

: microbiologist and science

: fiction writer, Joan Slonczewki,
: “the question is, could we evolve
: ourselves out of existence,

: being gradually replaced by the
: machines?”

Whether the singularity is

: in the next couple of decades or
: in 2100, it might not be long.