We’ve heard it in movies before but famed physicist Stephen Hawking warns that artificial intelligence could end human civilization within a century. Back in January, Hawking signed an open letter, along with private space entrepreneur and developer Elon Musk, warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence. The pair called for control of technology, fearing repercussions for the human race if progress in computing power is left unchecked. Hawking stated.
“Computers will overtake humans with AI at some point within the next 100 years. When that happens, we need to make sure the computers have goals aligned with ours.”
It has taken around 60 years of AI research to reach this level, but the exponential growth means that machines could become very clever, very quickly. Elon Musk expressed his concern…
“The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five year timeframe. 10 years at most. Please note that I am normally super pro technology and have never raised this issue until recent months. This is not a case of crying wolf about something I don’t understand.”
Hawking suggested that AI developers could coordinate research between institutions to ensure that artificial intelligence technology does not grow so fast that it cannot be controlled by humans.
More than 150 companies in Silicon Valley alone are working on developing the new technologies which can be found in electronics like the virtual assistant Siri to self-driving vehicles.
A company called Touchpoint is developing a form of artificial intelligence they describe as “The world’s angriest robot”, designed so that banks can learn why customers become upset. Known as Radiant, the AI is reminiscent of Prime Radiant, a fictional cube from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, capable of predicting human behavior.
ConceptNet is an open-source computing project run by a division of MIT. A team of researchers has just published the results of an IQ test given to an artificial intelligence. The IQ test was exactly the same as that given to humans and according to the results, the computer scored the same as a young child. The team from the University of Illinois at Chicago, who performed the test.
“We found that the psychometric test gives a WPPSI-III VIQ to ConceptNet 4 that is equivalent to that of an average four-year old.”
A robot apocalypse could take place some day (you’ve seen the Terminatorseries!) and Hawking believes that such a scenario could play out in the next 10 decades, if steps aren’t taken to keep technology in check. Systems can already beat the best chess players in the world, and Carnegie Mellon University’s Claudico AI came close to beating humans in No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em poker earlier this month. Hawking told the assembled crowd at the conference…
“Our future is a race between the growing power of technology and the wisdom with which we use it.”
Now, I’m starting to agree with my dog and like him, I don’t really trust my Roomba either. But in the future, real pets might be a luxury as everyone will have robot pets. And sex will be with robots too. (We’ve seen the movie Her…)
One company, RealDoll, is already trying to build an intelligent sex robot. Matt McMullen, the CEO of RealDoll.
“We might very well be launching a new company devoted solely to the development of integrating AI with realistic sex toys, as well as potential VR applications.”
According to RealDoll, when it’s first sex robot is completed it could cost anywhere between $30,000 and $60,000.
And The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is a real thing. According to their website, it is a
“Global coalition comprised of 56 international, regional, and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 25 countries that have endorsed the call for a preemptive ban on fully autonomous weapons (as of 28 September 2015)”
The deadline passed last week. We’re all doomed.
(via Tech Times)
