AI: The Next Super Weapon?
- By Brenna Simons
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- 18 Oct, 2016
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Hollywood frequently depicts in film dystopian futures where super-intelligent machines have overthrown humanity and now rule the planet. Directors, producers, and movie-goers aren’t the only ones worried about artificial intelligence and the future of humanity. Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and several other brilliant minds have also voiced concerns over AI. Billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, has recently clarified statements about his fear of AI. He isn’t afraid that AI might reprogram itself to view humanity as an enemy as is often depicted in film and literature. He’s worried at how the technology could be used as a weapon were it to fall into the wrong hands.
Three stages of artificial intelligence
To understand how AI could be used as a weapon, it’s helpful to understand the three stages of AI and where we are
currently:
AI as a weapon
If AI reaches the point of ASI, or even AGI, it could be a powerful weapon in the wrong hands. Musk, and others, have stressed the importance of the democratization of AI so that it is kept out of the wrong hands.
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Source: express.co.uk/news/weird/717520/elon-musk-fears-evil-dictators-artificial-intelligence
Three stages of artificial intelligence
To understand how AI could be used as a weapon, it’s helpful to understand the three stages of AI and where we are
currently:
- Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI). Currently, all of our artificial intelligence could be classified as ANI. In other words, we have machines that are capable of performing certain tasks much more efficiently than humans can.
- Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). This is what most people envision when they think of AI. In this stage, AI would be capable of performing any intellectual task about as well as the average human.
- Artificial Superintelligence (ASI). The idea of superintelligence is purely science fiction at this point but the day could come that AI exceeds the intelligence of humans in every way.
AI as a weapon
If AI reaches the point of ASI, or even AGI, it could be a powerful weapon in the wrong hands. Musk, and others, have stressed the importance of the democratization of AI so that it is kept out of the wrong hands.
Artificial Intelligence News brought to you by artificialbrilliance.com
Source: express.co.uk/news/weird/717520/elon-musk-fears-evil-dictators-artificial-intelligence
The field of artificial intelligence was born at Dartmouth College in 1956 at a conference where the leading experts in the field of computer science met. A feeling of optimism pervaded the conference at attendees were confident that within 20 years, machines would be doing all our work for us. But by the 70’s humans were no closer to creating artificial intelligence and money and interest in the field dried up. It was only recently that interest in AI was renewed and it has led to the current artificial intelligence revolution that we are in the midst of. Now that the day dream about at the Dartmouth conference of 1956 is just around the corner, here are four ways businesses can be benefiting from artificial intelligence.
Virtual assistance
Chat bots and virtual assistants can help businesses with customer service applications. When people need to speak with a customer service representative, there’s nothing worse than getting a machine who drones on about different options. You get bounced around to different menus and agents for several minutes until you’re finally connected to the person who can help you. Chat bots and virtual assistants will change all of that.
Generating insights
Since AI is great at analyzing massive amounts of data and recognizing patterns, it can assist businesses in finding trends and capitalizing on them early.
Automation of manual processes
The industrial revolution gave us machines like tractors that made manual labor a lot easier. With the artificial intelligence age, not only can machines automate manual work, they can automate any routine work even if it involves cognitive processes.
Unlocking unstructured data
An estimated 80% of digital data is unstructured. Current technology can’t analyze that unstructured data and it all goes to waste, AI can and will unlock all sorts of new information for businesses.
Artificial Intelligence News brought to you by artificialbrilliance.com
Source: forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2016/09/18/4-ways-every-business-needs-to-use-artificial-intelligence/#69d8326811e0
Virtual assistance
Chat bots and virtual assistants can help businesses with customer service applications. When people need to speak with a customer service representative, there’s nothing worse than getting a machine who drones on about different options. You get bounced around to different menus and agents for several minutes until you’re finally connected to the person who can help you. Chat bots and virtual assistants will change all of that.
Generating insights
Since AI is great at analyzing massive amounts of data and recognizing patterns, it can assist businesses in finding trends and capitalizing on them early.
Automation of manual processes
The industrial revolution gave us machines like tractors that made manual labor a lot easier. With the artificial intelligence age, not only can machines automate manual work, they can automate any routine work even if it involves cognitive processes.
Unlocking unstructured data
An estimated 80% of digital data is unstructured. Current technology can’t analyze that unstructured data and it all goes to waste, AI can and will unlock all sorts of new information for businesses.
Artificial Intelligence News brought to you by artificialbrilliance.com
Source: forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2016/09/18/4-ways-every-business-needs-to-use-artificial-intelligence/#69d8326811e0
Artificial intelligence is nothing new. Researchers have been trying to solve the puzzle of creating human-like intelligence in machines for decades. But it’s only in recent years that they’ve started to make real progress towards realizing this incredible goal. Just in the last few years we’ve seen the emergence of chat bots, self-driving cars, smart appliances, and smarter search engines. They all rely heavily on artificial intelligence. Not only are we seeing huge strides in the AI industry but we’re seeing more and more real world applications of these technologies and they’re changing the way we live and the way we do business. It appears that the mobile age which started in the 80s is finally coming to an end, and it’s being replaced with the Age of AI.
While funding for tech startups has been down all across the board, AI startups have been a glaring exception. In the first half of 2016 more than 200 AI-focused startups combined to raise almost one and a half billion dollars in funding. As the AI age gets underway, here are a few ways you can expect to see artificial intelligence impacting your day-to-day life:
Artificial Intelligence News brought to you by artificialbrilliance .com
Source: forbes .com/sites/oracle/2016/09/08/move-over-mobile-ai-has-arrived/#28e072a25be0
While funding for tech startups has been down all across the board, AI startups have been a glaring exception. In the first half of 2016 more than 200 AI-focused startups combined to raise almost one and a half billion dollars in funding. As the AI age gets underway, here are a few ways you can expect to see artificial intelligence impacting your day-to-day life:
- Social media. Social media platforms are investing in AI to enhance user experience and customize each person’s experience with social media.
- Mobile digital assistants. You’ll soon see a next-generation digital assistant that’s far superior to Siri or Cortana.
- Self-driving cars. That’s right, autonomous vehicles are just around the corner, there are just a few regulations and hurdles to overcome and then they’ll be on our streets.
Artificial Intelligence News brought to you by artificialbrilliance .com
Source: forbes .com/sites/oracle/2016/09/08/move-over-mobile-ai-has-arrived/#28e072a25be0
Not long ago, artificial intelligence was something you read about in science fiction; today it’s all around us. The smartphone or tablet you hold in your hand is jam-packed with artificial intelligence. Whenever you use a mobile device to pull up Google and perform a search, you’re using advanced algorithms that help you find the information you’re seeking. When you open Netflix, or Spotify, or Amazon, AI is predicting the shows, movies, music, and merchandise you’ll like based on your previous behavior within those apps.
These are just a few examples of weak (or narrow) AI and they literally surround us. These AI systems are still a long way off from the artificially intelligent machines you see in the movies and read about in science fiction. Weak AI are narrower programs that are designed to do a single task very effectively. But the thousands and thousands of weak AI programs out there will serve as the foundation that will ultimately enable us to create strong AI that can think as humans do but much more quickly. But before that can happen, there are a few developments that must occur first:
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Source: singularityhub.com/2016/08/09/how-todays-jungle-of-artificial-intelligence-will-spawn-sentience/
These are just a few examples of weak (or narrow) AI and they literally surround us. These AI systems are still a long way off from the artificially intelligent machines you see in the movies and read about in science fiction. Weak AI are narrower programs that are designed to do a single task very effectively. But the thousands and thousands of weak AI programs out there will serve as the foundation that will ultimately enable us to create strong AI that can think as humans do but much more quickly. But before that can happen, there are a few developments that must occur first:
- We’ll need greater computing power. Today’s CPUs, as great as they are, don’t have the sheer power necessary to mimic the human brain.
- We need to better understand the human brain and how it’s wired. If we’re going to create artificial intelligence that can truly simulate the way the human brain works, we’re going to require a much better understanding of it so that we can build a CPU that mimics it.
- Finally, we will need to find ways that AI can use higher and higher levels of problem solving. As we develop increasingly complex uses for AI, it will slowly evolve into strong AI.
Artificial Intelligence News brought to you by artificialbrilliance.com
Source: singularityhub.com/2016/08/09/how-todays-jungle-of-artificial-intelligence-will-spawn-sentience/
As the AI industry continues to grow and we see more and more instances of AI being integrated into our daily lives, there is a lot of misinformation about artificial intelligence, what it is, and what it means for humans. Here’s a look at some of the facts and myths surrounding this controversial field.
Types of AI
Many people think that AI is just one thing but there are actually many types that can be categorized under three broad terms:
Artificial intelligence and jobs
A common fear about AI is that it will displace jobs at a rate that hasn’t been seen since the industrial revolution. It’s true that AI could result in a complete takeover of certain jobs but at least until Super AI comes about, the majority of jobs will still be left for humans. In fact, AI is likely to create more jobs than it displaces in the long run.
Will super AI pose a threat to humanity?
Even super AI are dependent on the humans who program them. Super AI would have the potential to threaten humanity and the potential to do much good. It depends how they’re used and who ultimately controls them, but they will not be inherently good or evil.
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Source: thewindowsclub.com/facts-myths-artificial-intelligence
Types of AI
Many people think that AI is just one thing but there are actually many types that can be categorized under three broad terms:
- Weak AI has been around for decades. Examples would be any machine that can performs a function as programmed. So cruise control is an example of weak AI. It’s not intelligent like humans but it can perform a task for humans so that we don’t have to.
- Strong AI is only just becoming a reality. This is when machines can actually understand and not just follow orders. Understanding isn’t left to programmers who code the machines, rather machines will be allowed to sort through information and come to understand it themselves.
- Super AI is related to consciousness. We’re still a long way from developing this kind of AI and many believe it can’t be done. This is the point where machines can comprehend their own existence and is self-aware.
Artificial intelligence and jobs
A common fear about AI is that it will displace jobs at a rate that hasn’t been seen since the industrial revolution. It’s true that AI could result in a complete takeover of certain jobs but at least until Super AI comes about, the majority of jobs will still be left for humans. In fact, AI is likely to create more jobs than it displaces in the long run.
Will super AI pose a threat to humanity?
Even super AI are dependent on the humans who program them. Super AI would have the potential to threaten humanity and the potential to do much good. It depends how they’re used and who ultimately controls them, but they will not be inherently good or evil.
Artificial Intelligence News brought to you by artificialbrilliance.com
Source: thewindowsclub.com/facts-myths-artificial-intelligence
There’s no denying that artificial intelligence is light years ahead of what it was just a few years ago. The technology continues to advance at an ever-increasing rate. But the ultimate goal of artificial intelligence researchers is to replicate human intelligence. So how do artificial intelligence and human intelligence measure up? You be the judge.
1.The so-called “deep learning” that artificial intelligence is capable of isn’t really the type of profound learning like humans are capable of. Rather deep learning refers to an interconnected neural network. That means that artificial intelligence has immediate access to a wider body of knowledge, but humans are still capable of more profound thought.
2.Artificial intelligence systems are able to beat the greatest chess masters in the world but they need millions of pictures (labeled by humans) to be able to learn to correctly identify a cat. Even a toddler can learn to differentiate between cats, dogs, and other animals after just a few instances of exposure to them.
3.Intel’s latest processor, the i7, is one of the best CPUs that the average person can go out and buy. With four cores, it can perform four separate tasks simultaneously. But that’s no match for human biology. Even super computers are no match for the human brain’s 80 billion cells.
4.The human brain can do what it does with just 10 watts of power. Artificial intelligence would need 10 terrawatts to imitate the human brain. That’s a trillion times more energy to do what the human brain is already capable of.
5.Artificial intelligence runs off of algorithms programmed by humans. The algorithms haven’t actually changed much. What’s changed is the ability for artificial intelligence to run algorithms much quicker than ever before. Certain tasks, like mastering chess, depends on algorithms which is why artificial intelligence has the upper hand when it comes to playing chess.
Why even try
If after all these years, human intelligence is still vastly superior to artificial intelligence, why do artificial intelligence researchers even bother? Because despite its weaknesses when it comes to certain cognitive tasks, it can still do some things exceptionally better than humans. Artificial intelligence can sort through vast amounts of data in seconds, a task that would take humans days, weeks, or even years. Artificial intelligence is much better at humans when it comes to recognizing patterns hidden among large amounts of data. Artificial intelligence is far superior to humans when it comes to mathematical reasoning and computing as well.
In the end, humans need artificial intelligence. They can automate some of the more simple cognitive tasks for us such as pulling up our favorite song or performing a quick mathematical calculation. They will make our lives easier. But artificial intelligence still needs us as well. If true artificial intelligence capable of rivaling human intelligence is ever a reality, it will only be because very intelligent humans created it.
Artificial Intelligence News brought to you by artificialbrilliance.com
Source: bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/should-we-fear-ai
1.The so-called “deep learning” that artificial intelligence is capable of isn’t really the type of profound learning like humans are capable of. Rather deep learning refers to an interconnected neural network. That means that artificial intelligence has immediate access to a wider body of knowledge, but humans are still capable of more profound thought.
2.Artificial intelligence systems are able to beat the greatest chess masters in the world but they need millions of pictures (labeled by humans) to be able to learn to correctly identify a cat. Even a toddler can learn to differentiate between cats, dogs, and other animals after just a few instances of exposure to them.
3.Intel’s latest processor, the i7, is one of the best CPUs that the average person can go out and buy. With four cores, it can perform four separate tasks simultaneously. But that’s no match for human biology. Even super computers are no match for the human brain’s 80 billion cells.
4.The human brain can do what it does with just 10 watts of power. Artificial intelligence would need 10 terrawatts to imitate the human brain. That’s a trillion times more energy to do what the human brain is already capable of.
5.Artificial intelligence runs off of algorithms programmed by humans. The algorithms haven’t actually changed much. What’s changed is the ability for artificial intelligence to run algorithms much quicker than ever before. Certain tasks, like mastering chess, depends on algorithms which is why artificial intelligence has the upper hand when it comes to playing chess.
Why even try
If after all these years, human intelligence is still vastly superior to artificial intelligence, why do artificial intelligence researchers even bother? Because despite its weaknesses when it comes to certain cognitive tasks, it can still do some things exceptionally better than humans. Artificial intelligence can sort through vast amounts of data in seconds, a task that would take humans days, weeks, or even years. Artificial intelligence is much better at humans when it comes to recognizing patterns hidden among large amounts of data. Artificial intelligence is far superior to humans when it comes to mathematical reasoning and computing as well.
In the end, humans need artificial intelligence. They can automate some of the more simple cognitive tasks for us such as pulling up our favorite song or performing a quick mathematical calculation. They will make our lives easier. But artificial intelligence still needs us as well. If true artificial intelligence capable of rivaling human intelligence is ever a reality, it will only be because very intelligent humans created it.
Artificial Intelligence News brought to you by artificialbrilliance.com
Source: bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/should-we-fear-ai
