I seriously think that we are not far away from the creation of a true artificial intelligence (AI). The success of Alphago had sparked my interest in the subject of AI. I have been watching many videos and reading books related to the topic. The most recent and the most hyped method to implement a general purpose AI is machine learning. Personally, my knowledge on machine learning is limited to what I had learned in school and knowledge is not understanding. But from what I understand from Deepmind's explanation on Alphago, it seems really promising to me. With that said, there is the question : should we be worry about AI?
Nowadays, we can all agree that there is no lacking of fear of an evil AI overthrowing the human race. Ever since Hal 9000 in 2001 : A Space Odyssey, AI has been equivalent to evil in the mindset of many people. Plus the popularity of the Terminator saga, it has done nothing but further damaging AI's reputation. Back in March this year when Alphago beat Lee Sedol, almost every news article written about it, started with a mention of the Skynet or T-800 robot. In fact, I myself had done the same in my entry on the subject matter. It is silly. At the same time, it also says so much about how the general public perceives AI.
Nowadays, we can all agree that there is no lacking of fear of an evil AI overthrowing the human race. Ever since Hal 9000 in 2001 : A Space Odyssey, AI has been equivalent to evil in the mindset of many people. Plus the popularity of the Terminator saga, it has done nothing but further damaging AI's reputation. Back in March this year when Alphago beat Lee Sedol, almost every news article written about it, started with a mention of the Skynet or T-800 robot. In fact, I myself had done the same in my entry on the subject matter. It is silly. At the same time, it also says so much about how the general public perceives AI.
Not only Terminator, in fact there is a long list of Hollywood movies in which the AI becomes the antagonist (spoiler!). Alien, Prometheus, Matrix, I. Robot, Age of Ultron, Resident Evil, ..., the list just goes on and on. Personally, the idea of AI being evil is so deep in my subconscious that it sometimes ruins my movie-going experience. Watching movies with an AI character, such as Interstellar and Moon, I just keep waiting for the AI to turn the table. Even though they are not evil until the end, I still suspect a secret plan or something malicious that I miss out.
On the other hand, it doesn't mean that we can be fully optimistic about AI either. Any technology is a two-edged sword. Nick Bostrom compares true AI with nuclear energy (What happens when our computers get smarter than we are). Nuclear energy is used to power our world but it can also destroy it in a blink of an eye. In some sense, a true AI can be more dangerous than nuclear energy since it can become way more powerful than we could imagine. Elon Musk even said AI researches were like summoning the demon. Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking also more or less share the same view. They are not against the AI. What they say is we should be extremely careful (Elon Musk and Bill Gates on AI).
Following the same logic, I would prefer to compare the creation of a true AI to fire, one of the first technologies of human race. Fire had propelled the human progress but it is also a dangerous tool. The saying of "playing with fire" is there for a reason. I believe true AI will bring the same level of paradigm shift as fire, in terms of the contribution to human progress. Regarding AI, we shouldn't be overly worry to the level of hysteria. Like ColdFusion (DeepMind Explained), we should be cautiously optimistic.
On the other hand, it doesn't mean that we can be fully optimistic about AI either. Any technology is a two-edged sword. Nick Bostrom compares true AI with nuclear energy (What happens when our computers get smarter than we are). Nuclear energy is used to power our world but it can also destroy it in a blink of an eye. In some sense, a true AI can be more dangerous than nuclear energy since it can become way more powerful than we could imagine. Elon Musk even said AI researches were like summoning the demon. Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking also more or less share the same view. They are not against the AI. What they say is we should be extremely careful (Elon Musk and Bill Gates on AI).
Following the same logic, I would prefer to compare the creation of a true AI to fire, one of the first technologies of human race. Fire had propelled the human progress but it is also a dangerous tool. The saying of "playing with fire" is there for a reason. I believe true AI will bring the same level of paradigm shift as fire, in terms of the contribution to human progress. Regarding AI, we shouldn't be overly worry to the level of hysteria. Like ColdFusion (DeepMind Explained), we should be cautiously optimistic.
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