AI marks the beginning of the Age of Thinking Machines

AI marks the beginning of the Age of Thinking Machines

Every day brings considerable AI news, from breakthrough capabilities to dire warnings. A quick read of recent headlines shows both: an AI system that claims to predict dengue fever outbreaks up to three months in advance, and an opinion piece from Henry Kissinger that AI will end the Age of Enlightenment. Then there’s the father of AI who doesn’t believe there’s anything to worry about. Meanwhile, Robert Downey, Jr. is in the midst of developing an eight-part documentary series about AI to air on Netflix.

AI is more than just “hot,” it’s everywhere. It’s a steamroller trend. But industry and government need to do more to ensure that AI application is ethical.

In his article in The Atlantic, Kissinger notes that until now, it was the printing press that offered the most important technological breakthrough, providing the ability to capture and share empirical knowledge and creating a new world order. He views AI as an even more sweeping technological revolution and suggests we do not fully understand the consequences. The implication is that we can only imagine this future as if seeing through a glass, darkly. Given the potential power of AI, in weaponry and otherwise, it is clear why a former national-security adviser and secretary of state would have that point of view.

Certainly, others have sounded an alarm, though the distinction between narrow-AI and artificial general intelligence (AGI) is often lost in the din of debate. Narrow AI is generally machine learning that uses data and applies algorithms to it to gain knowledge. There are many forms of machine learning, but all fall within the narrow AI category. AGI is also referred to as superintelligence, or the singularity when machines surpass human intelligence.

Every AI application that exists today and is expected soon is narrow (or weak) AI, designed to perform a narrow task. This covers image and facial recognition, natural language processing, internet searches, and autonomous vehicles. All the AI wizardry to date, whether AlphaGO beating the best players in GO or the increasing applications in medical diagnostics, are examples of narrow AI.

For all the benefits we associate with narrow AI, the dangers are equally well-documented and cover social dislocation and lost jobs, advanced weaponry threats, increased cybersecurity risks, and “deepfakes” that erode what’s left of trust. As valid as these concerns are, AGI raises still greater concern. As Elon Musk notes, narrow AI is “not a fundamental species level risk, whereas digital super intelligence is.”

Kissinger worries that our drive for AI is seemingly unstoppable, what Kevin Kelly refers to as inevitable. Beyond that, Kissinger sees this as “a potentially dominating technology in search of a guiding philosophy”:

More specifically, Kissinger sees AI development leading to a “transformation of the human condition.” Is this a euphemism for Musk’s species-level risk? It could be, but perhaps there are multiple levels to this.

Musk seems to be talking about essential survival. In his way of thinking, echoed by many others, an intelligence greater than ours could very well regard humans as irrelevant. Superintelligent machines could then decide to either ignore or kill us. But Kissinger believes there’s a more imminent danger, even from narrow AI, that is just as dangerous.

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