Machine minds

MACHINE MINDS According to Stephen Hawking: "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race". But what future Als should we really be worried about, and where have we seen them before? AI SCENARIOS ETHICAL ISSUES LOSING CONTROL TRANSHUMAN FEATURES HOW WORRIED SHOULD WE BE? 2 Be very afraid Careful Chill out Unsettling Worrying now ALREAD Y HERE MALFUNCTIONING HOUSE ROBOTS • Mechanical servants go dangerously beserk In early 2015, a hair-eating Roomba robot vacuum cleaner 'attacked' a woman ADOPT A ROBOT Cute robots provide solace and companionship Jibo's out now but expect a cuddlier, walking, talking version sometime soon(-ish) ALGORITHM MARKET-CRASHERS Lightning-quick trading malware crashes financial markets As seen in 2010's almost trillion dollar so-called 'Flash Crash' CRIMINAL CHATBOTS Bots persuade online victims WANT they are human 2 CHAT? Expected soon: bots able to rally crowds, open bank accounts, even write letters... SMART SEARCH ENGINES Search engines spy on our location and internet activity Google AdWords anyone? MIND ENHANCERS Als augment our intelligence Als already analyse vast quantities of medical records to speed accurate diagnosis LIKELY TO HAPPEN • KILLER ROBOTS Fully autonomous weapons engage in violent conflict Super Aegis II, a South Korean sentry bot, can lock onto a man-sized target 2.2km away in complete darkness SURVEILLANCE STATE From facial recognition software spying on us to algorithms combing through our phone calls The NSA's Skynet program monitored phones of suspected terrorists HUMAN HELPERS Als work as surgeons, astronauts, teachers and translators See Baymax, Disney's awesome 'personal healthcare assistant'/superhero sidekick to Hiro Hamada (Big Hero 6, 2014) QUITE POSSIBLE SEDUCTIVE SIRIS We love them. But they'll never love us the same way Watch in horror as Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with Samantha (aka his phone) (Her, 2013) ROBOTIC ORACLES Al can predict future crime. People are no longer free WAYWARD It's not exactly DRIVERLESS CARS Minority Report's precogs' but predictive policing Self-driving vehicles go off-piste, causing chaos software is here to stay No evidence of Google's driverless car doing a 'Christine'. Fingers crossed... (Christine, 1983) TOTAL AUTOMATION Many jobs now done by robots. Mass human unemployment Witness everyone's favourite hoity-toity butler droid C-3PO (Star Wars, Episode IV, 1977) FAR-FETCHED PERMANENT FATAL ERROR An Al destroys humans in pursuit of its mission The paperclip maximizer. Google it. The end of humanity due to enforced proliferation of humble paperclips SUPERHUMAN CYBORGS Powerful human- machine hybrids emerge Hopefully you won't be talking to someone/ something who's seen "attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion" on a rainy rooftop any time soon (Blade Runner, 1982) SELF-REPLICATING AI Robots learn to make new, better versions of themselves Scientists create a perfect blade-wielding, self-replicating weapon with one purpose: to destroy all life forms (Screamers, 1995) GHOST IN THE MACHINE Servant robots become conscious and stop following orders Even Asimov's 3 rules of robotics weren't enough to stop robots in this adaptation of his short story collection (I, Robot, 2004) THE SINGULARITY An artificial superintelligence vies to take over the world In this case MCP, possibly the ugliest ever anthropomorphic Al, crashes and burns at the hands of Jeff Bridges (Tron, 1982) SCIENCE FICTION RAMPAGING ROBOTS - Murderous androids go on a killing spree Yul Brynner's creepy Gunslinger runs amok in a futuristic Disney-style theme park (Westworld, 1973) ANDROIDS AMONG US Artificial beings infiltrate society undetected Once Battlestar's Cylons perfected 'skinjobs' it was only a matter of time til they finagled their way into the fleet (Battlestar Galactica, 2004-09) HUMAN ENSLAVEMENT The machines are in control, we just don't know it yet Is all life on Earth an elaborate facade created by a malevolent cyber-intelligence? Better call Neo... (The Matrix, 1999) MIND UPLOAD Digitised humans gain immortality then wreak havoc Absolute power corrupts Dr. Will Caster absolutely. Digitally-fuelled chaos ensues (Transcendence, 2014) FEELING MACHINES Als begin to experience human emotions Household robot Andrew experiences emotions, creative thoughts and eventually develops sentience - all with the face of Robin Williams (Bicentennial Man, 1999) MACHINE LEGACY Humans in danger of extinction. Intelligent robots clean up Earth A trash compactor rules the world. The meek really shall inherit the Earth... (WALL-E, 2008) ROBOT V S HUMAN IN WHICH FIELDS DO COMPUTERS OUTPERFORM PE OPLE? EXPERT AIVAHUMAN AVERAGE PROCESSING POWER COMPUTERS ARE BETTER Facial Verbal Image sorting recognition IQ tests Poker (Texas Hold'em) Calculation Chess Jeopardy! (TV quiz show) speed Rock paper scissors Language translation Writing and conversation Art and music Go Reading facial expressions (board game) Physical adaptability (climbing stairs, using tools) Non-routine "True' practical jobs (cooking, hairdressing) empathy PEOPLE SKILLS HUMANS ARE BETTER Sources: http://bit.ly/Machine_Minds BBC Oibstudio for FUTURE