By Vishnu Makhijani New Delhi, Dec 8, 2008 : Artificial Intelligence has already transcended human perception through chronological compression, or ‘time traveling’.It’s now that we need to define our partnership with this new frontier.A groundbreaking book by three leading thinkers offers a roadmap to our future and our present – an era unlike any other.
It is enabled by algorithms and computing power and can analyze and learn through processes that would take human brains decades or even centuries to complete.
In other ways, time and computing power alone don’t describe what (it does),” Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher write about “The Age of AI and Our Human Future” (John Murray/Hachette).
“Are AI and human minds approaching the same reality from differing perspectives, with complementary strengths? Or do we see two distinct, partially overlapping realities? One that humans can understand through reason and one that AI can understand through algorithms? The authors state that AI perceives things we don’t and can’t see, not only because we don’t have the time or the ability to reason about them, but also because they exist within a realm our minds cannot comprehend.”
They claim that the human quest for knowledge will be transformed by the “horrifying realization that AI must acquire certain knowledge for us and report back to us.” As AI pursues ever more complex and broader goals, AI will appear to humans increasingly as a fellow “being” experiencing and knowing the world.It will be a combination tool, pet, mind, and tool.
The book states that this puzzle will only get more complicated as researchers reach or attain AGI – Artificial General Intelligence.
AGI will not be limited to learning and performing specific tasks.Instead, AGI will be capable of learning and performing a wide range of tasks much like humans.
“Developing AGI will require enormous computing power.It is likely that only a few well-funded organizations will be able to create them.
AGI, like current AI, may be easily distributed, but its capabilities will mean that its applications will need be limited,” the authors warn.
You could limit the operation of AGI by allowing only approved organizations to do so.Then, the question will be: Who controls AGI? Who has access to it? Is democracy possible when a few “genius machines” are controlled by a small number organisations? The authors ask: What does partnership with AI look like in these circumstances?
AGI will be a significant signal, intellectual, scientific, and strategic achievement if it is ever made.The authors point out that AI does not need to be born in order to bring about a revolution in human affairs.
The authors note that AI’s dynamism, ability for emergent – or unexpected – actions and solutions sets it apart from other technologies.They write: “Unregulated, unnoticed, AI might diverge from our expectations or, consequently, our intentions.It will not be humans who decide whether to defer, partner with, or confine it.It may be dictated by AI in some cases; in others by auxiliary forces.
“Humanity could engage in a race for the bottom.As AI automates, processes and permits humans to probe vast amounts of data, organise and reorganize the physical and social worlds.
Advantages may go to those who move quickly.AGI deployment could be compelled by competition without adequate time or disregard for the risks,” the authors write.
This is especially true as the book aims to explain AI and provide readers both with the questions we will face in the future and the tools they can use to answer them.These are the questions:
What does AI-enabled innovation in health, biology and space look like?
What does AI-enabled “best friend” look like to children?
What does AI-enabled warfare look like?
Is AI able to perceive aspects of reality that humans cannot?
How will humanity change if AI is involved in assessing and shaping human actions?
What does it mean to be human, then?
It is therefore crucial for every country technologically advanced to understand that they are on the threshold of a major strategic transformation.
“Every society that is pushing the frontiers of AI must aim to convene an international body to address the defense and security aspects of AI, and to bridge the perspectives of all the different sectors that will influence AI’s creation and deployment.”
This body should be given two functions.One, it should ensure global competitiveness and coordinate research to avoid or at least limit any escalation of crisis.According to the authors, negotiation with both allies and enemies will be necessary.
The bottom line is that artificial intelligence and human intelligence are collaborating, being applied to pursuits at national, continental, or global levels.
“Understanding the transition and developing a guiding ethics from it will require commitment from many parts of society: scientists, strategists, philosophers, clerics, CEOs, and statesmen.This commitment must be made between nations and within them.The authors conclude that now is the time for us to define our partnership with artificial intelligence as well as the reality that will follow.”
(Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in)
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