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Experts concerns with Artificial intelligence

Experts’ concerns of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence was once science fiction, now it’s an integral part of our lives.We are all being monitored repeatedly on a daily basis by machines that imitate cognitive thinking to achieve certain goals. Those machines that constantly try to improve independently are referred to as Artificial Intelligence and at the moment they shape the way our digital world is operating. As a result, it also affects our lives as our dependence on computers and automated systems and their efficiency grows over time.

Experts’ concerns on the dangers regarding AI

In order to understand future risks involving AI, we must first understand the difference between AI and AGI.
AI ( Artificial Intelligence ) – An intelligence system reflected through devices and computer systems that mimic human cognitive thinking in order to achieve a certain goal or to solve a specific problem. For example google ranking algorithm, Siri, Tesla, and many more.

AGI ( Artificial General Intelligence ) – A hypothetical intelligent entity that mimics human behaviour. Capable of generally thinking ahead and performing different intellectual tasks in order to accomplish goals based on a vision it presumably has. This is what we usually see in Sci-Fi movies. An intelligent independent non-human being with the same intellectual abilities as a human (or above).

Artificial Intelligence is already part of our lives, it impacts anyone with a smart device. We are part of an ongoing experiment that is running in the background of the software on our smart devices. Those programs wait for our actions, record our reactions and add it to a large database. That database is getting larger and larger overtime resulting in ever improving smart devices. AGI on the other hand, is very far from being a reality.

Scientists’ reflections of Artificial Intelligence

Brian Cox is in touch with the biggest minds working with AI. Some might say he developed a naive behavior toward the near future of it. He says; people seem to be afraid of AGI with human-like capability of thinking, although we are miles away from that. Also, that at the moment AI is an expert system and a very focused system that does particular things. And the idea of a terminator style general intelligence taken over the world according to experts is miles away.

Let us, for a moment, look some miles ahead; exponential increase in technology does lead us to eventually upload our consciousness to a computer. Which is what may make AGI possible. When a human personality copies/uploads itself to a digital environment it can be considered, theoretically, as an AGI entity. Giving the human consciousness access to data and abilities that a biological body can’t obtain. However, according to computer experts we are very far away from uploading our consciousness completely. “Maybe one brain cell we can” says Brian Cox. The optimistic point of view of Brian Cox is not shared among other tech oligarchs.

Tech oligarchs’ concerns about AI

The growing computer power and exponential increase in the amount of data is directly influencing the improvement of today’s AI systems. As we mentioned before the more data AI systems have the smarter they become, that is why quick improvement with AI happened over the last decade in healthcare, business, architecture, chatbots and more. In some cases we couldn’t predict the rate of improvement in some intelligent AI technologies. This is very concerning for experts because we are less and less worrying about the rate of improvement as long as we can benefit from their use. Some experts think future crisis involving intelligent systems is likely to happen if we won’t change our policy with the use of AI technologies. Elon musk even says we were wrong in the past to predict the rate of improvement of AI systems.

Elon Musk has a very strong assertion on the possible dangers we face with super intelligent systems based on his daily engagement with cutting edge technology. Elon thinks we should be very careful with AI and says: “AI is the single biggest existential crisis we face and the most important one.” He adds “It’s capable of vastly more than almost anyone knows and the rate of improvement is exponential”. Elon is very engaged in the development of AI technologies and is very involved with the way AI technologies are being developed. He is an early investor in Deepmind which is one of the most known AI involved research laboratories. Given his unsettling opinion on the way AI technologies are managed – CNBC said his investment in Deepmind could be because he was afraid of where it’s headed and he wanted to influence its direction.

Musk’s concerns about the AI experts’ attitude towards the issue: “The main issue I see in AI experts is that they think they know more than they do. They think they are smarter than they Actually are. This tends to plague smart people, they define themselves by their intelligence and they don’t like the idea that a machine can be smarter than them. So they discount the idea. Which is fundamentally flawed and a wishful thinking situation.” 

It is possible Elon means that the upcoming dangers involving AI would be the result of the numb approach of the AI experts that supervise the AI systems and manage the way smart systems develop and improve. 

Elon’s strong criticism towards the AI experts was not a one time statement and he repeated his opinion publicly numerous times.

AI in action

One of the famous examples of AI technology that surprised everyone, even its makers, the Deepmind company (Which Musk invested in); is called AlphaGo with its ability to learn and master board games such as chess, and the Chinese strategy board game ‘Go’. AlphaGo was the first software developed by Deepmind in 2015 and it won against the world champion Lee Sedol in 4 out of the 5 games. Later on, Deepmind came up with new software called “Alpha-Zero” which was capable of defeating any opponent simply given the rules of the game. Alpha-zero won AlphaGO 100-0. Alpha-Zero learns the game by playing against itself many simulated rounds in seconds and within 30 hours of learning it was able to outperform AlphaGO on such scale. No one was able to predict this rate of improvement.

Concerns about the use of AI in military applications

It’s often overlooked what AI can do with full control of tanks, planes, and other military vehicles. It’s tempting for militaries to use AI in troop transport vehicles and sync between them because those war machines, connected via AI, can complete missions without human intervention. In addition, there is the fear of falling behind other military forces; so military high command are keen on developing swarms of AI-controlled war vehicles synced and proficient. However, international organizations are afraid of how deadly those swarms can be when not in human control. So they made regulations to ensure a monitored use of AI: one human will look after those swarms in order for the military to have more control over them.

Noel Sharkey on AI-controlled swarms of Jets

Noel Sharkey is involved with a group called “The campaign to stop killer robots” (their name speaks for itself). According to him, one person is not going to qualify and maintain complete control over a swarm. Noel Sharkey explains: “The US military is very keen on developing swarms of fighter Jets. They have got 100 small crafts now experimenting with one person controlling them”. He talks about military experiments that are about to be approved in the future. And that there are great consequences to us humans if that would happen. In the experiment, one person can control the swarm. He is capable of sending the swarm to battle and calling them off with ease. It’s hard to imagine one person controlling 100 Jets. The important thing to understand is that one person besides calling the swarm off will not be able to react to 100 perspectives of 100 fighter jets at the speed that is required in battle. That is why “complete control” is not the term to be used in this case. Noel Sharkey is concerned that people are not concerned about the idea of one person inspecting over so many Jets. He explains the dangers people seem to be missing about the objectives this experiment is trying to achieve with AI-controlled swarms. “You have to see what they’re doing to call them off, and one of the points of this is that they can do mission completion without any communication. But even if you could see them, Not one person is going to be able to see every target that is being selected by 100 devices. So it’s just a scam, a made-up thing to make it okay”. Adding to the dangers with the swarms described above, Noel Sharkey explains how humans can make it even worse in a warlike situation. Our survival instinct and willingness to win in battle can lead one to stray away from missions focused on a specific objective, which may result in bigger-scale destruction and unplanned casualties within a very short period of time. Faster than one can avoid it. “Ever who presses the stop button first loses. Imagine a conflict can start and be over in hypersonic speed, be over in a couple of minutes later with massive devastation everywhere and that is something that really worries me.”

AI concerns in health care

Artificial Intelligence in healthcare is often used to speed the process of medical procedures to happen. Like diagnostics and such. It is not wrong to say that in healthcare time is crucial and can easily be the difference between life and death. Skin cancer, for example, can be identified and treated early and efficiently by telling the difference between a benign or cancerous lesion. By examining photos of lesions medical specialists can tell the difference between a benign lesion and a cancerous one. Computers using AI algorithms can speed up the process of the examination and even spot lesions that experts are likely to miss.

One of the first AI technologies that were introduced to skin analytics is Expert Systems. An Expert System is essentially a computer system that is trying to emulate the decision-making ability of a human expert in a specific field of expertise. Expert Systems are being created by asking real experts how they make decisions, then those facts and rules are programmed into a computer. Then the Expert System is supposed to follow those rules and facts to make decisions of its own. In skin analytics specifically, it didn’t quite work according to the chief executive of ‘Skin Analytics LTD’ Neil Daly. It seemed the experts that were trying to identify dangerous lesions saw things they were not consciously aware of seeing, and the machine works according to the way the experts make decisions. So that is an issue because the experts themselves can’t explain accurately how they make those decisions. This is why many people consider it an ethical issue to use Expert Systems in the field of skin analytics. Neil Daly – Chief Executive Officer in ‘Skin Analytics LTD’ explains the difficulties in healthcare innovation involving the use of Expert Systems. He says: “This is what really makes clinicians uncomfortable, is this concept [Expert Systems]. So when you apply AI to health care specifically; people say: ‘okay you make life and death decisions, how do you do it?’ And then you show them this [Expert Systems]. Is it actually safe? Because if we don’t know how it’s working should we be using it? And again it all comes down to how you validate it and how you prove it, which is what is taking us the last 4 years to get done”. The ethical issues with Expert Systems resulted in legal issues surrounding the appropriate use of Expert Systems. These made some practicing physicians and healthcare administrators lose interest in Expert systems.

AI technology used in skin analytics today

As of today, the latest AI tech used by skin analytics is the Neural Network. As opposed to Expert Systems, the Neural Network is not programmed to make decisions according to real experts, but rather learns the differences between cancerous and benign lesions by itself. The neural network processes images of skin lesions and decides accordingly, whether the lesion is cancerous or benign. The algorithm uses machine learning technology, where it is shown lots and lots of images and learns the difference between lesions. The AI algorithm by far learned to identify cancer. Probably because it is able to view the images in detail (literally every bit), and found features that qualify cancer. This approach is used in the majority of healthcare research facilities today. Although similar to Expert Systems, we don’t know what it’s choosing in the image and exactly how it works. So it can be problematic to use it. Respectful research facilities like ‘Skin Analytics LTD’ consider the neural network system faulty and insufficient when used in medical devices because of ethical issues.

 

 

Expert Systems and Neural networks are still being tested in multiple hospitals seeking to diagnose patients faster in the future.

Summary

In this article, we looked at ways AI systems might help and harm us in the future. It helps to understand that in order to make a robot useful and efficient it needs a certain degree of intelligence and make its own decisions. As long as we demand more from our devices, AI systems will become smarter and solve more issues for us. We do know tech oligarchs, that are influential people, are very concerned with Artificial Intelligence and the upcoming repercussions of its development. That is why it is very important to make sure the advancement in digital super intelligence is supervised. As artificial intelligence reaches new milestones and allows us to use our technology to solve more complex problems it’s also very important to have public institutions have insights into it. Especially when it comes to military applications. Perhaps adding AI-regarded regulations to the Geneva Convention. It is important for AI developers to comply with those institutions to make the future of working with AI better and safer.

Summary

In this article, we looked at ways AI systems might help and harm us in the future. It helps to understand that in order to make a robot useful and efficient it needs a certain degree of intelligence and make its own decisions. As long as we demand more from our devices, AI systems will become smarter and solve more issues for us. We do know tech oligarchs, that are influential people, are very concerned with Artificial Intelligence and the upcoming repercussions of its development. That is why it is very important to make sure the advancement in digital super intelligence is supervised. As artificial intelligence reaches new milestones and allows us to use our technology to solve more complex problems it’s also very important to have public institutions to have insights into it to make it safer. Especially when it comes to military applications. Perhaps adding AI-regarded regulations to the Geneva Convention. It is important for AI developers to comply with those institutions to make the future of working with AI better and safer.

Where can I learn more about AI?

Try audible! You get a free book just by making an account. ANY book! can be 13 hours long of exciting informative Audios. Our best facts come from experts explaining fascinating projects on Audible.

This Article only scratched the surface of the AI topic. The book this article is based on contains fascinating things about AI in much more detail. 

sources:

Audible – Artificial intelligence by: Geoff white , Bernard P. Achampong

Interviews –  Elon musk, Brian Cox

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