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Updated at 6pm
THERE HAS NEVER been a point in human history where our lives are so entwined with technology and data, but with that has brought increased fears.
Yet aside from the problems of data and tracking (which is a whole other story), our view of robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one that’s both skeptical and fearful.
It doesn’t help matters when you hear the likes of Google and Boston Dynamics (a company that had contracts with the US military) developing their own robots, and the potential drawbacks of it resulted in a number of prominent figures tech and science signing an open letter to prevent a global arms race with weapons using AI.
When such fears emerge, it’s hard not to imagine a future that looks something like this:
Yet the current reality of both robotics and AI is more like this:
To put it in blunt terms, robots are dumb. Asking one to complete a task like opening a door will take ages for it to complete, and that is only if it succeed. If it falls, it will have serious difficulties getting up by itself and so on.
Yet with all new technologies that emerge, there will always be fears that this will be the time we seal our fate as they’ll turn against us sooner or later.
Dr. Ken Ford has worked in the field of AI and robotics for decades, having worked with NASA and now the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Florida.
As you would expect from someone in the industry itself, he has a more optimistic idea of how robotics and AI will develop. Speaking to TheJournal.ie, he argues that this isn’t a question of whether robotics will become good or evil, but how they’re used by people.
“There’s no doubt that any really advanced technology, or even really simple technology… can be used for good or bad purposes”, says Dr. Ford.
My complaint isn’t with the notion of the misuse of AI – that’s something that people should be concerned about – but that’s less an argument against the science of AI and more an argument of human wisdom, judgement and nature. So that’s really a separate argument of what we think about humans and our judgement.
Still, if we’re accept that to be true, there will always be the fear that these machines will inevitably be used for war instead of improving society or our lives. Dr. Ford does say that this is already happening, but says it’s already used more for peace, operating in our day-to-day lives.
Not that he doesn’t believe such concerns are valid, or that we shouldn’t have discussions about their impact, just not to assume the work on robotics alone is a bad thing.
I think it’s sensible to be concerned about personal liberties or whether some organisations might use AI to more effectively invade our privacy but the same discussion could be made about genetics research… it’s not the inherent science that’s the issue, it’s our wisdom of which we as a society employ it.
Also, the concept of artificial creation has been around far longer than you would think.
While the Terminator and HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey are the first to be referenced, you could go back even further to stories like Frankenstein’s monster or the three laws of robotics – an idea originally created by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.
Stories like that do shape our general perception of new technologies in some form and it’s why Skynet and similar pop culture references emerge whenever a robot appears in the news (we’re not exactly innocent of those references ourselves).
“Most people’s ideas about AI [and robots]… are informed largely by sci-fi and there are no other ideas about it”, says Dr. Ford. “Our cultural memes come from science fiction so it’s really bizarre”.
If you think about HAL or all the others, the hazard associated with them wasn’t their great intelligence or to the artificialness, whatever that means, of their intelligence, it was due to their humanity. HAL had paranoia and numerous other unfortunate human traits that we would have to have to go to great lengths to build.”
And that’s something people might not realise initially when hearing about robotics. While great strides have been made in recent years, we’re still in the very basic stages.
One example is IHMC’s own robot Running Man, which recently took part in the DARPA Robotics Challenge earlier this year. The challenge was motivated by disasters like the ruined nuclear reactor in Fukushima and the Deepwater Horizon underwater oil spill.
The key goal is to create a dexterous mobile robot that could move through disaster zones and perform useful tasks with minimal guidance and input from remote human operators.
Running Man came second in the competition, but watching a timelapse of its progress shows just how long it takes for a robot to carry out even the most rudimentary of tasks.
A team of 30 were involved in Running Man’s creation over three years, it focusing on software while the robotics came from Boston Dynamics and another robotics company Carnegie Robotics.
It takes a very long time for a robot to carry out an action but Ford doesn’t see a world where robots work independently of humans, he looks at how people and robots can work together and that includes demystifying the concept of AI itself.
Inevitably, robotics and AI will reach a point where they will have a significant impact on our lives. Before then, we will need to have serious discussions about the benefits and repercussions they will have, especially since it’s people and not robots that will determine its future.
“I think the thing that confuses people is the old-fashioned story about AI’, says Dr. Ford. “The Turing Test story is one of building an artificial human. The name AI itself is singularly a poor choice to name something technical [as] it implies it’s not intelligence but it’s some artificial form of a human.”
As soon as people realise it’s not about building artificial humans with all of our good and bad points and all of our foibles, it’s about enabling those things humans do then you get a different view. I’m not suggesting there’s no hazard associated with AI but they’re not associated with the science itself. [Instead, it's] how we choose to apply it.
Dr. Ford was speaking at the George Boole Bicentenary Celebration which took place in UCC this weekend.
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They were reported on enough in the likes of Europe, Australia and Asia where people actually give a toss about global events. There’s little appetite for global news in the US as it confuses too many people who are unaware that places exist outside America.
@The Guru: I’d love the see the size list of under-reported multiple victim shootings in the U.S from last year.
That old chestnut… Americans with mental health issues is very different from a group pathologically disposed to subterfuge and altering your way of life, and now bedding itself in within Europe.. Wakey Wakey..
Martin, would you not say they also have mental health issues? France has the highest Muslim population in Europe, most families moved to France in the 60′s. The first mosque in arms was built in 1922 and guess what? There are still less that 10 million Muslims in France. Muslims in Europe is not new. Stop pretending it is.
*Paris
@Dave O Keeffe: Muslims and jews have been in Europe since the time of the crusades.
Exactly, and the country with the most Muslims they still only make up about 7% of the population (as its illegal to record religion in census in France I have used the highest reliable estimate I found, which is also coincidentally the average of all numbers I found when including the not so reliable estates)
@Martin Critten: And yet despite being so concerned for the safety of the people he’s dismantling legislation to stop mentally ill people from purchasing guns
I’m just glad that when the trump admin released their list of underreported terrorist events they included the bowling green massacre. For too long they have conspired to keep that quiet and it honours all those who lost their lives. Including me.
@Tony Canning: You lost your life in the bowling green massacre too? Maybe we should create a club?
Nevar ferget.
@Dave O Keeffe: The Muslims were in Spain hundreds of years ago. They were kicked out and still complain about it. Muslims tend to like warm dry climates for some reason
Would love just one day, where this fool isn’t in the news.
Only 1445 days to go
What a stupid list by the White House. Loads of attacks on their list received massive attention. Such as the Brussels airport attack last year.
And they did not even go to the bother to say when the attack in Kuwait happened.
I think he’s referring to the fake news websites he uses for his news
@Boganity: You have to wonder if that’s the ‘yard stick’ the President of America, the so called most powerful man in the world, has reduced measuring terrorism to, not the opinion of any one of his 17 intelligence agencies, but whether they recieved “adequate attention from Western media sources”. You couldn’t make this up, you really couldn’t.
I know and making it even worse is the list released by his staff to back up his claims, the incidents listed where massively reported worldwide so how he knows nothing about them is a real concern
@Ace: Good job Ireland isn’t on the list then…..
Under reporting ☺
Glad that doesn’t happen with RTE and the independent ☺
Unless it’s Sinn Fein, then they’ll both go to town with the negative reporting.
I’m glad it does happen anywhere accept in his head
Kenny should present him with a bowl of sawdust to represent what’s actually between his ears
@Boganity: This is interesting.
We need to halt the Muslim advance
This from the man who MADE UP “The Bowling Green massacre”.
In fairness I’m sure it was Kelly ann Conway who mentioned that
@Fear Uisce: Ah, but is it on the list, did it recieve adequate attention?
@Fear Uisce: If the press aren’t reporting enough terrorism, to justify your xenophobia, simply make some up. “I’m not happy with the amount of terrorist events being reported. Get out there Kellyann and give the press some alternative facts.” She’s just his mouthpiece. He’s the lying xenophobe.
He accused the media of not reporting on terrorist incidences without giving any examples. He’s being ridiculous.
He did, 78 examples to be precise.
They were all reported on though.
That list was produced later to make Trump look less stupid. Those 78 cases were “underreported”. That just means they weren’t on the front page of newspapers.
@Jason Culligan: One of those examples that the dope gave is Philadelphia.When was that declared as a ‘terrorist’ attack ?
Jason, on the list is Paris France Sept 2015, how was that under reported? It’s time you stopped trying to justify everything Trump says no matter how ill informed or stupid.
The Orlando nightclub shooting is on the list. That was extensively covered
@Dave O Keeffe: Jason is stuck in Trump’s arse, he is fed on Trump’s sh*t, and believes everything the big orange says, cut him some slack, he’s intelectually challenged enough, as it is.
Is the Dylan rooff shooting included or is that outside the timespan/ethnicity of the perpetrator????
Larissa I’ve never agreed much with Jason, but I always found him well informed on topics, but definitely his mask is slipping lately. Even he can’t defend the indefensible, I suppose.
trump would give his left ball for a new bin laden video.
Expect a “Reichstag” I’d say…
Trump is aching for his own 9/11 moment, when he can join his people together for the last holy war. Trumps triumph will herald the end of the empire
Sure there were some attacks in Israel and other places as well. Don’t see them on the list either.
The Donald Duck Cabinet is underreporting on terrorism.
It’s Called minimising the desired effect of terror, I look forward to the day I don’t see his ugly mutt plastered all over every newsfeed.
This is the work of Bannon, a hideous creature lurking in the background with his own twisted agenda.
You mean Baldrick the Blackadder character
This is the refugee vetting process that Bannon finds wayyyyy too lax :
They’re absolutely right. The media never reports on attacks in middle eastern countries.
It’s the new Donald and Mickey show
Unfortunately that’s because no one in this part is interested in or cares about what happens to people in the Middle East, if we did we wouldn’t have a refugee crisis
The Journal fails to mention that during Trumps rant in Tampa, he singled out Europe for unreported terrorist attacks.
@Chris Kirk: I know, it’s such a missed opportunity to point out yet another example of “Alternative Facts” from Trump
He is an idiot. One of his reports of terrorism was a friend of mine family member who was killed by a person with mental illness. Was never reported as a terrorist attack. The day he is forced out of office will be a day the rest of the world will celebrate.
New polls show what corrupt media agenda wants to say – as usual……should be the headline.
As proven during election and brexit etc…..these polls do not reflect the opinions they say they do – and are often doctored and manipulated – and simply wrong.
When is the media going to realise that their polls do not drive public opinion, it is the other way around, and if the ask the wrong questions from unrepresentative samples they get the wrong answers
Is it just me, or is Trump looking more and more like Boris Yeltsin ???
Nut Jobs the pair of them !!
@Gerald Duffy: That’s an insult to Boris
It is an interesting argument that ‘non-US citizens entering the country for the first time have no constitutional rights’. So when do the constitutional rights take effect? After immigration control? When you leave the airport? When you cross a state border?
And what happens before you get the constitutional rights? Can you be subjected to torture at the airport? Arbitrarily detained? Subjected to ‘cruel and degrading’ punishments?
The argument that the injunction is too wide in being nation-wide is also strange. The President’s executive order had nationwide effect. Was the Federal judge to stay it in Seattle only? Could a citizen of one of the 7 countries enter the USA at Seattle but not San Francisco?
I know nothing about American constitutional law but common sense suggsts that these arguments are so weak that they cannot succeed. If these are the Department of Justices best arguments they are in trouble. We will know tomorrow morning.
@Patrick Brompton: The key word in your comment is ‘common sense’, something that’s sadly missing in the Trump administration
I fail to see the point of this list. In the full list the nationalities of the known attackers is included. The American attacks? Performed by Americans. Most of the attacks were carried out by citizens of the country they occurred in. More Americans die in mass shootings carried out by white people. Surely the goal is to save as many lives as possible. Radicalisation happens online not at an airport.
**Breaking News**
Donald Trump does own a bathrobe.
(Updates to follow)
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