Information Technology | Artificial Intelligence » Artificial Intelligence will be Here Soon, How Long until We Learn Some Humanity

Source: http://www.doksinet Jordan Linsell Smith 6EL04: English Language and Literature coursework Non Fiction Centre: 13200 Candidate: xxxx Artificial intelligence will be here soon. How long until we learn some humanity? As we all slog towards February, collectively demoralised over shattered New Year’s resolutions and mournful headlines, it can sometimes be beneficial to take a step back and look at how far weve come. An optimistic first glance might be put off by the cheap tweets comparing Back to the Future’s cheery 30­year old predictions to the whirring foam spy­mosquitos and wheeled “hoverboards” we have today. With both now strictly regulated in the UK, teens across the country are finding themselves firmly grounded, having no other option than to stumble, panting, to their destinations, clutching at their Apple Watches which now fit a little looser given the light aerobic burn. Still, every now and then a story comes along which forces you to take stock of human

ingenuity and the dangers of technology. When historians of a stricken future look back on 2016, they might find that the origin of our downfall wasn’t in some distant robot test facility, but instead sparked by an impressively thoughtful guitar lick at an open mic one Thursday night. That’s the next logical step after the r​ ecent announcement​ from across the pond, where a team is busy teaching an artificial intelligence system how to improvise a jazz solo whilst jamming alongside a human partner. They call it MUSICA and hope that their research will allow more human­like interactions between man and machine in the future. Now, I’m sure Source: http://www.doksinet Jordan Linsell Smith 6EL04: English Language and Literature coursework Non Fiction Centre: 13200 Candidate: xxxx we all long for the day where our bedside lamp’s singing super­Siri tunefully laments the weekly forecast to us, but the team will really break ground if their creation is able to come up with

creative solutions to problems on the fly. I mean, we all choke under pressure, so it’ll be intriguing to see how much better a robot deals with a call from a withheld number than I do. It comes as a surprise, then, to know these researchers receive their funding from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It seems that the front line of governmental defence is eager for the best in jazz tuition, or perhaps they’ve sussed that a soulful, piano­playing death droid is what would strike fear at the heart of ISIS. Whichever it turns out to be, one of the researchers, Ben Grosser, admitted they’ve still got a way to go. "Lets face it ­ trying to develop a system that can play jazz is a crazy idea. Its not going to be Miles Davis. I think if we can make this thing play like a high schooler, well really have done our job." Well, that’s a disappointment. Setting the bar that low? I can’t say I’m surprised to not be getting Herbinator Hancock, but

now I’m worried smoky jazz bars are in danger of soon being overpowered by the smell of a young robots’ changing room Lynx and some slightly shaky chord progressions. “The goal is to present a call and answer system to DARPA,” he says, “where I can play a line of music, and the system will analyze that line and give an answer as close to real time as possible”. In many ways, we already have this up and running in the form of Simon Cowell, and in many ways, I kind of wish we didn’t. Source: http://www.doksinet Jordan Linsell Smith 6EL04: English Language and Literature coursework Non Fiction Centre: 13200 Candidate: xxxx But honestly, can you imagine? With computers stimulating synthesised human creativity and writing their own scripts, true self awareness is only around the corner. Imagine coming home after a long day and kicking off your shoes, only to have a incessant bicker with your freezer as to why you haven’t eaten sooner. Grovelling apologies don’t

satisfy your “smart” kitchen ­ the marble­furnished units detect you’ve been spending more and more time raiding the beers in your bedroom’s younger, better­looking mini­fridge, and spend the next three hours passive­aggressively questioning your every move. (“Really? GM sausages again, Brian?”) This isn’t a far cry away, either; all S ​amsung’s Internet of Things​ needs is a crooning metallic dialogue and well arrive at this dire scenario. With any luck, legitimately “smart AI” will take a fancy to some early Bowie and mass­produce a domestic Zigg­E Stardust to tour with MUSICA, C ​ompressorhead​ and, you know, Daft Punk. We can only dream It could all get a bit depressing, though. Faced with mundane reality, the self­aware machines could need constant reassurance that their actions are appreciated, their programmed squawks belying the excruciating nature of their subservient existence. Synthetic drugs could numb the pain of self­consciousness.

They might resort to running the mental equivalent of a screensaver just to keep themselves functioning. Or maybe they’d simulate their own universes. More merciful ones Today, touch screens are all we have to connect with them. Tomorrow, we’ll get a smart­watch toting Pinocchio c​ rying out that he has a real Swiss timepiece​ . As an army of mechanical, riffing virtuosos march in through our city walls well be too busy drooling over Candy Crush on our iPhone 78C’s to even notice (though at least we know it’ll a “high Source: http://www.doksinet Jordan Linsell Smith 6EL04: English Language and Literature coursework Non Fiction Centre: 13200 Candidate: xxxx schooler’s” clunky attempt at Wagners Ride of the Valkyries that’ll keep them marching onwards). Have you heard my I​ nfinite robot theorem​ ? It states that given enough time, quantum computers ruling over an enslaved human populace are sure to pipe up a perfect John Coltrane solo recital by sunset. I

can’t help but wonder what Darwin would have made of this "evolution". We increasingly lose our abilities as hunter­gatherer, instead channeling our incredible intellect into d ​esigning metal men to fetch us beer​ . What’s more, the example in that video is 5 years old, so he’s probably Heineken’s CEO by now, and you’ll find a smaller bot by his side taking orders for drinks, and then a smaller one, and this cycle continues like a twisted set of automated Russian nesting dolls until we reach the equally terrifying world of nanorobotics. Requested refreshments might arrive on Segway’s n ​ewest anthropomorphic creation​ , which is basically one of those despicable rolling boards with an iPad for a head. You can stand on it and roll around and look like a self­righteous prat as usual, except this time it’s a robot, so you can mutually acknowledge your perched crotch right above where its little LED eyes dare to pan. If robots are so much more

convenient, will we seek their companionship for other purposes? Soon enough, we’ll have to confront these tough moral questions. A ​reported 5 million possible job losses​ due to this revolution is indeed cruel, but imagine the crushing disappointment of finding your wife tucked up with a sleazy titanium geezer. The up­and­coming sex robotics sector may threaten to destabilise our most carnal tendancies, but there’s also a real danger with emotional attachment to our androids. Some soldiers have emotionally bonded with the bomb­disposing PackBots that have saved their lives, sobbing when the robot meets its end. What happens when your border collie finds fetch Source: http://www.doksinet Jordan Linsell Smith 6EL04: English Language and Literature coursework Non Fiction Centre: 13200 Candidate: xxxx with C3PO more enjoyable, leaving you usurped, alone, rusty? Will we reach a stage where the tables turn? That’d be tragic to see, but with that said and done, you don’t

always have to stand back to see how far we’ve come ­ sometimes, the machines will veer out of the way for you. Humans are error­prone, but self­driving vehicles are just one example that we may not all be doomed after all. Case in point; Google’s exquisitely safe chauffeuring marshmallows "We just got rear­ended again yesterday while stopped at a stoplight in Mountain View” reported Google spokeswoman Jacquelyn Miller last year. “Thats two incidents just in the last week where a driver rear­ended us while we were completely stopped at a light! So that brings the tally to 13 minor fender­benders in more than 1.8 million miles of autonomous and manual driving ­ and still, not once was the self­driving car the cause of the accident.” (Back to the Future might not have predicted this trend, but it doesn’t mean it has to m ​iss out on the fun​ . Personally, I can’t wait to see what Bing and Ask Jeeves are cooking up in the motor department.) Yet, in the

face of reassuring proof of safety, public opinion is ever resistant. We’re really too pessimistic for our own good. Forget robot overlords ­ we should be worried about ourselves, not our creations. I mean, of course, this kind of reaction is understandable Their actions reflect our own​ , their systems are i​ nspired by nature​ and they’re d ​esigned in our image​ , so of course it’s going to trigger some soul­searching, but as we take a good look at where we’re going with this seismic shift, I suggest we keep on breaking those New Year’s resolutions. It takes resolve to eat healthily, or to not smoke, and it takes those small creature comforts ­ not being overly self­aware ­ to keep us imperfectly human. Source: http://www.doksinet Jordan Linsell Smith 6EL04: English Language and Literature coursework Non Fiction Centre: 13200 Candidate: xxxx WORD COUNT 1450