Following up on my last posting on advances – and worries – about Artificial General Intelligence…. Peter Diamandis’s latest tech blog is regarding AI and ethics.
As you know, it’s a topic I’ve long been engaged with and continue to be. Alas, AI is always discussed in generalities and nostrums. What’s seldom mentioned? Basic boundary conditions! Such as the format these new entities will take. I’ll explore that hugely important question another time. But to whett your apetite, ponder this. Aren’t the following three formats what you see most often? The most common assumptions are that:
– AIs will be controlled by the governments or mega-corporations who made them, making those corporations (e.g. Microsoft or Google) and the upper castes vastly powerful.
– AIs will be amorphous, infinitely spreadably/duplicable, pervading any crevice.
– They will coalesce into some super-uber-giga entity like ‘Skynet’ and dominate the world.
These three assumptions appear to pervade most pronouncements by geniuses and mavens in the field, sometimes all three in the same paragraph! And Vint Cerf raises this question:
“How can you imagine giving any of those three formats citizenship, or the vote?”
In fact, all three formats are recipes for disaster. If you can think of an alternative, drop by in comments. Hint: there is a fourth format that offers a soft landing… one that’s seldom – if ever – mentioned.
But more on that at…: CONTRARY BRIN: The AI saga continues
Recent Comments