Is The A.I. Singularity Coming And If So When?

[andy_s]

ash73 said:

It's a shame all the talk is about AI and weapons, they could become fantastic tools for exploring the solar system. It's too hard to get people to other planets, and the current rovers are cr*p, imagine what a sentient AI probe could do.

Blot out the sun and destroy the verminous human, that's what.

[Terminator X]

mudflaps said:

More warnings of future problems.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33686581

It'll be fine.



TX.

[RobDickinson]

Nobody is worried about apple killer robots because they would never find you with apple maps..

[LimaDelta]

ikarl said:

Killer robots: Tech experts warn against AI arms race

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33686581

More than 1,000 tech experts, scientists and researchers have written a letter warning about the dangers of autonomous weapons.

In the latest outcry over "killer robots", the letter warns that "a military AI [artificial intelligence] arms race is a bad idea".

Among the signatories are scientist Stephen Hawking, entrepreneur Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

The letter will be presented at an international AI conference today.

Worked for Pugwash. Oh, wait...

[SpudLink]

"Obama Wants Supercomputer That Can Mimic Brain".

It's a Sky News headline, so it must be true....
http://news.sky.com/story/1527630/obama-wants-supe...

[jbudgie]

SpudLink said:

"Obama Wants Supercomputer That Can Mimic Brain".

It's a Sky News headline, so it must be true....
http://news.sky.com/story/1527630/obama-wants-supe...

Was on the Beeb as well.

[warp9]

Sorry for the wail link, but does this herald the dawn of quantum computing meaning the AI singularity is still within the 20 - 30 year window as predicted?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-335...

[Guvernator]

warp9 said:

Sorry for the wail link, but does this herald the dawn of quantum computing meaning the AI singularity is still within the 20 - 30 year window as predicted?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-335...

Wow, quantum computing has been on the horizon for ages it seems. The announcement might be a bit premature as they still aren't sure if it's proper quantum mechanics at work or just a very clever algorithm but if it is truly quantum, that is both awesome and a bit frightening at the same time.

[ikarl]

very exciting

[ZOLLAR]

I'll be honest, after reading the "Wait but Why" site and various other bits and bobs on the internet.
The thought of A.I. becoming a reality in my lifetime is starting to concern me!

[dudleybloke]

I'm not worried, unless they give it an Austrian accent.

Edited by dudleybloke on Thursday 10th December 15:20

[Guvernator]

ZOLLAR said:

I'll be honest, after reading the "Wait but Why" site and various other bits and bobs on the internet.
The thought of A.I. becoming a reality in my lifetime is starting to concern me!

Wait but why?

As stated before we seem to have been pre-conditioned with the notion that AI is bad but why would it be? We have no previous experience of AI, only Hollywood's rather technophobic viewpoint. No-one knows how an AI would behave, it could well be the most important scientific breakthrough in the history of mankind. Read some Ian Banks Culture or Neal Asher Polity books to see a different interpretation of how AI could in fact save us from ourselves and usher in a new golden age.

[ZOLLAR]

Guvernator said:

ZOLLAR said:

I'll be honest, after reading the "Wait but Why" site and various other bits and bobs on the internet.
The thought of A.I. becoming a reality in my lifetime is starting to concern me!

Wait but why?

As stated before we seem to have been pre-conditioned with the notion that AI is bad but why would it be? We have no previous experience of AI, only Hollywood's rather technophobic viewpoint. No-one knows how an AI would behave, it could well be the most important scientific breakthrough in the history of mankind. Read some Ian Banks Culture or Neal Asher Polity books to see a different interpretation of how AI could in fact save us from ourselves and usher in a new golden age.

I sort of flipped the opposite way, prior to looking into it I was very positive about the whole idea of AI but when I start thinking of as many scenarios as I can where AI exists and reading more about it the negatives appear to outweigh the positives.
There's just too many unknowns, I don't like this viewpoint though as I am very open to a tech heavy future!

I'll note those books and have a look, thank you.

Edited to add, I think we are pre-conditioned to think badly about it because we can only draw on the experiences of human history, we're very prone to self destruction and thus think any other intelligent life would be the same.
I for one hope not and that it really is a "new dawn" for humanity and AI.

Edited by ZOLLAR on Thursday 10th December 16:20

[p1stonhead]

Guvernator said:

ZOLLAR said:

I'll be honest, after reading the "Wait but Why" site and various other bits and bobs on the internet.
The thought of A.I. becoming a reality in my lifetime is starting to concern me!

Wait but why?

As stated before we seem to have been pre-conditioned with the notion that AI is bad but why would it be? We have no previous experience of AI, only Hollywood's rather technophobic viewpoint. No-one knows how an AI would behave, it could well be the most important scientific breakthrough in the history of mankind. Read some Ian Banks Culture or Neal Asher Polity books to see a different interpretation of how AI could in fact save us from ourselves and usher in a new golden age.

It could also kill us all instantly.

[popeyewhite]

We're still making discoveries about the human brain so I can't see how they'll successfully design an artificial one for quite some time.

[otolith]

An artificial intelligence doesn't necessarily have to be an artificial human intelligence, though.

[IainT]

otolith said:

An artificial intelligence doesn't necessarily have to be an artificial human intelligence, though.

This!

Plus, the development of AI is inevitable so I put AI into the same category as extinction level asteroids - there's nowt I can do to stop it.

[popeyewhite]

otolith said:

An artificial intelligence doesn't necessarily have to be an artificial human intelligence, though.

Good point. Then I suppose it's can't be too far off. Depending on how you measure it and how strict the criteria for 'intelligence' is. Would a machine have to be sentient?

[IainT]

popeyewhite said:

otolith said:

An artificial intelligence doesn't necessarily have to be an artificial human intelligence, though.

Good point. Then I suppose it's can't be too far off. Depending on how you measure it and how strict the criteria for 'intelligence' is. Would a machine have to be sentient?

Sentience is probably easier to achieve than intelligence (certainly higher levels of intellignece). At it's simplest sentience is being able to experience sensations so one could argue a machine with a temperature sensor is sentient. Some definitions add 'subjectively' to the definition which might indicate that simply 'feeling' the temperature isn't enough - time to us is often subjective even though it's objectively measured by a clock.

Given that intelligence isn't a binary state (pun intended) but a sliding scale we already have computational ability the outstrips lower life forms and in some tasks leaves us in the shade.

[otolith]

I don't think sensing is enough for a meaningful sentience - after all, we don't consider a hydra or nematode to be sentient. It might recoil when you prick it, but did it experience pain?