In Another Break From The Usual Programming... As A Retired Machine Learning Scientist, I Wanted To Share
In another break from the usual programming... As a retired machine learning scientist, I wanted to share a few thoughts about future AI developments, since there's a lot of vague concern right now. Here are what I see to be the main issues.
AI is derivative. It's good at copying but a) lacks all originality (other than that occasional fluke maybe) and b) lacks human values, imparting a certain chill.
It may for example get good at producing pulp fiction, and you may mindlessly consume it in large quantities one day, but it won't make you feel good. We won't see ourselves deeply reflected in this content. It won't encourage intelligence and sensitivity.
We've seen already that industry will try to use it to replace decision workers, such as in filtering hate speech from your social media, or rating your job application, but that it will show no interest in edge cases, feeding into a society that's as derivative and hostile to difference as it is itself. We may start to develop weird mannerisms to get past these flawed gatekeepers. There may be pointless bubbles, e.g. if the AI randomly likes certain postcodes so house prices rise there.
It will get better and better at not making mistakes, such as driving your car off the road, but will never really understand that hitting a child is worse than hitting the central reservation. It may even get better at protecting life that you, as a driver, already are, but it won't generalise human values to novel situations. It may well be a greater danger to the life of non-European children. It will be safer if you don't have anything very unusual near the road, or change anything.
AI will become a major race issue at some point.
On the plus side, one day your cataract operation, for example, will be done perfectly virtually every time, and cheaper. I do think we'll be safer, and faster, on the road. We will extend uniformity of outcome into more complex, resistant areas. Safety is a domain where the target outcome is clear, and AI is ultimately suited. There will likely be inroads into much more complex manufacturing and automation. There will be job loss.
There is vast potential for flooding the internet with misleading content. Spam on steroids. Good content will be drowned. It might kill the internet as we know it. This is the decline of a golden age of trying to say something helpful on the internet, and one or two people possibly reading it. The internet is about to become a terrific weed patch.
People are making a valid living producing fairly derivative creative output, for example much high street fashion design, or domestic architecture, and there's nothing wrong with that. AI could move into that space. This kind of "everyday art" will get a little bit cheaper and a little bit less human, and that will be sad.
Companies will certainly try to sell you an AI of various kinds, but here it helps to remember that the word "intelligence" is part of the hype. It will be cleverly presented to keep you entertained. It will be good for some things and bad for others, like previous software, whilst even easier to anthropomorphise. Have fun, if you're into it.
Key points:
AI as gatekeeper - BAD
AI as creator - SAD
AI as surgeon, driver or skilled line worker - take it slow and build trust, with a close eye on outcomes for minorities
AI as friend and entertainer - relatively harmless?
In summary, I think my main concern is that AI is going to be hostile to difference.
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pearlescenttear liked this · 1 year ago
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