I found Legal Robot's suggestion to use "will" or "may" in place of a "shall" is interesting since in my experience as an engineer dealing with statements of work, requirements documentation, and other legal documents, "shalls" are contractually enforceable and "wills" and "mays" are not. If something is written with a "shall" and not delivered that gives cause to withhold part of the contract payment; whereas, a unfulfilled "will" or "may" has impact to payment. Just an observation where AI might be getting it wrong.
8
There will be no shortage of jobs, they will just change and continue to change. Did you see the article way in the back of the paper: "Shortage of Auto Mechanics Has Dealerships Taking Action"? Here's a case where our most refined and iterated technology, the automobile, something you would think we could by now build once and last forever, is outstripping our ability to maintain it. This is an interesting omen. As an antipode for all the quasi-religious talk about the "Singularity" we have an overwhelming confluence of complexity that people are ignoring. OK, I will coin the term: "The Complexus Nexus".
2
Back in the 1980s, there was form of early A.I. based "expert systems" and human experts were required to train them to do their jobs so that the corporations employing them could be relieved of the expense of highly paid experts. The tradition carries on.
2
We are now going through a major economic disruption, as human labor is being replaced through technology and automation. Yes, in some areas, as described here, the replacement is more like assistance than elimination. But, in time, more and more and more of work will be done by machines. Machines will even manufacture and repair machines. At that time man will enter a new era - a post-capitalism era where we will be free to do what we want to do, not what we have to do. It is like being retired with enough money. Between now and then, things will get worse. Politicians and the rich are misdirecting our attention. We are told it is because of offshoring - whereas only 14% of all job losses are due to that, whereas 86% of all job losses are due to technology/automation replacing human activity. The investment class is reaping the benefits - while people compete for fewer and fewer good jobs. The costs of Education, Healthcare and Housing continue to outpace wage growth for most. Many troubles of today's society will get worse until we get a handle on managing the transition.
3
Robots or AI --should-- take over mindless robotic jobs. Case in point: real estate closings --long the bread and butter of lawyers. But I ask you lawyers, wouldn't you rather do something interesting? --something where you can use your judgement and finesse in concert with your mind and training? Certainly pushing paper is easier, safer, but that will be taken away from you, and it should.
Despite the current hype, judgement and finesse are not in danger of being synthesized. Trust me, I was a programmer. Any occupation that requires those qualities is centuries away from being automated, if ever. AI will very possibly be your tool, but not your replacement.
Despite the current hype, judgement and finesse are not in danger of being synthesized. Trust me, I was a programmer. Any occupation that requires those qualities is centuries away from being automated, if ever. AI will very possibly be your tool, but not your replacement.
2
What seems as fascinating and unique now will be cursed by humanity as the robots take over our jobs. Enjoy it while you can....
2
Judging by the photos of people working with these machines, 'robots' will surely disable most, in short time.
1
I am struck by the fear we have unleashed the ultimate pandemic. The few of us that survive will of course be very different. Will nature be restored?
1
As a legal translator, I am also relieved to read this.
Amateurs rummaging through garbage databases produce interesting, sometimes somewhat useful junk. As anyone who has used Google Translate will testify to. The false statement regarding the use of "shall" (which is anything but ambiguous in legal writing) is a perfect case in point. Just because the AI soft can't distinguish the use of shall does not mean it is ambiguous.
AI will become useful when the real premise of this article comes true: when you have thousands, millions of people being paid well to slowly meticulously describe their knowledge work actions.
So far, no one is willing to pay for this.
Amateurs rummaging through garbage databases produce interesting, sometimes somewhat useful junk. As anyone who has used Google Translate will testify to. The false statement regarding the use of "shall" (which is anything but ambiguous in legal writing) is a perfect case in point. Just because the AI soft can't distinguish the use of shall does not mean it is ambiguous.
AI will become useful when the real premise of this article comes true: when you have thousands, millions of people being paid well to slowly meticulously describe their knowledge work actions.
So far, no one is willing to pay for this.
2
As some commenters mentioned the ability (or lack there of) of AI to go interact beyond the strict rules and scenarios it has been programmed to receive shows how limited it is compared to the human mind. However, the might still not stop people from losing their job. I found the statement by Waymo's engineer interesting that "Waymo's driverless car was hitting the brake too abruptly in a way that human drivers would do if they weren't paying attention." One way to push back on companies that want to push 'good enough' as opposed to safe is to scrutinize results. For driverless cars looking at what the driverless car is not sufficient, but how other cars react to the driverless cars. That will probably turn up some more issues into how 'safe' it really is and ask ourselves of this is really the route we should go going in parallel to how it will impact the livelihoods of other people.
2
For driverless cars to work, every car on the road must be driverless. A driverless car can't read the myriad subliminal signals and signs human drivers do to predict other drivers' behavior and spot the guy who's going to cut across three lanes at the last second, or the one who's too engaged with his cheeseburger to watch the road, or the one who's yelling at her son. If you drive, these are calculations you make every day, thousands of times, so automatically you rarely even think about it. There is no way to program, quantify, or regularize them; and, tellingly, the skill draws on the exact kind of knowledge that Aspies, who supposedly predominate in the world of computers and are so hepped up on driverless cars, notably lack - the ability to read people.
Moreover, you will have to get rid of all organic entities with which the driverless car may interact - children running into the road after a foul ball or an off-the-leash puppy, wildlife, bicyclists, pedestrians.
A perfect, accident-free world, of robot passengers being driven by robot cars, all pavement and concrete, no messy, disorderly, unpredictable organic stuff.
Moreover, you will have to get rid of all organic entities with which the driverless car may interact - children running into the road after a foul ball or an off-the-leash puppy, wildlife, bicyclists, pedestrians.
A perfect, accident-free world, of robot passengers being driven by robot cars, all pavement and concrete, no messy, disorderly, unpredictable organic stuff.
2
As a lawyer who writes and negotiates contracts, and a teacher of future lawyers, I'm relieved to read this. Evidently the AI doesn't understand that "shall," "will," and "may" have distinct legal meanings when properly used. And that nonetheless, ambiguity can't always be resoved just by choosing one of the three. And most of all, just because your AI says so doesn't mean the other side is going to accept it. For the time being, it's just like my phone's software says when I select the word "lawyer": "no replacement found."
3
Who is going to buy the products and services provided by robots if they have taken all the jobs?
8
"Who is going to buy the products and services provided by robots if they have taken all the jobs?"
The rich who own the robots, of course. Income inequality on the march!
The rich who own the robots, of course. Income inequality on the march!
3
Human evolution designed bodies and brains that need (1) physical exercise for optimum health (cf countless columns in the NYT Health section), and (2) mental exercise to help ward off dementia in old age (not to mention the self-esteem that comes with performing a responsible job). The industrial revolution made physical exercise unnecessary for most of us. Paradoxically, science now tells us that prolonged sitting (IT workers etc.) is exceedingly bad for our health. To counteract this, we buy gym memberships, buy pedometers to count our 10,000 arbitrary steps a day, buy standing desks, and so on. The AI revolution is on track to do for our brains what the industrial revolution did for our bodies - i.e. make working life so easy that it's counterproductive for our long-term well-being.
7
Siri? Siri! Okay, now, master's had enough to drink tonight. Tell Google car to come pick up master and take him home.
The future's gonna be great!
The future's gonna be great!
3
So a car goes faster than a human can run, A Binocular can show you more than the eye can see.
So a robot can more accuratley find more tumors. get better hotels. Correct written language. Play go or chess better.
Well it can not live, it can not feel, It cannot have an urge, be hungry or glad.
They will never be independent thoughts from them they are maschines.
So a robot can more accuratley find more tumors. get better hotels. Correct written language. Play go or chess better.
Well it can not live, it can not feel, It cannot have an urge, be hungry or glad.
They will never be independent thoughts from them they are maschines.
Not quite yet.
2
Play oboe in a symphony orchestra.
1
Fortunately, for some of us, civilization will still need plumbers, roofers, mechanics, .... All the jobs that do not require an expensive college education.
4
But still, a good education in order to be good plumbers, roofers, mechanics, etc. Today, mechanics need to be very computer-literate, since so many cars are packed with electronics/computers. We need a better educational system that prepares kids for an increasingly highly automated and technologically sophisticated world.
3
It took me ten minutes last night to get my printer to communicate with my computer. I don't think AI is going to threaten mankind anytime soon.
3
ha ! Dont you see, it's exactly why AI has a great future and we don't
There's an old Isaac Asimov story about a society where higher-education is installed into young people when they reach adulthood. After a bit of testing, a kid might be gifted with the skills of an electrical engineer. Another might be turned into a physician. The protagonist, however, is disappointed to learn that his testing showed him unfit for this form of higher education, so he's forced to do it the old fashioned way -- by learning stuff for himself, by experience, by the real world. In the end, it turns out, that it's people like him who become the creator's of the automated skills installed into the others.
Well, it looks like it's no longer fiction.
Well, it looks like it's no longer fiction.
1
And then there's Kurt Vonnegut's 'Player Piano', which is the pre-AI version
1
A company (Google?) recently has two AI programs interacting to improve their capabilities - in the past, I think that's what we've labeled evolution.
1
Endless human reproductions is running into increasing automation ending jobs. Asimov missed the Fourth Law: Robots shall not reduce (take your pick: total/net/any=neither of the previous two choices) human employment. Engineering always outpaces sociology. Conservatives/libertarians never admit the inherent contradictions of their positions on life and death. Ayn Rand ended up on Social Security.
3
Aside from arts, entertainment and adult 'services', if it's routine it'll be done by machine. The catch is, what is routine. As computers move up the IQ scale increasingly more jobs, requiring ever more complex decision making, will be classed as routine and automated.
2
the brain houses ~ 100, 000, 000, 000 neurons, each with ~ 10, 000 connections to adjacent neurons
a computer with a million billions of connections, wired in an unfathomable way
when you get that sorted out, then we can talk seriously about ai
til then, robots will roam the surface of mars and weld car fenders
3
I'm afraid not. In the very near future we are going to see millions of people made jobless in North America alone. Robots are most certainly coming. Along with autonomous vehicles taking jobs away from just about anything that requires a driver right now.
1
Mere coincidence that Waymo engineer is named 'Faust'?
It looks increasingly like the techno fever dream of AI ascendance will soon be upon us. At first, I'm sure, we will see benefit. The holy trinity of faster, better, cheaper will reach its apotheosis.
But what then? We must keep in mind that what we define as human intelligence is an arbitrary limit, imposed by an admixture of evolutionary biology and environment.
But what of an AI that blasts through the upper echelons of even the best human minds,ever-accelerating on its trajectory to heights of cognition far beyond even our collective global intelligence?
This is not hyperbole, but must be accepted as a nearly 100% probability. Once the computing power and auto-didactic mechanisms are in place, the only variable becomes time.
Our best minds will be as puny as amoeba in comparison, and our ability to control its ascent will be like throwing spears at a thundering M1 tank.
Perhaps, it occurs to me, the biblical accounts are not of some dim history buried beneath the dust of time, but a foreshadowing of the God we are to create - the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent - and we its cowering subjects.
It looks increasingly like the techno fever dream of AI ascendance will soon be upon us. At first, I'm sure, we will see benefit. The holy trinity of faster, better, cheaper will reach its apotheosis.
But what then? We must keep in mind that what we define as human intelligence is an arbitrary limit, imposed by an admixture of evolutionary biology and environment.
But what of an AI that blasts through the upper echelons of even the best human minds,ever-accelerating on its trajectory to heights of cognition far beyond even our collective global intelligence?
This is not hyperbole, but must be accepted as a nearly 100% probability. Once the computing power and auto-didactic mechanisms are in place, the only variable becomes time.
Our best minds will be as puny as amoeba in comparison, and our ability to control its ascent will be like throwing spears at a thundering M1 tank.
Perhaps, it occurs to me, the biblical accounts are not of some dim history buried beneath the dust of time, but a foreshadowing of the God we are to create - the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent - and we its cowering subjects.
7
The opening chapter to to the Late Mitchell Heisman's Suicide Note is a long, well thought out piece on just that.
His argument is a god is simply a being built by many humans that over years becomes greater than the sum of its parts. This god is not understandable by any one human even though it was made by us. He argues that's what the Bible was, and what AI will come to be.
Great read if you're interested in this stuff.
His argument is a god is simply a being built by many humans that over years becomes greater than the sum of its parts. This god is not understandable by any one human even though it was made by us. He argues that's what the Bible was, and what AI will come to be.
Great read if you're interested in this stuff.
2
Very well put, EW. People who think that robots are not going to affect them very soon are burying their head in the sand...
3
The Truth is how machines can function in perfection to the highest calling : TO SERVE others without any past trauma as humans have that prevent perfection in serving
Thus machines can aid humans to free themselves from all the baggage past trauma has brought to the lives which is a very slow process to correct but the results with human's ability to love free from what we carry weighing us down is a sacred secret that can only be revealed through the language of miracles in which even machines can be blessed some may say besides all life on earth
Thus machines can aid humans to free themselves from all the baggage past trauma has brought to the lives which is a very slow process to correct but the results with human's ability to love free from what we carry weighing us down is a sacred secret that can only be revealed through the language of miracles in which even machines can be blessed some may say besides all life on earth
AI is as good as the algorithm being built by its programmer and each programs is a different human. Humans are very unique in that each of us has a very different way of thinking and acting based on our own past, cultures, background, education, environment, and experiences to name a few. The way we perceive, act, and behave is the result of being conscious, have empathy, have feelings, and have emotions. Bottom line: AI machines do not have ‘organic brains’ characteristic of being a human. Without understanding how our brain and mind works, it will be very hard to built a human-like machine that could replace humans.
5
It's interesting that the Legal Robot creator is not himself an attorney as his approach to what he believes would be an AI replacement (or supplement) to lawyers, coming from his biases about lawyers (which may arguably be justified based on what is reported about his experience with lawyers) but ultimately not stemming from deep experience or knowledge in the practice of law itself. That would be as if Harrison, from the first story, went out and looked at 1000 itineraries and then was deemed fit to start practicing on live clients. There are reasons attorneys used the word "shall" rather than "will" or "may" which are generally seen as potentially not compulsory enough (or definitely not compulsory enough in the case of the permissive "may") for binding contractual obligations. There are many examples of imprecise language that can be found in contracts and I'm surprised this was chosen as the best example. AI is coming for us all, but as this article notes, at least so far, there is something unique about the human experience and judgment that continues to be valuable.
Yes, lawyers will be among the last to go, although I suspect their replacement will precede that of an even older profession.
Did my junior high school English teacher err in teaching us thus?
I shall; we shall
you will; y'all/youze will
he/she/it will; they will
If I'm speaking of both the Party of the First Part and the Party of the Second Part in the third person, which word shall I use?
My poor teacher would have been incomparably richer had she gotten into the "shall" game!
Did my junior high school English teacher err in teaching us thus?
I shall; we shall
you will; y'all/youze will
he/she/it will; they will
If I'm speaking of both the Party of the First Part and the Party of the Second Part in the third person, which word shall I use?
My poor teacher would have been incomparably richer had she gotten into the "shall" game!
1
Glad to see that at least most commenters here realize what none of the robot programmers do; that in the end they will simply lose their jobs.
Mostly this article reflects my experience when I talk to people about what AI will do to their jobs. So far none of the professionals I have spoken to are expect their job to disappear. Some worry about the prediction that most people who earn their living driving vehicles will be out of a job soon but they simply do not understand that AI will climb the employment ladder ousting many from their comfortable upper income jobs.
We need serious discussion in the public media tackling the inevitable issues that will result from the mass unemployment that will result from AI deployment and unfortunately our current government’s approach of labeling all those who are unemployed, underemployed or simply struggling in a low paying and low ambition slackers job will not help.
There are about 3.5 million truck drivers, 250,000 taxi drivers and 1.3 million Uber/Lyft drivers in the US. Many of them will be out of a job in few years, lawyers, travel agents, tech support engineers and many others will soon follow.
Mostly this article reflects my experience when I talk to people about what AI will do to their jobs. So far none of the professionals I have spoken to are expect their job to disappear. Some worry about the prediction that most people who earn their living driving vehicles will be out of a job soon but they simply do not understand that AI will climb the employment ladder ousting many from their comfortable upper income jobs.
We need serious discussion in the public media tackling the inevitable issues that will result from the mass unemployment that will result from AI deployment and unfortunately our current government’s approach of labeling all those who are unemployed, underemployed or simply struggling in a low paying and low ambition slackers job will not help.
There are about 3.5 million truck drivers, 250,000 taxi drivers and 1.3 million Uber/Lyft drivers in the US. Many of them will be out of a job in few years, lawyers, travel agents, tech support engineers and many others will soon follow.
28
Right on point. It isn't only the "menial", low-income worker who is going to be replaced. And if we have businesses using robots to cut costs and increase efficiency, who is going to buy their products when countless millions have become "unemployable" and thus have no disposable income. Those same businesses will have to be taxed more and a "general living allowance" handed out to every person over the age of 18. It could be the best of times or the end of times fast approaching, but for certain change is coming.
The problem isn't that robots will do all the work. The problem is that a tiny minority of people will own all the robots. We're sliding back into an ugly feudal world. This isn't a problem of artificial intelligence. It's one of natural greed.
1
Several of the people interviewed here believe that they will not be replaced by automation. The issue is, they don't know the capabilities of this software, and also, that improvements in CPU/memory performance are enabling significant increases in this capability.
The software won't replace everyone. It will be utilized to reduce the number of people required to do the job. An increasingly smaller number of people will be required, to deal with difficult, boundary conditions, the number of which, will decrease over time.
The software won't replace everyone. It will be utilized to reduce the number of people required to do the job. An increasingly smaller number of people will be required, to deal with difficult, boundary conditions, the number of which, will decrease over time.
18
I understand teh Skynet fears regarding AI, but what would AI want with what we have? Machines won't need human slaves for labor. Nor will they (I doubt) want land, wealth, material possessions, or comfort women. We fear they they will desire to conquer and enslave us, or exterminate us due to contempt for our flawed humanity. I just don't see any motive for enslavement or extermination. Presumably, if AI became fully autonomous and detached from humanity, it would engineer microbots about the size of a molecule and they could all populate one city block as if it were a large planet.
Historically, humans have attacked and subjugated other humans for slave labor, land, and evangelism. Would AI have any of these motives?
I can't see how AI would become malign.
Historically, humans have attacked and subjugated other humans for slave labor, land, and evangelism. Would AI have any of these motives?
I can't see how AI would become malign.
You're subscribing to the common sci-fi meme of robot AI acquiring consciousness and becoming a rival species which would then pursue a Darwinian agenda. superseding and eliminating us. That, however, is not the problem.
True, the robots have no needs - for the products they make. As the London Review of Books observed at the end of a long article describing the Cadbury company's move, first to outsourced cheap labour, then to automation: Robots don't eat chocolate.
Especially since we as a species almost universally resist any compulsory limits on our right to produce offspring, we face a future of heaped-up fast and cheap material goods, a handful of employed or endowed humans with the wherewithal to buy them, and an enormous underclass of impoverished humanity rendered superfluous by the machines. Similar scenarios of imbalance have never ended well in the past, and I do not think that will end well in the all too near future.
It's not artificial intelligence of robots that is the problem; it's the stupidity, greed, and short-sightedness of humans.
True, the robots have no needs - for the products they make. As the London Review of Books observed at the end of a long article describing the Cadbury company's move, first to outsourced cheap labour, then to automation: Robots don't eat chocolate.
Especially since we as a species almost universally resist any compulsory limits on our right to produce offspring, we face a future of heaped-up fast and cheap material goods, a handful of employed or endowed humans with the wherewithal to buy them, and an enormous underclass of impoverished humanity rendered superfluous by the machines. Similar scenarios of imbalance have never ended well in the past, and I do not think that will end well in the all too near future.
It's not artificial intelligence of robots that is the problem; it's the stupidity, greed, and short-sightedness of humans.
19
About ten years ago, people in IT saw something very similar to this. There was an effort in many big corporate businesses to replace "on shore" employees with "off shore" contractors. Corporation plans was to significantly reduce expenses by replacing "on shore" workers paid US salaries with "off shore" contractors paid significantly less. So you, as on "on shore" employee were told that you MUST train your off shore counterparts. In some companies, managers actually put placards outside your cube wall with your "target" date--the date you would were expected to have fully trained your "off shore" counterparts (and the "off shore" cube occupier would soon be laid off). It was very bizarre. The threat from the corporation: "If you don't adequately train your off shore counterparts within the timeframe outlined, your severance package will be reduced to 0 and you will still be fired." So, "on shore" workers did their level best to train their replacements because, if they didn't, they would get no severance package. And here we go again!
21
Intelligent automation is being driven by corporations. Corporations have only one goal - to make as much money as possible. They are not people nor do they care about the needs of people.
We need to have a serious conversation about what AI and automation and how we will use it for the benefit of humanity, not the bottom line.
We need to have a serious conversation about what AI and automation and how we will use it for the benefit of humanity, not the bottom line.
25
The software system I work on is so complex that no human in the company knows "how it works". Only their peace of it. We use AI to analyze bug reports to find areas that need to be fixed, and determine how bugs are related to each other (root cause analysis).
A single "system" span's hundreds of servers, and learning how to "tune it" is a big issue. We can never build (afford) a large enough test cluster, so we rely on AI installed at customer systems to provide recommendations.
A single "system" span's hundreds of servers, and learning how to "tune it" is a big issue. We can never build (afford) a large enough test cluster, so we rely on AI installed at customer systems to provide recommendations.
8
The internet itself could be looked at as a giant robot with a zillion tentacles that has been deployed to replace the role of humans at work (jobs) wherever possible to do so. This trend of replacement will continue to accelerate.
The question we may want to ask is this:
Do we work for that robot? Or, does that robot work for us?
The question we may want to ask is this:
Do we work for that robot? Or, does that robot work for us?
1
Are we adopting A.I. merely to maximize cost savings and efficiency? If so, our jobs are doomed. If, on the other hand, we are adopting A.I., machine learning and robotics to AUGMENT human intelligence, to maximize human learning and well-being, then we have much better odds of improving the quality of our lives. We humans are the ones with this choice, not the machines.
Machine learning has already reached a level that makes it superior to humans at performing most (if not all) routine, regimented and repetitive tasks -- which in fact make up the vast majority of what we human get paid to do as "work" in today's economy. Watson is already scanning hundreds of millions of MRI's and making diagnoses of tumors more accurately than a team of doctors over their entire lifespans.
Machine learning has already reached a level that makes it superior to humans at performing most (if not all) routine, regimented and repetitive tasks -- which in fact make up the vast majority of what we human get paid to do as "work" in today's economy. Watson is already scanning hundreds of millions of MRI's and making diagnoses of tumors more accurately than a team of doctors over their entire lifespans.
6
"Before the machine become smart enough to replace humans, as some people fear, they need to be taught."
It's already been happening for years, indeed decades, in certain economic sectors. It's happening as I write this. It will continue, and will likely accelerate, in the future.
Do we really need to do this? Do we really need to throw away so many people? Do we really expect that the people who will suffer because of this will just smile and take it in silence for long? Why are we doing this to ourselves?
It's already been happening for years, indeed decades, in certain economic sectors. It's happening as I write this. It will continue, and will likely accelerate, in the future.
Do we really need to do this? Do we really need to throw away so many people? Do we really expect that the people who will suffer because of this will just smile and take it in silence for long? Why are we doing this to ourselves?
12
Ah, Oppenheimer. All promise but the world got Nagasaki.
People are incapable of putting greed aside, of stopping the so-called progress long enough to ask ethical, critical questions about long-term impact. Or they argue, better them to develop it than the next unknown person/company. What fundamental stupidity leads us to develop what harms? Can an increase in AI/robots really end well? Yet we pursue them and even try to justify our obsession with human-interest stories that feature our perplexities. Likewise, we use, what, some "safe" browser to reply here? But beneath us is the larger, deeper web and we pretend the consequences of that development don't matter. I fully expect to be arrested some day for taking a sling shot to a hovering drone or for smashing an AI that tells me how to drive or cook. But yikes -- what about when it tells me how to teach?!
How much artificial life do you need? What's so scary about the natural world?
People are incapable of putting greed aside, of stopping the so-called progress long enough to ask ethical, critical questions about long-term impact. Or they argue, better them to develop it than the next unknown person/company. What fundamental stupidity leads us to develop what harms? Can an increase in AI/robots really end well? Yet we pursue them and even try to justify our obsession with human-interest stories that feature our perplexities. Likewise, we use, what, some "safe" browser to reply here? But beneath us is the larger, deeper web and we pretend the consequences of that development don't matter. I fully expect to be arrested some day for taking a sling shot to a hovering drone or for smashing an AI that tells me how to drive or cook. But yikes -- what about when it tells me how to teach?!
How much artificial life do you need? What's so scary about the natural world?
10
Don't worry, we can all get our own reality show like the Kardashians
7
We definitely need to destroy more unions!
1
Its like sharpening the blades on the machine that will eventually kill you, but your greedy enough to take the short term money, even if your selling out the souls of the future. Millennials don't believe in god so when the lifeless eyes of an attack drone are the last they see, it will be a befitting conclusion to mankind. Oh and don't even think for a second we can control AI, it will eventually turn on us. Just read Musk is building an army of AI attack robots...sounds promising! Mankind kind of sucks anyway...AI will eventually see through the safety controls and realize, we are the liability!
5
hopefully more people will be training machines to do their jobs in the future. This will undoubtedly lead to higher productivity and GDP growth. May it happen as soon as possible.
2
As one of the few interaction designers out there (now at Wade & Wendy), I appreciate this article. I relate to Diane’s thrill in helping someone feel so understood that they mistake the interaction for a human one. When that happens, people can feel at ease enough to let the AI help. Imagining a world where tough conversations could be made simpler inspires our team to aim for delightful details aka "magic" moments. Always interested in hearing about other approaches to interaction design: @tali_kuhel
In George Orwell's 'Animal Farm', when Boxer the draught horse collapses in the harness, the ruling pigs call a wagon to take him to what they have promised will be a beautiful retirement meadow. (Much like the original promise that automation wouldn't make humans obsolete, but rather would free us for leisure and enriching pursuits.) As the wagon pulls away, one animal realises the wagon is actually taking Boxer to the slaughterhouse.
'Comrades, comrades!' the animals cry out to the horses drawing the wagon. 'Don't take your own brother to his death!'
But the horses dully plod on. They are, after all, only horses; they can't read the writing on the wagon wall, and even if they could, it is not their turn, yet. That's their excuse.
These five offer rationalisations that there are aspects of their job they can do better than a robot. They are kidding themselves. Low price will trump quality service, and as consumers settle for 'good enough', the added value they claim to offer will not be seen as worth their salaries.
Plod on, horses, plod on.
'Comrades, comrades!' the animals cry out to the horses drawing the wagon. 'Don't take your own brother to his death!'
But the horses dully plod on. They are, after all, only horses; they can't read the writing on the wagon wall, and even if they could, it is not their turn, yet. That's their excuse.
These five offer rationalisations that there are aspects of their job they can do better than a robot. They are kidding themselves. Low price will trump quality service, and as consumers settle for 'good enough', the added value they claim to offer will not be seen as worth their salaries.
Plod on, horses, plod on.
36
Fact is, Harrison, Alexa, Siri etc. are all here illegally. But because they're white, they not only get to stay, but get featured on the NYT on how smart they are. The proper thing to do would be to deport them summarily and have them apply for H1 visas like everyone else. And since none of them have college degrees, they gotta pay more, like say $10 grand per user assisted. Alternatively, we could deport them to Canada, but first they gotta learn how to smoke pot...
To be rebooted.
To be rebooted.
6
Humans are making a tragic mistake by incorporating all things technology into their lives. It's as if, they know they are debt enslaved robots so why not just give up and become a real robot. Let's face it, people are already droned out and "tapping and swiping" with necks bent down and in a trance. Unfortunately, they just don't see what this means for the future.
12
Your jaunty insouciance concerning “machines becoming smart enough to replace humans” is sad. The hoped-for “singularity” when Artificial Intelligence rules us, is a Bay Area utopian dream, but for many others, this writer included, it is the last rung in the ninth circle of a hell of our own devising.
The rush to implement almost any advanced technology as soon as it is available, on the basis that it is available, is infantile. We recognize the folly in permitting bacterial and poison gas warfare, but fail to see the extreme peril of autonomous military robots and artificial intelligence (AI) generally; the autonomy of which may signal the end of humanity.
Intelligence is not wisdom. This axiom is proved every time we see a scientist or a politician advocate for technology predicted on the fact that it is ready for use. This is the logic of a 3-year-old: there’s a gun, a knife, a bottle of poison within reach — pick it up and use it.
God help us if humans don’t build a “kill switch” into every robot and AI software.
The rush to implement almost any advanced technology as soon as it is available, on the basis that it is available, is infantile. We recognize the folly in permitting bacterial and poison gas warfare, but fail to see the extreme peril of autonomous military robots and artificial intelligence (AI) generally; the autonomy of which may signal the end of humanity.
Intelligence is not wisdom. This axiom is proved every time we see a scientist or a politician advocate for technology predicted on the fact that it is ready for use. This is the logic of a 3-year-old: there’s a gun, a knife, a bottle of poison within reach — pick it up and use it.
God help us if humans don’t build a “kill switch” into every robot and AI software.
33
Moreover, machine 'intelligence' is not only not wisdom, it is not even intelligence. It lacks intuitive insight and the ability to make counter-intuitive connexions. When IBM's Watson appeared on Jeopardy!, it did great on questions that required only high-speed data crunching; but it couldn't fathom a pun to save its unlife.
Fantasies like achieving 'immortaliity' by downloading one's entire neural programming into a computer show just how impoverished the Silicon Valley technocratic idea of the human 'self' is. You are more than just your data. (Large amounts of your brain are devoted to processing sensory experience, including the experience of being in a body. Reasonable to think a 'brain in a vat' thrust into this solitary confinement would actually go mad, as in Harlan Ellison's terrifying short story 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream'.)
Fantasies like achieving 'immortaliity' by downloading one's entire neural programming into a computer show just how impoverished the Silicon Valley technocratic idea of the human 'self' is. You are more than just your data. (Large amounts of your brain are devoted to processing sensory experience, including the experience of being in a body. Reasonable to think a 'brain in a vat' thrust into this solitary confinement would actually go mad, as in Harlan Ellison's terrifying short story 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream'.)
11
There is a "kill switch". It's called the Eastern Gray Squirrel which regularly wreaks more havoc on our electrical grid than any Russian or North Korean hackers combined could ever hope to achieve.
And, of course, those artificial intelligent beings will probably be shocked and disappointed at the failure rate of the second-rate computer chips that they are hoping to occupy indefinitely.
Not worried at all.
And, of course, those artificial intelligent beings will probably be shocked and disappointed at the failure rate of the second-rate computer chips that they are hoping to occupy indefinitely.
Not worried at all.
Remember Hal? How long before the new Hal learns how to prevent you from pulling his modules?
This reminds me of a poem "The Puppet Dream" by the poet Ross E. Lot. One staza
With boundless A.I. money
Its power shines into the mind
This God begat soon we find?
With boundless A.I. money
Its power shines into the mind
This God begat soon we find?
Book title: Flowering Dreams in the Desert Myths
Missing is how this A.I robots will defend themselves against hackers.
It's a rule in IT: for every command to go up, there is an opposite one to take it down. A savvy and smart programmer can hit the same robot and have it destroy itself.
Easy.
It's a rule in IT: for every command to go up, there is an opposite one to take it down. A savvy and smart programmer can hit the same robot and have it destroy itself.
Easy.
5
Fast forward less than 10 years, and those desktops replaced most of the people - all but 10-20 of them - and all of the secretarial support. The programmers who maintained the accounting systems were gone, too, since the internet allowed the company to consolidate in another location. PCs eliminated 90% of the support jobs. That allowed them to mothball buildings, and facilities people were cut too.
AI will eat those jobs. It won't matter if the AI is terrible - does it stop automated resume readers or automated customer service lines?
Finally unemployment will negate the need for the AI. Who needs a computer to help book a trip, when no one can afford to travel - closing down hotels and killing travel jobs, making automated humans even less useful.
There is a point when it becomes a death spiral.