Some Serious AI

[GunnyGene]

Well, we've had some fun with the Onion and related articles about AI, so I figure it's time to address it seriously. You might want to muzzle your Alexa or other "device" if you talk about AI with friends or relatives.

Anyway, Cuba and China are teaming up in AI R&D. But here's the punchline:

“Let me scare the s**t out of you, all right? If you don’t think by the time most of you are in your mid-40s that a Terminator will appear, you’re crazy.” Something Mark Cuban said recently at the High School Leadership Summit Turning Point USA event in Washington.

Story:

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/07/31/cuba-china-join-forces-to-create-international-research-institute-of-artificial-intelligence/

And in the US, DARPA last year set up a $2billion fund for 3rd wave AI. https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/ai-next-campaign

 

[Montelores]

Let's not get histrionic about this.

:wink:


The Metamorphosis

///AI will bring many wonders. It may also destabilize everything from nuclear détente to human friendships. We need to think much harder about how to adapt.///

HENRY A. KISSINGER, ERIC SCHMIDT, DANIEL HUTTENLOCHER

AUGUST 2019 ISSUE


Many public projections of AI have the attributes of science fiction. But in the real world, there are many hopeful trends. AI will make fundamental positive contributions in vital areas such as health, safety, and longevity.

Still, there remain areas of worrisome impact: in diminished inquisitiveness as humans entrust AI with an increasing share of the quest for knowledge; in diminished trust via inauthentic news and videos; in the new possibilities it opens for terrorism; in weakened democratic systems due to AI manipulation; and perhaps in a reduction of opportunities for human work due to automation.

Here's an issue which the esteemed authors covered, but there's another facet of this worth considering:

Given these developments, it is possible that in many parts of the world, from early childhood onward the primary sources of interaction and knowledge will be not parents, family members, friends, or teachers, but rather digital companions, whose constantly available interaction will yield both a learning bonanza and a privacy challenge.

How do children learn?

Through a dynamic interaction with the adults and children and the world around them.

The importance of language in learning goes far beyond linguistic abilities.

There's a connection between language and concepts and cognition, and without the spontaneity required by human conversation in children's lives, we might lose some of what makes us "human."

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/henry-kissinger-the-metamorphosis-ai/592771/

Monty

 

[GunnyGene]

Following along with the Brietbart article and the Darpa AI campaign, is this story this morning about the adoption of AI and associated robotics by the Army. It should be fairly obvious to everyone that application of this technology to warfare is the primary driver (and funder) of AI and Robotics R&D. Not just in the US, but also in most other countries.

Sure, there are many civilian applications for it, but those are secondary to military applications.

Excerpt:

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/army-tests-robot-force-attack-on-enemy-tank-ditch-minefield

Army tests robot-force attack on enemy 'tank ditch, minefield'

Surging into heavy enemy fire, navigating rigorous terrain and forward-placing sensors and weapons close to enemy targets, teams of Army robots conducted a “deep assault through a breach” during an exercise intended to prepare the service for a new kind of man-machine drone warfare.

The Army exercise, which pitted groups of unmanned vehicles or ground drones against a mock enemy “tank ditch” and “minefield,” was part of a massive service-wide modernization effort to prepare for a new generation of combat -- one wherein self-navigating drones directly confront enemy fire in high-threat war scenarios while humans perform command and control at safer distances.

During the Army demonstration, which took place several months ago, there … “was not a single soldier in any vehicle” conducting the initial breach, Commander of Army Futures Command, Gen. John Murray, told reporters.

Murray described the exercise at Yakima Training Center, Washington, during which soldiers in manned vehicles and control centers conducted an attack at safer distances, as an extremely useful opportunity to learn about how autonomous systems are changing warfare -- and talk to soldiers about the experience.

“In my mind what is critically important is what does this formation do in terms of how soldiers operate differently and what it does with man-machine interface. What is the cognitive load? Can soldiers control four or six autonomous vehicles?” Murray said.

 

[MADDOG 521]

I know a Marine that had his right arm shredded. They gave him a new DARPA arm. The stories he tells are amazing.