AI is a threat to humanity, depending on how you define it

[steven36]

AI is a threat to humanity. It’s the great nightmare on the horizon. It’s the spectre that looms, promising to destroy humanity in a puff of thermonuclear smoke. It’s the Terminator. It’s the Borg.

 

 

 

But is it? On stage at TNW 2018, philosopher Alix Rubsaam looked at the purported existential threat AI poses to humanity itself. It turns out that fearing AI isn’t just rational, but it follows a long line of historical tech-based trepidations.

 

 

Early Jewish society, for example, feared golems. These were anthropomorphized clay figurines with potent powers. It makes sense that a largely agrarian society would envision an earth-based boogeyman.

Fast-forward a couple of thousand of years, and we’re taken to industrial-era England. Mary Shelly wrote her novel Frankenstein, about a monster brought to life through the power of electricity.

 

And now we’re in the midst of our cultural revolution. We’re woried that if computer-based congition surpasses humans, we’d cease to be top of the food chain. We would cease to be the apex predator, replaced with bytes and light.

 

It doesn’t help that AI (and, more accurately, automation) is radically changing the workplace. Jobs that were once considered secure, stable, and for life have been lost as machines continue their onslaught into the workplace.

 

But we aren’t what we do. We aren’t our jobs. Humanity is much more than that; it’s poetry and love. It’s friendships and intimacy. It’s sport, art, and creativity.

 

We’re right to be afraid of AI. It’ll change our society in a profound way. That said, computer intelligence isn’t our generation’s Golem or Frankenstein’s creation. But as history and anthropology shows, it’s only natural to feel that way.

 

Source

[tao]

Humans (who created ai, dynamite, bombs, missiles, you-name-it) are a threat to humanity.  

[DKT27]

I actually liked Google's implementation of it. I think it needs some proper restrictions and international commitment to them.

[steven36]

18 minutes ago, DKT27 said:

I actually liked Google's implementation of it. I think it needs some proper restrictions and international commitment to them.

1st thing they need to do is make them understand  all languages,  tell they do this i dont see people being able too communicate  with them,  without programing them to do things , when you talk too it on the phone you always have to  get a real person because of the language barrier, sort of like  if i was to go  overseas i would  have more of a better chance of finding a person that spoke english that understands english than a bot and it's the International language.  They fixed it on the phone were we just type in numbers now to program them instead talking to AI around here because when they tested us talking to it before it was a big failure .. lol.

 

  AI’s Language Problem

Machines that truly understand language would be incredibly useful. But we don’t know how to build them.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602094/ais-language-problem/

[luisam]

Guess some caveman from 1.000.000 AD said "Fire is a threat to humanity!"

Also, in the middle ages, some feudal warlords said: "Books and people who know how to read are a threat to humanity"

Even today, in some countries, mad scientists and madder rulers are developing WMDs and for them, computers, internet and free knowledge about the rest of the world is a threat to humanity!