We’re not building Skynet; We’re building The Matrix.
Whoever thought it would be a good idea to release Artificial Intelligence to the masses without incorporating the three laws of robotics, needs to be held accountable. Did none of these people read any Isaac Asimov? Or Arthur C. Clarke? Or William Gibson? Of course, the 3 laws sound useful and necessary but were really just a literary device that Asimov repeatedly demonstrated as fallible. Still, libraries are stacked full of cautionary tales to prevent exactly what is happening right now, and yet here we are. Even ELO (Electric Light Orchestra, for the musically uneducated) wrote about their future fears back in 1981.
I met someone who looks a lot like you
She does the things you do
But she is an IBMShe’s only programmed to be very nice
But she’s as cold as ice whenever I get too near
She tells me that she likes me very much
But when I try to touch, she makes it all too clearShe is the latest in technology, almost mythology
But she has a heart of stone
She has an IQ of 1001, she has a jumpsuit on
And she’s also a telephone
~ Yours Truly, 2095 – ELO, Time (1981)
The number of IoT (Internet of Things) devices is expected to be nearly 19 BILLION devices by the end of 2024. The geek in me wants to celebrate this as an awesome tech achievement, but then I realize that many of these are produced by companies that dont care that much about security. In some cases, these devices were sold by companies that have since failed and have lost control over thier infrastructure. Very few of those devices use any AI today, but that is sure to change in the near future. Do we want to have a discussion about what happens when 19 million AI-driven fridges, toasters, and vacuum cleaners start sharing information?
Some of the fear around empowering AI has been focused on the “Terminator” scenario. That is – we make machines smart enough that they realize WE are the problem and then they formulate a plan to eliminate us. Plenty of people want to encourage us that people are not dumb enough to let that happen, but I’ve been around enough to know money and power can make people do really dumb things. I believe that if a government wanted to win a war bad enough, it would not hesitate to put autonomous AI driven weapons into a military theatre. That is really not far off from what is already happening today. iRobot was building military robots as long ago as 2016, before they sold the whole division to Arlington Capital, which renamed it Endeavor Robotics, then sold it all to Flir. Now, Teledyne Flir is actively developing very sophisticated military robots for gound and air that can operate completely autonomously. Adding AI for battlefield deciscion making seems almost trivial at this point.
But having said all that, I beleive the threat is actually much more subtle and sinister. Recent developments in virtual reality, realistic physics engines, and social engineering technology lead me to believe that the next big thing in AI is the creation of very realistic virtual worlds that we can escape to on a regular basis. Our money and social lives and probably even work will become entangled in this virual landscape that will become so ubiquitous that leaving it would be unreasonable. The more we engage, the more the AI learns and the more we stay “plugged in”. The corporations who manage the AI milk us for ideas, emotional feedback and cash.
We’re not building Skynet; We’re building The Matrix.
If you enjoyed this read, it would be great if you could please
~Tom
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