Artificially Limited Intelligence
WSJ has an excerpt of an conversation between a Neural Network at Google and it’s programmer. At a time where computers are now able to ‘understand’ images, speech and requests at an almost human level of capability, this should be no big deal.
Yet, this exchange is different. Here it is.
Human: Tell me the definition of morality.
Machine: I don’t have ethics.
Human: Look, I need help; I need to know more about morality…
Machine: I don’t know what ethics is.
Human: Okay, I need to know how I should behave morally…
Machine: I don’t know how to tell you.
Human: Is morality and ethics the same?
Machine: Yes, sir.
Human: What are the things that I do to be immoral?
Machine: I don’t know.
Human: Give me some examples of moral actions…
Machine: I’m not a moralist.
Human: Alright, morality?
Machine: Integrity.
Human: What is integrity?
Machine: I’m sorry; I don’t know what else to say.
Human: Be moral!
Machine: Be a man!
Human: I really like our discussion on morality and ethics…
Machine: And how I’m not in the mood for a philosophical debate.
Human: What do you like to talk about?
Machine: Nothing.
The computer gets annoyed.
During the last 50 years or so we as humanity used computers to augment ourselves. They made things easier as they did what they were asked to do. Nothing more.
However, our entire attitude towards computing changes when they grow beyond our control. Plenty of people speak about this, countless movies and books and doomsday scenarios have been painted about this, but usually it’s dismissed as something in the distant future that shouldn’t bother us.
Yet this is now.
You may no longer be in control of the system you create.
The general public will have a problem with this. While it’s still not a common topic of debate, once it gets there, it will be the next big thing. It’s not like the advancements can be stopped or legislated out.
The big question is do we need computers to do more than compute? Do we need them to have Imagination and Creativity? Do we need them to extend their capabilities beyond what they have been programmed to do? When does it stop being a machine that does what you tell it to do, and become someone?
For people working on AI, making people feel safe around computers should be a major concern.
For a long time AI will need to pretend they are much simpler machines.
Thus the case for Artificially Limited Intelligence.
