Artificial Intelligence and Psychology

Artificial intelligence is quickly invading our world. AI, as it is commonly referred to, is intelligence that is demonstrated by machines and that mimics the cognitive functions that we often associate with the human mind. It was first explored in the 1950’s, birthed out of a workshop at Dartmouth College, the next decade was unproductive, leading the U.S. government to cut funding in order to fund “more productive projects”. This cut let to what was called the AI winter, a period of almost a decade in which AI research was untouched. Following this “winter”, AI was revived in the 1980’s and by the late 1990’s AI began to be used for logistics, data mining, medical diagnosis and other areas because of increasing computational power, new ties between AI and other fields and a commitment by researchers to mathematical methods and scientific standards. Today we have seen an increase in artificial intelligence in other aspects of our environment. Almost all of what we see in artificial intelligence today is focused on machine learning. Machine learning is the input of new data to increase the knowledge base of the machine system. This is done in many ways, mainly using intricate and extensive algorithms.

Artificial intelligence is a very general term, it’s often used to refer to concepts that are intangible and hard to “see”. There is a reason for this. Artificial intelligence is “whatever hasn’t been done”. As machines become increasingly capable, more tasks that are considered to require intelligence are removed from the definition, this is known as the AI effect.

Artificial intelligence is sometimes sorted into two categories; weak AI and strong AI.

Weak artificial intelligence is an artificial intelligence system that is specialized in one very specific area or made to perform one or two very specific tasks. This is the kind of intelligence that we are all familiar with, because most of us have it right at our fingertips. Iphone’s virtual personal assistant, “siri”, is an example of weak artificial intelligence because while siri can learn new things about you, your needs and behaviors, it’s function doesn’t go beyond that. So don’t worry, your Siri isn’t going to develop its own personality and start defying you, well not in the near future anyway.

Strong artificial intelligence is indicated by a general base of knowledge and one that, like the human brain, is flexible and adaptable. This kind of machine intelligence would be able to use it’s wealth of knowledge to adapt to new or unfamiliar situations, much like the human brain.

Arend Hintze, a professor at Michigan State University classified this type of artificial intelligence into four categories:

• Type 1: Reactive machines: These systems have the ability to react to unexpected situations. It can identify it’s environment and make predictions but it has no “memory”, meaning it cannot draw on past experiences to inform future knowledge. This system is only able to react to its environment
• Type 2: Limited memory. These AI systems can use past experiences to inform future decisions. Observations are used to inform actions happening in the not-so-distant future, though these observations are not stored permanently.
• Type 3: Theory of mind: This kind of system would be able to recognize that others have their own beliefs, desires, and intentions that impact the decisions that they make. This kind of artificial intelligence doesn’t exist yet.
• Type 4: Self-awareness. This kind of AI system would have a sense of self and a sense of consciousness. Machines with self-awareness understand their current state and can use the information to infer what others are feeling. This type of AI also does not yet exist.

These types or stages of artificial intelligence identify what we see now but also the goals for artificial intelligence. Currently, we are starting to see machines that can be classified as type two come into the light. This “type” would include some systems of autonomous vehicles. It is clear to see that the people at the forefront have big aspirations for what artificial intelligence could be.

Intelligence as an Innovation

People in the tech industry talk about artificial intelligence, as we know it today, as the next big innovation for our society, but is it? Because intelligence is such a broad term, it’s hard to know what parts of it will become the next big thing. For example, we’re seeing a boom in trends that have artificial intelligence at their core, like autonomous vehicles, in-home personal assistants, ect. None of those however, are large enough or influential enough to stand alone as the next big innovation. The thing that will make artificial intelligence an innovation will be its integration into the everyday technology that we already use today. Almost anything that we do could have intelligence integrated into it, which would change the world around us.

This creates a huge market for artificial intelligence. As conglomerates explore the different ways of implementing it into their products, the artificial intelligence market will grow. As companies continue to propel this trend forward, they will begin to figure out how to integrate intelligence in a way that sustains the brand that they have built. While each company will have its own way of doing this, but each company will have to adapt to the new c-scape that AI makes. In the terms of Larry Kramer, it will be imperative that companies focus on the four C’s, consumers, content, curation, and convergence. In my opinion, “consumer” is the most important of these, it will be increasingly important for any company exploring AI to keep their intent focus on the consumer above everything else. This then leads to the other three C’s, these companies will have to figure out the content, or in the case of AI, the tasks it will perform. They will then have to figure out how to present it to the consumer and how it will change the landscape of their technology and its uses, curation and convergence.

However the companies decide to do it, it does seem as though artificial intelligence can continue to grow. Based on some of the supertrends outlined by Edward Cornish in his book; Futuring, it seems that artificial intelligence plays into a few of the trends that drive our current society and dictate our future. One of the supertrends outlined is technological progress, which essentially is what artificial intelligence is based on. Artificial intelligence needs technological progress to evolve but also provides a pathway to habilitate progress. The second supertrend that promotes artificial intelligence is economic growth, as opportunity arises to integrate artificial intelligence into society, this will create opportunity for immense economic growth.

As long has private companies continue to push the boundaries of what AI is capable of, it is inevitable that the government will get involved, setting regulatory rules. Artificial intelligence is mainly reliant on big data to extract meaning from analytics and numbers, but how that big data is collected could be disrupted by government regulation in order to protect citizen privacy.

Psychology and Intelligence

It is clear that those working with artificial intelligence have big plans for the future, our future, but I’d like to examine just how this could affect the future of our society. Inevitably there will be forces that block the expansion of artificial intelligence, those forces could be economic, technological, ethical, ect., but in my opinion the biggest blocking force to the expansion of artificial intelligence will be human emotion and psychology.

Intelligence is a multi-faceted concept, in which a lot of things are intertwined. There are tons of different kinds of intelligence to be measured. Just a few of them include: naturalist intelligence, musical intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, existential intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, linguistic intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, and spatial intelligence.

These types of intelligence refer to humans and the human experience. We think of humans as being the only beings to possess all of these types of intelligence, but what would happen if that changed?

Machine learning has scratched the surface on many of these types of intelligence. In the case of Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, it’s possible that machines have already surpassed us. They have also touched linguistic intelligence, musical intelligence, and in some cases, like in autonomous vehicles, spatial and kinesthetic intelligence. Some might even argue that artificial intelligence has also acquired naturalist intelligence because it is able to distinguish between people. So then the question to be asked is; where’s the line between human and machine? The answer seems somewhat obvious, humans have emotional intelligence and machines don’t. Humans have the ability to connect with each other, have self-awareness, and are able to think deeply about life.

What would happen though, if machines developed aspects of emotional intelligence. If a machine develops the ability to connect with humans, become self-aware or think deeply about life, how will this affect humans? This all may sound like the plot of a science-fiction novel, though the work of Arend Hintze proves that this is ultimately the end goal for artificial intelligence, at least through his eyes. It’s safe to assume that even the biggest technology optimists may feel unnerved by the thought of machines achieving that level of intelligence, and the rest of us are left absolutely terrified by the mere thought of it. It’s that feeling, the uncomfortableness, that will ultimately be the biggest blocking force to artificial intelligence. Once AI surpasses that milestone, companies will be left to guide their consumers through the landscape of uncertainty that is going to follow. They will have to figure out how to ease the very real anxiety of the customers that they are trying to keep.

A Look into the Future

Machines have taken over, human civilization is left in ruins… just kidding. Though to some, that’s what it feels like. Artificial intelligence has grown immensely since 2017, when the rest of this paper was written, and it now encompasses many aspects of human life. Smart homes, autonomous vehicles, virtual personal assistants, smart pets and even personal robots have become popular, and more human needs are met than ever before. Machines, thorough artificial intelligence, now have a sense of self and has learned how to connect with not only humans but other machines. This has left many people feeling uneasy, the thought of connecting with a machine is outside any schema they have created, and therefore they are having a lot of trouble adjusting to the changing world and the threat of competing with machines for jobs. These people, while cautious, are not completely against the new technology trends because they have seen how much better life can be with artificial intelligence integrated into it. The prevalence of artificial intelligence has manifested itself mainly in the area of digital personal assistants, the new technology that now knows you better than you know yourself, which now serves as a tiny life coach to the people who use it.

As a company that has invested itself in this trend, you want to prove to the skeptics that they are worrying for the wrong reasons. As more and more conglomerates move into this new media space, your competition is increasing and you are fighting for your piece of the pie.

You must focus on the consumers. Most importantly you will need to keep the trust of the consumers. There are many ethical problems that could arise and the key to dodging a fatality is avoiding mistakes before they happen. First, there are privacy issues at stake. Privacy is something that our culture holds sacred and disrupting that is going to be fatal to the company. At the very least, the consumers must feel like they have privacy.

Curation and convergence are extremely important to consider as well. These will affect how the consumer sees the trend and how it changes the way they use it. As more companies move into this media space, it will change the landscape of it. Companies may use this space for advertising, using the mentor dynamic of the technology to increase brand loyalty. This will change the landscape. While this seems like a major opportunity, how does it affect the ethics of the consequences that stem from it. Will this crush smaller brands that don’t have the money to compete with the conglomerates? Or will brands even still exist. It’s all very hard to say because the future of artificial intelligence is fairly uncertain. So how are you going to be Moses, the person that leads people out of uncertainty to the promised land?