News — At The Edge — 4/8
Only two articles of note this week
- An exceedingly lucid and understandable description of artificial intelligence past, present and future by DARPA. If nothing else this week, watch the video.
- How big technology companies are having a greater impact on society and are likely, for good and ill, to increasingly be in the position to act more like governments in enforcing certain behaviors.
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Artificial Intelligence Tech Will Arrive in Three Waves —
Feb 15, 2017 (16 min.) — Director of DARPA’s Information Innovation Office, demystifies AI — what it can do, what it can’t do, and where it is headed…and the capabilities required for AI to reach its full.
“DARPA distinguishes between three different waves of AI, each with its own capabilities and limitations….
First AI Wave: Handcrafted Knowledge…experts devised algorithms and software according to the knowledge [they]…possessed, and tried to provide these programs with logical rules…[and] led to the creation of chess-playing computers, and…optimization software….
[Most] software we’re using today is based on AI of this kind: our Windows operating system, our smartphone apps….[These] systems are usually based on clear and logical rules…[to] examine the most important parameters in every situation they need to solve, and reach a conclusion about the most appropriate action to take in each case….
[But] systems find it difficult to tackle new kinds of situations…[and] abstracting — taking knowledge and insights derived from certain situations, and applying them to new problems…[and] are incapable of learning, and have a hard time dealing with uncertainty….Google Maps are fine examples for… first wave AI systems…being utilized everywhere today.
Second AI Wave: Statistical Learning…[uses] statistical models for certain types of problems, and then ‘train’ these models on many various samples to make them more precise and efficient….They can learn and adapt themselves to different situations if…properly trained…[and] go for the solutions that ‘work well enough, usually.’
The poster boy…[is] artificial neural networks [where]…data goes through computational layers, each of which processes the data in a different way and transmits it to the next level. By training each of these layers, as well as the complete network, they can be shaped into producing the most accurate results.
Oftentimes, the training requires the networks to analyze tens of thousands of data sources…[and now] outdo humans at face recognition, at speech transcription, and at identifying animals and objects in pictures. They’re making great leaps forward in translation…control autonomous cars and aerial drones….
Achilles heel of second wave systems is that nobody is certain why they’re working [because]…we can no longer easily identify the causality [or]…the exact way in which input is translated into output, and data is used to reach a decision….
Third AI Wave: Contextual Adaptation…systems themselves will construct models that will explain how the world works…[thus] discover by themselves the logical rules which shape their decision-making process…[and] be able to add some substance to the final conclusion….
Third wave systems will…rely on several different statistical models [for]…a more complete understanding of the world…[and] be able to train themselves…as Alpha-Go did when it played a million Go games against itself, to identify…rules it should use….[They’ll] also take information from several different sources to reach a nuanced and well-explained conclusion…[for example] our wearable devices…smart home…car and the city…we live, and determine our state of health.
They’ll even be able to program themselves, and potentially develop abstract thinking…[and] decipher new models that will improve their function, all on their own..[to] program new generations of software…[and] replace most human workers, and possibly all of them.
And why they’ll be allowed to reshape the models via which they appraise the world, then they’ll actually be able to reprogram their own motivation….[So] we need to start asking right now how to control these third wave AI systems, of the kind that’ll become ubiquitous twenty years from now…..
The Last Wave…[what] DARPA does not seem to [address]… is what the fourth wave of AI systems would look like….[Might it] exhibit decision making mechanisms that we are incapable of understanding…and which will be developed by the third wave systems?”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence-tech-will-arrive-in-three-waves/
If it talks like a government and acts like a government, it must be a tech giant -
“ACLU reported last year that law enforcement teamed up with Geofeedia…that uses social media data to track and monitor protesters…[so] Facebook and Twitter cut off Geofeedia’s access to their data….[Facebook banned] developers from using users’ data for mass surveillance….In this sense, private ‘laws’ are by far more effective, responsive to changes and highly enforceable….
Gmail’s terms of service…are binding on…one billion users…[more] than any possible U.S. law….’No president has ever represented…2 billion people, nor…attempted to regulate the flow of information for a group so large and diverse, and take responsibility for their experience using the service’….
Denmark intends to appoint a first-of-its-kind ‘Digital Ambassador’…to engage in diplomatic affairs with these companies, get a better sense of how they operate and be part of their decisions….[DHS] proposal to make the sharing of social networking passwords mandatory…[so] passport now has a companion….
[By] placing them in an equal [or]…superior [status]…with sovereign states could signal the introduction of state-like duties to some of these private players. For example, just as we expect the state to be transparent about its activities, we may require some tech firms to do the same in areas with evident social impact, such as algorithms… that operate as labor-saving spying agents….
[Seeing] these corporations resemble public governments more than…[simple] business entities is a step toward more accountability and better democratic oversight.”
https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/31/if-it-talks-like-a-government-and-acts-like-a-government-it-must-be-a-tech-giant/
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Doc Huston
