Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad AI?
Finding Optimism from Nature. And Elon.
I believe AI will make things better. I believe data science is living up to its potential by driving AI forward. I even base my strategic business decisions on a future with AI.
Is this optimism statistically justifiable? Or am I just a cylon agent? Let’s take a look…
Is the start of AI the end of humanity? (AI referring to truly-intelligent-AI, not the machine learning we already have.)
Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk again and Elon Musk again again have all warned us of the danger — AI will rip us to shreds (both figuratively and literally).
These names cannot be ignored. The dangers cannot be ignored.
AI is scary.
Maybe everyone is worried for nothing.
Like flying cars, Betamax and Vegemite, AI might not be widely accepted. There must be a major benefit (perceived or real) to actually get AI off the ground.
Let’s take a step back and see if we even want to bother with developing self-evolving software. Let’s see if it’s inevitable.
Taking evolution evolution as precedent for AI evolution, we see diverse ancestors evolve to a predictable endpoint when presented with similar environmental opportunities — that’s why we have convergent evolution.
For example: birds, bats and pterosaurs all evolved flappy bits because flying is awesome. They did this completely independent of each other.
We have a society striving toward automation. From self-driving cars to conversational algorithms to just doing our jobs — we are shifting more and more work to machines. Converging on AI.
This is already occurring at the highest levels. Businesses, even massive established ones, are being disrupted with automation. Walmart grew an unassailable market share in retail — until Amazon did everything better using tech and started to threaten this status quo.
AI creates advantages. Better AI creates better advantages.
Technology (both hardware and software) is removing the limitations on machine intelligence. Commercial algorithms no longer require an enterprise budget and IT department. We can run open source AI on a laptop and get reasonable results.
AI technologies are more and more advanced while becoming more and more accessible. Everybody seems in on the AI future. In fact, if you are reading this, you are probably an AI enthusiast — and enabler.
The desire for automation to offload our crappiest tasks and the ability to easily implement tech are creating the conditions for AI to be a major priority for everyone. (And flying with AI is awesome too.)
What’s better than telling a computer what to do? Not telling a computer what to do and it figures it out anyway. The conditions are ripe.
AI is going to happen.
Comparing to evolution has to be taken with a grain of salt, considering evolution moves glacially (sometimes literally), while tech is rapidly exploding like nothing ever seen before ever.
Looking at it, old school biological evolution does have lulls of stability — but also intense periods of very rapid action.
A breakthrough may disrupt the entire ecosystem, followed by a period of stability where everything adjusts to a new order. Actually, that sounds like the pattern of developing technology as well.
New tech discoveries are followed by the chance to make sense of what just happened — like a great AI product being open sourced or finally figuring out blockchain architectures(my current nemesis).
Unfortunately, tech makes the periods of stability short. Very short.
So — we cannot expect to learn a new AI paradigm from scratch before the next disruption hits.
So — we need to be prepared beforehand for major AI disruption.
So — we need a body of experts and enthusiasts keeping up with our contemporary AI starting right now.
And there is my hope. Because people like you are interested and stay informed — yes you, dear reader.
It’s okay to be optimistic during these dangerous times with AI running full tilt straight for us. We just need to keep our eyes open by staying informed.
Elon Musk — who thinks building AI is summoning the demon — sponsors OpenAI. He sees the danger, knows it’s inevitable, and wants to be ready. Ready by supporting a responsible, open development direction.
You don’t need to be a billionaire with a rocket to Mars to make a difference. As mentioned earlier, never has technology been so accessible — including the tools building toward a future full of AI. Our expertise will be what steers our success and protects us from harm.
Yes, there are dangers. Yes, there are consequences we must live with. This just means AI is just another test for us humans. The fact we made it this far gives me hope.
As advances in AI revolutionize our everyday lives, those armed with the knowledge to navigate or create AI will keep humanity relevant in an automated world.
Your interest today will save us tomorrow. Share your knowledge. Share your interest.
Now get out there and build something. You’re saving the world.
