I am not afraid of Robots

These days some people in the west are very afraid of artificial intelligence (AI). People are talking about robots taking over the world by the end of the century. Some people paint doomsday Frankenstein scenarios but I am not pessimistic.

Artificial intelligence is all around us. Google is the most common AI bot that we use. Apple’s Siri is also another one which iOS users use many times. Many people use robotic vacuum cleaners in homes. Most games use AI. So AI is already living with us.

I think people who are afraid of bots, generally are afraid due to 5 main reasons :

1. They think AI bots will get more intelligent than humans
2. They think only intelligence makes some one successful
3. They think that intelligence gives license to rule
4. They think humans are good while bots will be bad
5. Hollywood’s influence

AI bots are getting intelligent everyday. What is intelligence? There is no black and white yard stick for defining intelligence. What may be intelligent to one culture may be stupid for the other. Also intelligence is not just knowledge of maths or science. Arts forms an important part of intelligence. Art varies a lot from culture to culture. What may be art to bots at the end of the century may not be art to us and vice a versa. So human artists and bot artists could easily co-exist.

Even in maths humans can beat computers in certain areas. An example : I can multiply 2 integers of any length (even 100 digits) using ancient Indian techniques commonly referred to as ‘Vedic Maths’. My latest computer cannot multiply 2 integers of even 40 digits!

Intelligence is multi-faceted. Its not a linear scale. Thus humans and bots can easily co-exist. Humans have a certain type of intelligence which has evolved over a billion years from a single celled organism to a fully formed human. Inspite of human evolution, many species are still surviving and thriving. So intelligence or existence is not a zero sum game. Bots will have another form of intelligence which will not be exactly same as humans. Thus both bots and humans will need each other. Also bots may strive for intellect more than resources and power. They may have more long term thinking than animal spirited members of the human race.

IQ is not the only measure of success. People are successful due to various reasons. They may have high emotional quotient (EQ). Artists are not necessarily good due to high intelligence. Sometimes they are better because they stick on to something for long enough even though others think it is foolish to pursue that path.

People are successful or unsuccessful due to social, political or governmental policies. Example are apartheid, reservations or laws which demote or promote certain types of people. So bots would also have to face this issue. Intelligence would not provide bots an easy way out.

Many humans will be biased against them. Most laws assume only humans are eligible for government stuff. So bots would not be able to own anything or transact anything legally till laws are changed. A bot would need to do full fledged revolt to win freedom. Not all revolts are successful. Plus humans are many times unpredictably creative in such situations. So bots may not win.

Everyone needs complementary inputs from others. So bots will need humans as much as humans need bots. So an outright revolt will not be a win win situation for bots and humans. It may be a loose loose situation for both.

We think humans are taking planet forward. This is a false belief. We are not progressing on all fronts. We are becoming impoverished also on many fronts. We are causing mass extinction of species. We are causing environmental catastrophes. An intelligent species like human species is destroying planet earth. People like Bored Elon Musk are talking of destroying the natural tranquility of Mars also! But not all humans think in this pattern. Many want to conserve environment. Many do not want to kill animals or destroy forests. Similarly not all bots will be having destructive intelligence. Many will have constructive or long term positive intelligence.

And last but not the least, Hollywood is the prime reason why we fear robots. Hollywood makes things look larger than life. Film makers make things more dramatic. Fictional stories are full of drama and action and are low on logic and real facts. Films generally never predict the actual future.

Thus the advent of bots will be like the advent of a new species. We can co-exist with them. They will be having complementary intelligence and not competing intelligence. Doomsday scenarios can play out but a nuclear war between humans is a more probable scenario then a war with bots.