It’s 2028. Nobody Knows Who is Human and Who is Not. [An Essay Competition]
In the past 12 months, we’ve heard of Artificial Intelligence that made heavy metal music, that wrote a chapter of Harry Potter and that even sounds indistinguishable from us, humans. And if there was ever any doubt that we are at the dawn of Realitics then remember that AI can already create faces and videos of people who don’t exist.
It may not be long before AI agents can create digital contents and virtual artifacts that are indistinguishable from what a human would produce. We may soon live in a world where the people we think we know actually aren’t human at all. What would this mean for humanity? How would this change the human experience? How would this affect the structure of our economy and society? What would it mean for our legal system and our governance models?
If you’ve pondered on these questions then we need you. Join this competition organised by the Realitics Open Research Project.
RealOPR Essay Competition
Please participate in this research project by 17 May 2018. The winning essay will win about $4,000 worth of prize including $3,000 worth of AWS services and free tickets to Zeroth/HRI private events. Conditions apply, obviously. Refer to Rules and Conditions on submission page.
In addition, authors of the winning essay will get to work with analysts at HRI and ZerothAI on our annual “State of Realitics” report, to be published in November 2018.
How to enter:
Send us your contribution in the form of an essay (maximum length 800 words). Your essay must be based on the following statement:
“It’s the year 2028. AI technology has seen dramatic development for the past decade. We haven’t seen AI agents becoming conscious yet, as many experts feared, but the rapid proliferation of AI agents has disrupted virtually every facet of our lives.”
Your essay should address the implications, consequences, risks or opportunities of the above statement, with regards to the human condition. You are free to write from any relevant perspective; art, anthropology, psychology, biology, technology, economics or philosophy.
Be creative. Be bold. Take a position.
About Realitics Open Research Project
The Realitics Open Research Project (RealORP) aims to gather input from AI experts, technology writers, futurists and policy-makers about the impact that AI will have on the human culture, identity and what constructs human reality. While a lot of resources are being spent on developing and implementing Artificial Intelligence (e.g. in cars), little effort is put into understanding the practical implications of the technology for humans. This is what RealORP is tasked with finding out.
