Artificial Intelligence, or 'AI' as it is so often referred to. It's a much talked about topic these days and for good reason. It represents a quantum leap in technology advancement. Its capabilities are remarkable, its potential is practically limitless. It's also very controversial. Bill Gates says it has the potential to solve global problems, can have a tremendous impaction the workforce, yet we must be vigilant about it's development. Neil deGrasse Tyson has warned that AI could destabilize the world and bring about the end of civilization. He has also discussed how AI could revolutionize science. Tyson has also discussed how AI could be used to spread misinformation and the importance of preventing this. One of the greatest scientific minds ever, Stephen Hawking was a prominent voice in the debate about AI and its potential impact on humanity. He warned that AI could either be the best or worst thing to happen to humanity, and the it could spell the end of the human race. So, amongst some of the great minds of our time we have prognostications ranging from being able to solve global problems to causing the end of the human race. That's a range with proportions on a scale of the distance to the sun and back.
Let's try and break it down a little bit. First, what exactly is AI? If you were to interview ten random people on the street and ask them 'What is artificial intelligence,' you would undoubtedly get ten different answers. If you were to get two or more of the same answer I'm willing to bet that that answer would be 'I dont know'. It's obviously a very new, incipient field of technology, very sophisticated. A world leader in the field of computer technology and has been for a long time is IBM. IBM says artificial intelligence is 'technology that enables computers to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem solving, decision making, creativity and autonomy.' One might condense that sentence into 'simulate BEING a human'. A key word in the description is 'simulate'. We'll come back to that later. Let's drill down a little further. Computers are machines. They've developed immensely in a short period of time. They will continue to be the embodiment (for lack of a better word) of AI. AI will operate on computers along with a host of technological accessories. By that, I mean sensors (temperature, pressure, velocity, visual, et al.) and of course, databases. The absolute core of artificial intelligence will be the accumulation, assimilation and dissemination of data. Basically the same process we as humans do except we dont refer to it as data, we usually call it experience. We gain knowledge from our experiences and refer to that experience and knowledge to make decisions. This process takes place in our brains, in the case of computers it will take place electronically. In spite of all the technological advancements we as humans have brought into being, computers have, and will for the foreseeable future be limited to requiring 'code' to operate. Meaning, of course, they will require electronic instructions to be able to execute any task. Including artificial intelligence tasks such as decision making, problem solving, creativity, etc.. Perhaps one day computers will be capable of generating code for themselves but for now only humans can develop the operating instructions for computers. Even to take sensory input and take a course of action based on such input will require coded instructions.
AI is a broad and complex subject that we are currently in a learning stage. What it is, what it will become is still a vast set of unknown parameters. To think that it has the capacity to cause the end of the human race can only occur based on one massive assumption. That we, as humans allow such to happen. Conceptually, it's comparable to nuclear weapons. No living being doubts that weapons of mass destruction are capable of wiping out the human race, or at the least the vast majority of it. In spite of their existence for about 80 years now, such hasn't happened. Will nuclear weapons mark the end of civilization? Will AI? Or maybe something else that we dont even know about yet? But if it is the fate of artificial intelligent to cause such a tragedy, it can only be our own fault. The end of civilization can only be brought about by one source, the inhabitants of civilization itself. What ever tool we may use to facilitate it remains to be seen.
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