“AI is going to impact almost every sector of
the economy. Autonomous cars and trucks will
transform our cities and supply chains. A recent
study estimated you could provide Lisbon’s
same transport needs with one tenth of the cars
– imagine how this will free up the roads and the
cost of transport will plummet.”
Walsh believes autonomous vehicles will be
commonplace in the next decade. “In 2025 we’ll
look back at 2000 and marvel at how antiquated
it seems, just as in the 1950s people reflected on
the horse-drawn 1900s era.”
The precursor technologies for autonomous
vehicles have already proven their effectiveness.
Early adoption by large fleets such as trucking
and high-volume commercial fleets will help
mainstream these safety features which make
it harder to misuse, as seen by the Berlin
Christmas attack where autonomous emergency
braking is reported to have prevented the truck
from continuing on its horrific path.
“There are already well-documented cases
of cars being hijacked remotely and made to
drive off road, so this is going to be a real issue
once we have autonomous cars on the road,”
Walsh admits. “On one hand, technology will
be part of the solution – autonomous trucks will
be fitted with software safeguards to prevent
terrorists from driving them into people. But these
can and will be circumvented given sufficient
resources. The auto industry will need to become
much more like the airline industry, with strong
certification of vehicles to ensure the highest
possible safety standards. We can’t leave it to
companies like Tesla to do it alone. It will need
careful regulation.”
So why do we indulge our self-destructive
fantasies in the likes of Terminator, The Matrix
and I, Robot, yet don’t heed the warnings?
How does cinema forebode our obsession with
machina?
“I fear stupid AI, not smart AI. The smarter the
AI, the more some problems go away,” he said.
Cinema, Walsh says, creates possible end points,
Binging AI with
Prof. Toby Walsh:
“Two of my recent favourites
are the movie “Her” and the TV
series “Humans”. Both explore
the interesting and complex
relationship that will develop
between us and our machines. It’s
going to be a very interesting and
different future.”
Add to that: Terminator, The
Matrix, Start Trek: First Contact,
I, Robot, Ex Machina, A.I.,
Bicentennial Man
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ISSUE 20 2019 / WWW.AFMA.ORG.AU