A
rtificial Intelligence, or ‘AI’ as it is often abbreviated,
is a term that has received increased public
attention in recent times. No longer is it restricted
to the minds of imaginative science fiction thinkers – AI is
now science fact. But what exactly is it?
The arrival of the Information Age resulted in the rapid
advancement of humanity through computerization. In the
span of mere decades, we’ve gone from supercomputers
the size of rooms to ones which can fit in your pocket.
Computers were always tools we could manipulate
to accomplish complex tasks, similar to using a spanner
to change a tyre. Through robotics, we could program
machines to change tyres faster and with great efficiency.
Artificial Intelligence takes it a step further by allowing
machines to learn through failure and experience, just as a
human mind would. It wouldn’t be surprising if a machine
one day invented a superior method of changing tyres!
In essence, Artificial Intelligence is the branch of
computer science that seeks to replicate human intelligence
via machines. An AI may be able to observe, learn, solve
problems, and improve, just as a human would. Through
machine learning, an AI can ‘think’ in a similar manner as a
human being in order to achieve specified goals.
A
rtificial Intelligence holds its own sub-genre in
science fiction and is usually represented in one
of three basic forms – dominant, in servitude, or
(rarely) neutral. Of course, it is the malevolent AIs who seek
the destruction of mankind which are often most featured
in books, movies and video games. While AIs in fiction
are almost always created for the purpose of benefitting
mankind, things go awry and the opposite is achieved.
SHODAN, the AI in the highly acclaimed video game
System Shock, was created to manage a space station,
but her ethical limitations were easily overridden by
a single hacker. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL 9000
malfunctions due to programming conflicts and attempts
to exterminate the crew of a space craft in order to achieve
mission directives. Perhaps one of the most popular
representations of Artificial Intelligence is Skynet in the
Terminator franchise, where a war between machines and
humanity is initiated by the former as a means of self-
preservation. In The Matrix, humanity is trapped in a virtual
reality after losing the human-machine war. In the slightly
less apocalyptic setting of Ex Machina, Ava, a humanoid
machine with Artificial Intelligence, outsmarts humans in
the quest for freedom.
Fiction writers create stories that may seem beyond
reason or plausibility, however many works of fiction
have predicted actual modern advancements. Visionary
authors such as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells wrote about
fantastical technologies that nowadays, are seen as the
norm. Wells predicted war tanks, while Verne wrote about
space travel a century before mankind ventured to the
moon, and submarines in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under
the Sea. Credit cards, automatic doors, communication
satellites and robots were all envisioned before becoming
part of everyday life. Seemingly impossible technologies
like teleportation and virtual reality are also on the verge
of equaling their fictional representations. Is it then
impossible to think that AI can also follow a similar pattern?
“Jump ahead a few years
and we may have self-
operating forklifts and
cranes that can safely
perform lifts without
exposing humans to
falling hazards.”
B
usinessman and visionary inventor Elon Musk is
very wary of the looming threat of an AI apocalypse.
Musk, best known for his work with Tesla, a solar,
electric energy and automotive manufacturing company,
expressed his concern for AI running amok. He believes
that AI is advancing at a far greater rate than people realise
and can easily turn against humanity.
Interestingly, Musk is the founder of OpenAI, a
company dedicated to creating “friendly AI”. Many other
organisations have begun the AI race, including tech giant
Google with their acquisition of DeepMind.
B
y excelling in areas once dominated by human
intelligence, AI’s significance is becoming undeniably
apparent. Google’s AlphaGo, a division of DeepMind,
recently defeated the world’s best player in the ancient
Chinese game of Go. OpenAI took only two weeks to
surpass the years of experience of professional players of
Dota 2, a competitive multiplayer video game. Not only are
these perfect examples of the ability of AI to learn, adapt
and dominate, but these high profile accomplishments
ensure that the future will be shaped by machine learning.
Of course, AI’s practical applications are not limited
to playing games and shaming e-sports athletes. Google
and Tesla both have vehicles with self-dr iving technology,
something that was science fiction only a few years ago.
While this may be out of reach of the average person
today, millions have already been exposed to AI in the
form of ‘personal assistants’ like Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s
Cortana.
J
ump ahead a few years and we may have self-
operating forklifts and cranes that can safely perform
lifts without exposing humans to falling hazards.
Repetitive, redundant work can be completely
controlled by learning robots which increase productivity.
Hazardous jobs can be completely overhauled and
controlled by AI, eliminating exposure to humans. AI-
controlled cars, trucks, boats and planes may dramatically
reduce travel time and accident rates. Intelligent machines
will soon be able to do everything a human can, only with a
smaller margin of error and no accompanying muscular or
mental fatigue. It sounds like an inevitable utopia.
However, there is a looming dark side to this world-
changing technology. Recently, Facebook was forced to
shut down two AI programs that had developed their own
language to communicate with each other. This was the AIs’
solution to solving a challenge, and indicates that thinking
machines can easily choose unforeseen paths to problem
solving. Tay, Microsoft’s Twitter AI, was also shut down
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