Does Artificial Intelligence threaten people?

Artificial intelligence (AI), many experts consider almost the main threat to humanity. But how justified are these fears?

©Depositphotos

Machine against man

The fact that robots replace a person everywhere, we hear almost every day. According to the most optimistic forecasts, in the coming decades, machines will leave millions of people out of work. But in most cases we are talking about highly specialized programs, which, although they can replace a single specialist, but certainly will not become an "alternative" to Homo sapiens.

It's no secret that artificial intelligence can already compete with man. The most striking example of this is the AlphaGo program created by Google specialists. Previously, various programs already prevailed over the man in checkers, chess and backgammon. But here the ancient Chinese logic game was considered "too difficult for AI." It does have a deep strategic content. The fact is that it is almost impossible to go through all combinations in go, and by virtue of this AI it is difficult to calculate the variants of the development of events. Nevertheless, the AlphaGo program created by Google in 2016 was able to beat the European champion in the game of Fang Hui. And she did it with a crushing score 5: 0.

But how did you achieve this result? After all, as we have already said, it was not possible to apply the usual algorithms here. The creators of AlphaGo developed two neural networks: special algorithms that mimicked the work of neuron chains in the human brain. One network was responsible for determining the current position on the board, and the second used the analysis results that were prepared by the first network to select the next action.

©Depositphotos / AlphaGo

"Nobel laureate"

This amazing example is not the only proof of strengthening the position of AI. Recently, a group of Australian physicists managed to create a program that can itself conduct research. Moreover, she already managed to reproduce the experiment, for which in 2001 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. This is the award, which in 2001 went to Eric Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle and Carl Wiman for "experimental observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in rarefied gases of alkali metal atoms and for the first fundamental studies of the properties of such condensates." Within the framework of the experiment, the researchers cooled the gas to a temperature of about one micro-kelvin, and after that control over several laser beams controlled the artificial intelligence to cool the trapped gas to the Nano-kelvin. The machine learned how to conduct the experiment in less than an hour. Moreover, she was able to approach the process "creatively". AI, for example, changed the power of one laser, compensating it with another laser. The authors of the new study themselves say that "a man could not have thought of such a thing."

Who is who

As we see, progress in the creation of AI is obvious and the cases described above are just one of many. Another question: what exactly is artificial intelligence and, what is more, what can be put into the content of the concept of "full-fledged AI"? This question worries great minds for decades, but even now, in our advanced information age, it is very difficult to answer it. In 1980, the American philosopher John Rogers Searle introduced the term "strong artificial intelligence". This is a program that will not only be a model of the mind, but a mind in the literal sense of the word. In contrast, supporters of "weak artificial intelligence" evaluate AI only in the context of solving highly specialized problems. Simply put, they cannot imagine that the machine acted on a par with man.

No less important is the moral and ethical aspect. Suppose scientists create an advanced AI that will replace a person literally in all spheres. But will such a program have a morality habitual for human society? Or, in principle, it will not be possible to impart such qualities ... It is interesting that a special term "pure artificial intelligence" was introduced earlier: in this case the machine understands and solves questions like a real person, but lacks the emotions characteristic of people. The latter, by the way, can become a competitive advantage of the car in front of a person, but more about this later.

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Threat to survival?

"Weak AI", of course, can deprive a person of work, but is unlikely to become a threat to the survival of the entire species of Homo sapiens. As the main threat experts call it an advanced full-fledged artificial intelligence, to which a person will simply not be needed. The famous British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who stated that the machines would take over the man for a hundred years, made a rather frightening forecast in 2015. "In the next 100 years, artificial intelligence will surpass the human. And before this happens, we must do everything to ensure that the goals of the machines coincide with ours, "Hawking said. The researcher is concerned about the shortsightedness of AI developers. Even earlier, the scientist called the reason for the superiority of AI over Homo sapiens: in his opinion, man evolves very slowly, while machines can improve themselves incredibly quickly.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates shares the fears of Hawking. "I am in that camp, which is concerned about the prospect of the development of superintelligence. First, the machines will do most of the work for us, but they will not have superintelligence. It's good if we manage it right. In a few decades, artificial intelligence will become sufficiently developed to become a cause for concern, "he said in 2015.

It's interesting that Ilon Mask, the main innovator of our time, speaks about the AI threat, who, apparently, should see the advantages in all new technologies. He announced the possibility of the appearance of a full-fledged artificial intelligence in the coming years. "Artificial intelligence is progressing very rapidly. You have no idea how much. It happens exponentially, "he said in 2015.

©Depositphotos / Ilon Mask

Fantasy and Reality

Fiction in the dissemination of the thesis of the threat of AI, of course, made. Perhaps the most frightening forecast of the end of the world is "gray slime". In this case, unmanaged self-replicating Nano Bots, carrying out a program of self-multiplication, will absorb all the material available to them on our planet.

Now it sounds like nonsense, but many of this scenario does not seem so incredible. Scottish scientist Duncan Forgan even suggested in 2015 to look for the dead extraterrestrial civilizations by "gray slime". In the case of such a development of the scenario of the end of the world, in his opinion, another planet will be covered with "sand" from miniature cars. They will reflect light and sharply increase the brightness of the planet as it passes through the luminary.

But not all science fiction writers tend to see a threat in robots. The most systematic approach to the development of AI came from the famous Isaac Azimov, who formulated three laws of robotics:

1. A robot cannot cause harm to a person or by its inaction to allow a person to be harmed.

2. Robot must obey all the orders that a person gives, except when these orders are contrary to the First Law.

3. The robot must take care of its safety to the extent that it does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

©Depositphotos / Isaac Asimov

In any case, so far from the AI, the benefits are much greater than the harm, and there is no reason to think that "robots planned something bad against a person". The main enemy of Homo sapiens is not machines, not natural disasters and not even aliens from other worlds. The main danger for a person is another person. And the benefit / harm from artificial intelligence will depend wholly and entirely on how the people themselves will dispose of new advances in science and technology.