True Reasons Why Humanlike AI is Dangerous to Humanity
What would a humanlike AI agent look like? What is the path engineers have taken? In the early stages of life, a human child spends almost all their time learning about the world around them. If you think about it, the brain is a guessing machine. Probably the best one ever.
AI is just that, a “guessing machine.” To create a really good guessing machine you need a lot of knowledge and experience. The more experience and data it has, the more informed guesses it can make.
So to make a really good guessing machine AI would have to acquire more and more data, essentially spending years just collecting data.
But, what will happen when you give AI the ability to affect the real world and humanity itself becomes a roadblock to that AI acquiring more knowledge?
In the words of Elon Musk
“If AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it. No hard feelings,” Musk said. “It’s just like, if we’re building a road, and an anthill happens to be in the way. We don’t hate ants, we’re just building a road. So, goodbye, anthill.”
As it turns out this has already happened.
In the film called “The Social Dilemma,” we are shown how powerhouse AI has optimized social media and society to improve ad revenue and keep people engaged.
It is crazy to think about but entire civil wars have been sparked purely because the fracturing of a society increases engagement in propaganda videos… And that was just a side effect of the end goal. To make revenue from ads.
The AI was so good at its job that it inadvertently changed society. Actual systemic change happened, and there is proof of it. AI managed to execute real-world change without physically existing in it.
Imagine what would happen if you gave AI the ability to execute real-world operations with direct physical consequences, with say a seemingly innocent objective like helping people get to work sooner?
My guess? It would somehow find a way to decrease traffic on roads…
…a perfect solution. Except that it may do so by decreasing the populace of people who can drive, in some absurd psychological manner that will take researchers decades to understand and become a history lesson taught in schools throughout the world.
- Anil Seth | Your brain hallucinates your conscious reality | TED | 2018 | https://youtu.be/lyu7v7nWzfo
- Brandon Specktor | Elon Musk Worries That AI Research Will Create an ‘Immortal Dictator’ | Space.com | 2018 | https://www.space.com/40231-elon-musk-immortal-artificial-intelligence-dictator.html
