Well I dont really know that for certain, but there are some very worrisome things on the horizon. I am referring to AI or artificial intelligence. AI is a fast growing field that will change the world as we know it. The world will be unrecognizable from today's standpoint. With the advent of blockchain technology and AI, the worlds power structures will change. If we do things right and make sure this technology remains controlled by everyone then we might have a chance. If the tech is consolidated into the hands of a few megacorporations, then we are going to have problems.
Why am I feeling so negative about AI you ask? It is a known fact that computer power doubles every 18 months roughtly. Right now Google has quantum computers that can do the computation that would take several computers 10 years to calculate in about 10 minutes. Its called Dware and it generates so much heat that it has to be cryogenically cooled by liquid nitrogen. This doubling of computer power means there is a point in the future approaching us called the singularity. This is the point where machines become smarter than humans. I love technology, especially blockchain technology for what it represents, but AI scares the crap out of me. What happens when the machines are smarter than us? They will be emotionless beings that are all about efficiency and getting things done. Well what do you think about a machine that can write its own code and constantly upgrade itself will think about us inefficient humans? At some point they will efficiently dispose of us because they wont need us anymore.
Dont believe me? Check out this article from The Merkle that was published today...
Google’s AutoML AI Clones Itself Into a Better Version
(AutoML stands for automatic machine learning I think)
-JP Buntinx
October 18, 2017
There is never a boring day in the world of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Google is clearly one of the companies leading the charge in this research field right now. However, even its creations may be evolving too quickly right now. It seems an AI developed in-house has successfully cloned itself and turned out to be far more competent than the human-engineered version. It’s a very interesting yet worrisome turn of events.
GOOGLE’S AI OUTDOES HUMAN ENGINEERS
It is only normal that human-created artificial intelligence will only have a certain degree of “smartness”. After all, they are often modeled in our own image, which means an artificial intelligence can’t know everything. It is more than capable of learning as it goes, though, which is both an appealing and a troublesome trait, to say the very least. No one expects an AI to outsmart humans anytime soon, but the reality may prove to be very different in this regard.
Based on Google’s recent AutoML venture, that future may only be a few years from now. This project is designed in such a way that it can create other AIs and replicate itself. In theory, this should improve the versatility and knowledge of “future offspring” of AIs. The results were quite astonishing and quickly surpassed even the engineers’ wildest expectations, according to the IBTimes.
More specifically, the clone created by AutoML turned out to be a big success. Not only was it a clone of the original, but it also was a lot smarter. Considering that the clone outwitted its “parent”, this method of developing new artificial intelligence will be pretty interesting to keep an eye on moving forward. In fact, the offspring was faster, more efficient, and far more powerful than anything human engineers had ever cobbled together before.
To put this into perspective, the Google engineers created a test to see how well both AutoML and its offspring would behave. AutoML achieved 82% accuracy on a photographic test, which is pretty impressive. However, the AI was also asked to identify the placement of objects within every photograph. AutoML scored a 39% on this test, whereas its clone quickly improved to 43%. Given enough time, that number could easily surpass the 50% mark, by the looks of things.
Although this difference may seem minor to the untrained eye, the Google engineers were greatly impressed. After all, Google can’t build the next generation of artificial intelligence itself. However, the company’s own AI is already capable of improving its own codebase and algorithms without third-party intervention. Imagine what could be achieved when hundreds of thousands of developers put together powerful AIs and let them replicate.
Considering how AutoML is built from the ground up, it will be interesting to see what other tests Google has planned. It is evident AIs are more than capable of handling most programming work themselves right now, but they still need a “human hand” to fine-tune things. Eventually, that requirement may be removed as well, although it will take a few more years, if not decades until that actually happens.
The thing is even if this tech is benign, its still going to put us all out of work. Then what?
Let me know what you think! Please give me an upvote while your at it. I need to start my AI defense fund now!