Current Affairs Robotics and AI....

[peteblue]

Bruce has posted many articles on this subject, usually in the EU thread, but technology and its effect upon humans is developing at an ever increasing pace, and will change our lives in ways not yet even imagined.

If there is already a suitable thread then mods please delete, if not then I’m sure there are many interesting views out there.......

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Sadly a whole lot of misinformation has been spread on this topic, with much of the media coverage utterly awful. It seems to be largely a case of either unthinking fawning on one side or unthinking dystopia on the other.

 

[Chewbacca]

The major issue will be that if unpaid robots make everything, how is the wealth redistributed.

If it is not, then who will have any money to buy what the robots are making?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The Guardian coverage of the IPPR report is a case in point. The report is a whole lot more balanced than the article covering it.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The major issue will be that if unpaid robots make everything, how is the wealth redistributed.

If it is not, then who will have any money to buy what the robots are making?

They won't.

 

[Chewbacca]

Why not?

 

[Zezti]

I think the biggest incoming change to our way of life will be autonomous driving. There's a lot of issues regarding the human at the helm concerning this but I think we'll see a lot less road accidents and deaths than currently.
For example, the technology in this prototype by Renault is incredible

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Why not?

AI isn't that good.

 

[orchard]

AI isn't that good.

-or non-existent?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

-or non-existent?

It depends how you define AI I suppose. It's certainly capable of doing more than it was, but the idea that it's going to lead to mass unemployment is nonsense.

 

[cronullasharks]

The Guardian coverage of the IPPR report is a case in point. The report is a whole lot more balanced than the article covering it.

That dog doesn't look too impressed

 

[peteblue]

It depends how you define AI I suppose. It's certainly capable of doing more than it was, but the idea that it's going to lead to mass unemployment is nonsense.

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...on-program-teaching-itself-to-play-four-hours

AI is developing at a rate of knots and once it is able to teach itself it will do so at unimaginable speeds. The hardware side of the technology will be what slows it down initially. Obviously many assembly and manual jobs will go, farming has already been transformed through mechanisation and low tech sat nav and programming. We already have machines that can do simple bricklaying. The storage and immediate access of knowledge and then its interpretation will transform the medical profession and then law. A new way of generating ‘wealth’ and it’s availability to the general populace, who may not have jobs, will need to be found, but it also raises the issue about how we as humans develop or indeed need to develop........

 

[rascal]

The machines will do the heavy lifting, and will take over professions such as Architecture, Law, and Medicine so we’ll be left to philosophy and the humanities.

I have to say that we need to heavily invest in AI and become the hotbed for it, especially post Brexit. It represents a tremendous opportunity (AI, not Brexit)

 

[Bruce Wayne]

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...on-program-teaching-itself-to-play-four-hours

AI is developing at a rate of knots and once it is able to teach itself it will do so at unimaginable speeds. The hardware side of the technology will be what slows it down initially. Obviously many assembly and manual jobs will go, farming has already been transformed through mechanisation and low tech sat nav and programming. We already have machines that can do simple bricklaying. The storage and immediate access of knowledge and then its interpretation will transform the medical profession and then law. A new way of generating ‘wealth’ and it’s availability to the general populace, who may not have jobs, will need to be found, but it also raises the issue about how we as humans develop or indeed need to develop........

I think it's indicative that despite DeepMind gaining a lot of publicity for their Go project, they haven't actually got a single commercial application out of their work (they do a bit with Google data centres and have had a couple of pilot projects that haven't been followed up on). It's largely the same with IBM, who despite Watson gaining a huge amount of publicity after winning Jeopardy has yet to add much to the bottom line of the company, much less end the record run of declining quarterly revenues.

What there are is a huge number of very interesting pilot and research projects out there, but as I'm sure given your experience in business you know, the road from pilot to fully fledged, mass market product is treacherous and far from certain. We're getting massively carried away, largely as a result of people with little real knowledge or experience in the sector or with the technology losing their heads. The fundamentals of AI aren't developing at a rate of knots at all. What is largely behind the progress that has been made is a huge amount of available data, and more powerful computers to process that data. We haven't had tremendous breakthroughs in the underlying AI, despite the hoopla suggesting otherwise, and we're still an awful long way from any kind of general intelligence.

 

[peteblue]

I think it's indicative that despite DeepMind gaining a lot of publicity for their Go project, they haven't actually got a single commercial application out of their work (they do a bit with Google data centres and have had a couple of pilot projects that haven't been followed up on). It's largely the same with IBM, who despite Watson gaining a huge amount of publicity after winning Jeopardy has yet to add much to the bottom line of the company, much less end the record run of declining quarterly revenues.

What there are is a huge number of very interesting pilot and research projects out there, but as I'm sure given your experience in business you know, the road from pilot to fully fledged, mass market product is treacherous and far from certain. We're getting massively carried away, largely as a result of people with little real knowledge or experience in the sector or with the technology losing their heads. The fundamentals of AI aren't developing at a rate of knots at all. What is largely behind the progress that has been made is a huge amount of available data, and more powerful computers to process that data. We haven't had tremendous breakthroughs in the underlying AI, despite the hoopla suggesting otherwise, and we're still an awful long way from any kind of general intelligence.

But it will happen Bruce, it may take another 50 years but it will happen......