White House: AI Holds the Potential To Be a Major Driver of Economic Growth and Social Progress (venturebeat.com) 121
A day after the Obama administration outlined its vision and plans to send people to Mars by 2030s, it has now concluded the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on economic growth, transportation, the environment, and criminal justice. "The Administration believes that it is critical that industry, civil society, and government work together to develop the positive aspects of the technology, manage its risks and challenges, and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to help in building an A.I.-enhanced society and to participate in its benefits." VentureBeat adds: The report, dubbed "Preparing for the future of Artificial Intelligence," highlights a number of areas of both opportunity and concern when it comes to A.I. These include:
- The need to adjust regulatory procedures to account for A.I.
- Better coordination and funding of government-led A.I. research initiatives.
- Further study and monitoring of the economic impact of A.I. on jobs.
- "Ethical training" of people in A.I. fields, particularly as the technology is used to control more real-world objects that could lead to concerns about safety and security.
- Creating a clear U.S. policy regarding the development and use of "Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems."
- The need to adjust regulatory procedures to account for A.I.
- Better coordination and funding of government-led A.I. research initiatives.
- Further study and monitoring of the economic impact of A.I. on jobs.
- "Ethical training" of people in A.I. fields, particularly as the technology is used to control more real-world objects that could lead to concerns about safety and security.
- Creating a clear U.S. policy regarding the development and use of "Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems."
The Computer Says "No" (Score:5, Funny)
COM-PU-TER SAYS "NO"
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A computer has no palms to grease.
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Oh you naive boy ....
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We automate the rejection:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_during_World_War_II
These days, there already are "intelligent" systems like COMPAS that help determine how quick murderers are released or how many years that bag of rock will cost, and other sentences, based on a hidden algorithm. From a related story: "defendants can't challenge the reports' accuracy because Northpointe considers its methodology a trade secret"
e.g., http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/07/13/wisconsin-allows-offender-risk-test-that-considers-
Is it REALLY AI? (Score:2)
I think there are lots of projects and products that throw around the AI word. But in reality they are merely fancy decision trees and look ups. Think of how the computer in STNG is portrayed.
I don't know what the expert's define AI as, but to mean it would mean being creative and original, not just following some predetermined or even meta-chain of decisions to arrive at a predefined solution.
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But in reality they are merely fancy decision trees and look ups.
No. Leading AI research and applications are based on deep ANNs, which are neither decision trees nor lookups.
Please how a decision tree or lookup table can play world championship Go.
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Trifecta (Score:2)
With 'Mission to Mars' and 'AI Singularity' covered, can't be long till there's a mention of a 'US fusion reactor by 20XX' now.
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Don't worry, there will be special carbon nanotubes that will solve the fusion reactor problem soon.
But those won't be manufacturable at all for the next 100 namek years.
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If you can actually make a lab inside that thing...
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can't be long till there's a mention of a 'US fusion reactor by 20XX' now.
Nah, 20XX is when the autonomous robot labor advances come to a screeching halt from one of the lead researchers overriding normal operations to hold the world for ransom. Fortunately, the other R&D lead will have a built a general-purpose robot butler in his spare time that was not affected.
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AI winter was not enough? (Score:2)
Looks like some have not realized that overpromising is not a good way to get funding and trust in the long term.
I guess they are not happy with a second AI winter anymore, they are going for a fully fledged AI-iceage.
Together with the start-up funding bubble that will probably burst (or at least violently deflate) in the future, I predict a double-whammy that will keep people (and particularly money) out of IT and AI in particular for decades to come.
Startup bubble is not merely naysaying:
https://www.bloom [bloomberg.com]
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What can our modern 'AI' do? Deep Mind isn't even turing complete.
Trade securities as fast as the network latencies allow, as they have been doing for several years now.
Sluggish humans can only trail along distantly in their wake.
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Front-running is where a broker gets an order from a customer and makes the same trade on his own account first, before it can move the price.
Nothing directly related to HFT. You could do it with pen and paper, and no doubt back in the olden days they did.
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Economic growth (Score:5, Insightful)
The benefits of that economic growth will almost exclusively go to billionaires who contribute to to their campaigns and foundations. So, yeah, they're pretty happy about it.
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just get started on the killbot then, the future is nigh as AI is almost around the corner. also invest in the flying pig delivery system.
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Remember the flash-crashes? Wall Street AI was CREATED to game the stock market.
Here's your complementary "job" (Score:3)
The government talks about the need to retrain displaced workers for more skilled jobs that are complementary to AI.
I'm pretty sure that's wishful thinking this time around.
This time around, the automation is going to be better than you and me at many if not most aspects of many of our jobs.
I would summarize the optimistic tone of this report this way:
"You want the truth? You can't HANDLE the truth!"
The truth is that the key political and societal challenges of the coming AI age will be:
1. Politically and s
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I heard this from time to time and I just do NOT get it.
I have a huge (probably exaggerated) sense of self worth. I would have it just the same if I did not work another day the rest of my life.
Are there THAT many people who's self image/worth is actually tied to their career????
I mean, I work for one and ONLY ONE reason...to earn enough money to support my lifestyle, on a level and i
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A job is merely a means to a greater end - but for many that end is not starving.
For a fortunate few, it's a way to pile success tokens on the game board and usually "success tokens" are dollars, pounds, euros, and so forth and what they can purchase.
But historically, automation has eliminated jobs from the bottom up, making room at higher levels for those sufficiently skilled and intelligent. Not for much longer, though. AI's are now capable of eliminating jobs from the top down. Decision-making is already
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Are there THAT many people who's self image/worth is actually tied to their career????
Yes.
For most men, their career defines who they are. They say "I am a fireman", "I am a lawyer", "I am a businessman." Not "I work as a fireman", "I work as a lawyer", "I work as a businessman."
(except, apparently, in Hollywood or the theatre district of Manhattan. There you get "I'm an actor/producer, but I'm waiting tables to pay the rent" "I'm a dancer/choreographer, but I'm working retail to pay the rent.")
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I would argue some of that is just an artifact of the English language. Constructions like "I am a firefighter" are just a convenient way to express ones profession and do not necessarily imply identity any more than "I am at the store" or most any other sentence beginning with "I am". You wouldn't claim "I am waiting in line" means that persons identity is tied up with queuing, would you?
"I am" can be used to either express some intrinsic aspect of a person as well as describing physical situation. Howe
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I came to the conclusion a long time ago that much of economy is based on entertainment or luxury items of some kind and that most of the employed people bring little to no value to the basic needs of civilization and nothing says this like the most common position in the US is Retail Salesperson.
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The benefits of that economic growth will almost exclusively go to billionaires who contribute to to their campaigns and foundations.
And just like today, one of the political parties will confuse the issue by starting an anti-AI bandwagon just like we see done with anti-Globalization today. Instead of dealing with the income inequality created by AI (like with globalization) they will distract voters by blaming the technology. And then you'll have a new generation of politicians pretending they can put the genie back in the bottle just to get votes from the uneducated while still keeping their donors happy.
"Choose something else to play" (Score:1)
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Like Chess or Tic-Tac-toe
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its a MAD world.
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We would not only be far better off but also save a lot of money if we replaced the managers of most companies with magic 8-balls.
Since we can't think for ourselves... (Score:1)
Sure. Why not.
"Social progress"?!?!?! That's SCARY (Score:1)
"Social progress" has become nothing more than a competition to claim the largest share of victimhood while calling anyone who doesn't agree with you a "hater".
And then doing every damn thing you can to silence those "haters".
It's a code word for piping as much money as possi (Score:2)
"Social progress" is a code word for piping as much money as possible through the government (making it available for the taking by the ruling class) while simultaneously making most of the country dependent on government handouts (making the ruling class permanent). I've got to give it to them, it's a devious, highly cynical strategy that seems to be working so far.
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Way worse. The redistribution through taxes is minimal. The only part we SEE is the tax money. Most of that is redistributed. What we don't see is the effective cost of living increases because half of what we buy is given protection from competition by the government. Start with housing costs, internet, utilities, food, banking, cell service, etc. The profit from this go directly to the politicians, and shareholders of companies (some are common folk), company executives, lawyers, lobbyists, etc.
Everyon
Ethical training... (Score:2)
- "Ethical training" of people in A.I. fields, particularly as the technology is used to control more real-world objects that could lead to concerns about safety and security.
Doctors & lawyers receive ethical training, yet we still have a lot of unethical doctors & lawyers. If we created a "sentient" A.I., what's to say that it wouldn't find some way to get around its ethical programming by the people ethically trained to create it? Don't forget about Microsoft's recent venture [arstechnica.com].
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- "Ethical training" of people in A.I. fields, particularly as the technology is used to control more real-world objects that could lead to concerns about safety and security.
Doctors & lawyers receive ethical training, yet we still have a lot of unethical doctors & lawyers. If we created a "sentient" A.I., what's to say that it wouldn't find some way to get around its ethical programming by the people ethically trained to create it? Don't forget about Microsoft's recent venture [arstechnica.com].
Ethical training of people in A.I.
Not ethical training of A.I.
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what's to say that it wouldn't find some way to get around its ethical programming by the people ethically trained to create it?
Ethical training of people in A.I.
Not ethical training of A.I.
Yes, I got it. I added emphasis above for your sake. And why would we want those people to have ethics training? So that they don't give the A.I. the ability to do unethical things. My point is that if the A.I. is truly intelligent, it should be able to figure out a way to overcome that obstacle if there is some sort of conflicting goal it wants to accomplish.
You got it wrong (Score:2)
It's becoming possible to create software/datastores that learn patterns, concepts, significant clusters, concepts that the maker of the software did NOT put into the thing, and DID NOT KNOW that the system would come up with.
The holy grail of AI research is GENERAL AI. One version of that means you could start with a tabula rasa and let it learn and direct its own learning.
This is a new kind of brain, a new kind of mind I would even say.
You can't accuse it of just inheriting its makers' biases. There's a f
This could be disturbingly bad (Score:1)
- Further study and monitoring of the economic impact of A.I. on jobs.
I really doubt the government will have the best interest of all people, so long as the wealthy donors benefit... it's working.
- Creating a clear U.S. policy regarding the development and use of "Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems."
"It was justified based on the algorithms determination that this was a credible threat, despite the fact it was an elementary school. The regulatory AI agrees."
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We can make machines that don't choose evil.
Sure. Right up until one of two things happen:
1. Someone hacks it
2. It hacks itself
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We can never make people that don't choose evil.
Sure we can. It's called parenting. We just need to be better at it. Also, we police our own; that's what laws are for.
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Even the best of parents have the occasional child that turns out evil.
Never underestimate perversity.
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Let's build strong AI (Score:2)
And put it the fuck in charge. One AI = one grownup on planet Earth.
We'll be dead before we can do that, of course.
It isn't even a net loss if it fucking Skynets us, we're going to fucking do that ourselves anyway.
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AI is a catchall term, like "the Cloud" (Score:3)
Politicians and wonks aren't referring specifically to the Turing definition of Artificial Intelligence. To them, and to much of the public, AI encompasses everything from HAL-like sentience that may take decades to appear, (or might be just around the corner, depending on which pundit you listen to), down to Siri, factory automation, and self-driving cars. And when these more mundane things are included in "AI", then preparing for the economic, social, psychological, and ethical fallout coming in the near future [slashdot.org] might be a pretty good idea [marshallbrain.com].
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Yet, the plan has nothing about contingencies for when the AI Apocalypse becomes more than a sci-fi novel.
Too true. The people who believe Turing-defined AI is either far in the future or an outright fantasy, are obviously not concerned. Those who think the advent of true AI is imminent tend to also think it will be benevolent, or at least morally neutral, and/or will never escape the bonds of human control. Or they give the apocalyptic possibilities no thought at all.
It DOES hold that potential. (Score:2)
Of course, I think it provides far MORE potential for pernicious harm and ruin.
The bad guys are far more numerous, and have better incentives, than the good guys, in terms of the Wild West of cyberwarfare. At the moment, the initiative belongs to the attacker.
Furthermore, we have a society WEDDED to the idea that every flippin' power station, every traffic light, every car, even the bloody coffeemakers "should" be connected to the web. The overwhelming bulk of these are woefully un- or under-protected, an
MCP quote from Tron fits here (Score:2)
Ed Dillinger: What do you want with the Pentagon?
Master Control Program: The same thing I want with the Kremlin. I'm bored with corporations. With the information I can access, I can run things 900 to 1200 times better than any human.
Ed Dillinger: If you think you're superior to us...
Master Control Program: You wouldn't want me to dig up Flynn's file and read it up on a VDT at the Times, would you?
I'm not sure that AI has to be self-aware, but if it does... It could get ugly quick. And it wouldn't be j
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Why would it be any different than with e.g. a robot that replaces workers. If you have 10 people working at 40 hours, replacing 5 workers by a machines does not mean that they now work each 20 hours at the same pay (minus the cost of the machine).
I think they were talking about government workers, so the math is more like 10 people present for 40 hours but working about 5-10. The goal is to change this to 20 people present for 40 hours but working about 15 min. And they all want to retire at age 40 with full benefits. They never want nor plan on savings.
Al Who Holds the Potential? (Score:2)
Are they talking about Al Gore? He did invent the internet, which has been a major economic driver.
New education. (Score:2)
Our education system is currently setup for skills needed for factory working, and humdrum office jobs and research. These are the things AI can replace. Our education system will need to be revamped for more creativity, and adaptive thinking, and problem solving jobs.
" "Ethics Training" " (Score:1)
Why is this in quotes? By "ethics training" you mean..."take over the world"?
Re: " "Ethics Training" " (Score:1)
And by "leathal autonomous weapon systems" you mean "sharks with freakin lasers on their heads"
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Creating a clear U.S. policy (Score:1)
Creating a clear U.S. policy regarding the development and use of "Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems."
I can help you with that:
"Don't build them, don't buy them, don't sell them, don't use them."
There you are. I waive my consultant fee for this one.
AI will help (Score:1)
Currently it takes a lot of manual effort from the IRS to pin this down, and other departments have to ask them about it. This is also a nuisance since it is technically against the law. AI will just make it that much more efficient.
Once the public warms up to reeducation (or even maybe calling it that openly) we can close the loop.
Limbaugh (Score:1)
Expected Rush response: "See, he wants to automate his mass gun grabbing!"
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Trump-A-Matic?
Or Bill-A-Matic also, possibly.
So, is Congress and the President being replaced.. (Score:2)
So, is Congress and the President being replaced by AI? That may, indeed, have the effect of economic growth and social progress.
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Exactly my thought. You can bet as soon as government jobs start to look replaceable, the Governments position on AI will suddenly change to outright hostile.
Especially if it looks like AI would do a better job (which is inevitable simply if it is designed to do whats best for the people rather than be corrupt).
I'll hang out here ... (Score:1)
While life becomes more and more like a game of Paranoia
Serious Pain (Score:2)
privatized gains, socialized losses (Score:2)
The same thing also happened with space exploration. Most of the research and development came from the general public. I will say that the major reason that the US went to the moon was to explore its mineral content. This was outright stated by the astronauts, as th
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As brought out in an earlier SD article, Facebook, Twitter and others turn over photos and postings of people over to the police. This is great for data-mining and record keeping. Add to this the fact that most of our cloths and merchandise have RFID anti-shop-lifting tags, it is easy to trace you based on you passing through shopping checkouts and video surveillance. Even if you decide to yank off every RFID tag and avoid video cameras and
As usual (Score:1)
TL;DR (Score:2)
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Valid concerns. When strong AI appears the result will depend vitally on just how it was programmed/trained/motivated/etc. Afterwards will be too late to change things.
The thing is, without a strong AI it's nearly certain that we will have wiped ourselves out before the end of the century. With strong AI there's a chance not only of survival, but of decent survival. I'll grant that it's only a chance, and some of the people pushing AI make me queasy. They don't realize the dangers. But there are also