Evan asked about this on the Q&A, and I wanted to re-post it here since people might miss seeing it on the Q&A.
http://lovelace.augustana.edu/q2a/index.php/1582/what-are-your-actual-feelings-about-ai
It's an excellent question. Naturally, you don't have to answer... but it could be interesting to discuss.
You can either talk about it on the Q&A post, or (in case you fear being voted up/down on Lovelace), you can discuss it in the comments section of this blog post here...
I thought that AI was great, but I am doubting it more now, there are many negative social ramifications to AI. The algorithms are also a lot more complex than I originally thought.
ReplyDelete(Really overwhelmed with the response guys, thanks. :P) As you all know, I'm scared of robots, even Roombas, with the exception of Data from Star Trek. But aside from this, I am concerned primarily about the social implications of even less advanced AI, in that I don't know if, say, Pepper is a healthy replacement for human interaction and I worry people will turn more and more to robots that way. I also worry about the people who are left behind by technological advancements, and I'm worried about people not having any real work to do because I think people really do need work for a healthy mind (and body). You also all can tell that I'm religious, so there's probably an aspect of that to my feelings, but I also had these ideas before I was Muslim. Things like Wendell Berry books are probably to blame here.
ReplyDeleteIn light of our recent discussions about data mining, and the fact this blog is publicly available on the Internet... do you feel comfortable posting about your religious beliefs online? Data mining aside, is it possible that a future prospective employer might Google you, find out your religious affiliation, and discriminate against you on that basis? (Then again, would you actually want to to work for that company if they were to act in such a bigoted manner?)
DeleteIf this is making you uncomfortable, you should be able to edit/delete your comment... but it's possible that Google (or someone else) has already data mined it and has your religious preference on file in it's massive data warehouse. Google is (was?) famous for it's "don't be evil" motto. But... how much can you really trust them?
As an afterthought -- Google may have already "data mined" the fact that I don't always use apostrophes correctly... specifically, I misused "it's" twice in that last post. (It should have been "its" for the possessive pronoun.) I guess I won't delete the comment on account of two grammatical mistakes... but I'll let it stay there and serve as a lesson for me.
DeleteWay to really assure someone who is already having fears about AI Dr. Stonedahl. Anyway Evan this AI break through happen at a really slow pace that one, gives you time to adjust to. I.e no one in the class agreed that they will spend 2 grand for pepper so pepper is not becoming a thing anytime soon and if it were then it is just like a cellphone just 1.5 Meters taller. Given the slow pace our generation may not be here to see the bots taking over. Don't worry AI is still really cute tiny project that we can now be impressed by the how articulate is trying to be.Last thing, i will rather a bot rule the world that human beings, with right parameters they are very logical and devoid of all the characteristic that makes humanity really undesirable a times. As long as they remain egoless and have no personality then we always have this loyal helper that is here to do what we want and can always count on
DeleteI think AI is great in general (except for the SkyNet risk). But Google is almost having 100% control of our daily life and their search engine keeps improving itself based on what people put into the search, I would say we already have a pseudo-Skynet
DeleteStonedahl-- My religious affiliation is on my Facebook profile, and I know for sure already that Facebook's business is personal data, so if I was worried about that, it's already too late. Luckily, the field I'm probably/hopefully going into (librarianship) is a typically accepting one...
DeleteNelly-- Even if it's slow-going, I worry for the future. I'm not just concerned about my time.
Minh-- I think you meant to reply to the original post, not to my comment, but regardless, I like your point about Google being pseudo-Skynet. It is somewhat discomfiting that have a major product in every aspect of user's daily computer-lives. It already sent me back to Firefox-derivatives. :P