26 February 2019
Joy Webb
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all fun and games until Siri is smarter than your average human being. We live in a world where technology is constantly advancing, robots are a part of our daily lives and, in a decade, might be superior to us.
AI is defined by ScienceDaily as “the study and design of intelligent agents” where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success.
The only substantial differences between mankind and AI is consciousness, self-awareness and empathy.
I can’t help but compare AI with Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”
This novel ironically foreshadowed our future; Victor Frankenstein created a profound scientific discovery: another human. In comparison with mankind, as we stand today, creating a profound scientific discovery: AI.
Artificial Intelligence, in its most advanced form, will become a tool for the wealthy or upper class to receive augmented consciousness. This will eventually be the complete separation of our world as we know it. Some will have the luxury of obtaining AI, some will not.
According to Elon Musk when he was a guest host on Joe Rogan’s Intellectual Dark Web Podcast, AI will be outside of human control. He says it will be tempting to use AI as a weapon, which poses a threat of humans using it against each other.
AI will eventually be able to perform many jobs that Americans are now employed doing today, such as bagging groceries, taking orders at a fast food restaurant or even waitressing. AI will do it all. The separation between humans and AI’s being our consciousness might even become obscure as AI’s continue to evolve.
Mankind is contributing to AI with our continuous connection of interfaces through social media, like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Since we are constantly wanting the latest and greatest technology, like the new iPhone X, or the next Tesla, AI will continue to progress until we reach a point of our technological advancements mirroring our own knowledge and abilities, as we see in “Frankenstein”.
According to Elon Musk the percentage of intelligence that is not human is increasing, and eventually, we will represent a very small percentage of intelligence. The question of “Can AI’s eventually augment their own consciousness?” comes into play.
The next time you ask Siri what the weather’s like before you look outside, or let Facebook use face recognition to remind you what you look like before looking into a mirror, consider what exactly is occurring. Artificial Intelligence is taking over the world as we know it, so the least we can do is be aware.