Will the tin man kill us all or take us down the yellow brick road?

Will artificial intelligence (AI) lead to the extinction of humanity? Well, the simplistic answer to that question, is a simple “no”, despite what every post-apocalyptic science fiction tale of our demise with an unhappy ending has told us. There are eight billion people on the planet, even with the most melodramatic kind of extinction event, there are likely to be pockets of humanity that survive and have the wherewithall to procreate and repopulate the planet, although it may take a while. A less simplistic answer requires a less simplistic question. For instance: Will artificial intelligence lead to potentially catastrophic problems for humanity that cannot be overcome quickly and so lead to mass suffering and death, the world over? The less-than-simplistic answer to that question, is yes, probably. It is this issue that has caused alarm in the aftermath of the hyperbole surrounding recent developments in AI, and perhaps rightly so, we need to think carefully before we take the next steps, but it may well be too late. There are always going to be greedy, needy, and malicious third parties who will exploit any new technology to their own ends and without a care for the consequences. Now, back when I was a junior scientist, we’re talking the 1970s here, the notion of AI was really all about machines that somehow, through technological advances gained sentience. Comics, TV and cinema was awash with thinking robots, both benign and malign, and had been for se...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Artificial Intelligence Source Type: blogs