by Tom Beattie
In order to begin this article I have to take you back to Christmas day. I’m sorry, we’re all over it, but I must. It’s Christmas morning, 8 O’clock lets say, and my Dad hands a box full of presents to my Mum. Born was our family’s fifth member, Alexa. My Mum’s face dropped as she realised Alexa was my Dad’s new found best friend, probably because she’s the only member of the house who gives him undivided attention, doesn’t answer back and only speaks when spoken to. He’d been talking to it or her for months now so decided my Mum needed her company as well. After a few hours of awkward debate we finally set it up in the kitchen, and to our surprise she’s actually remarkably clever. We tried to test Alexa in every way. “Alexa, play George Frideric Handel - The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba”, shouts my Dad. “Alexa who was the 12th president of the United States”, she had an answer to everything. Then something dawned on us. Alexa is the cleverest person, thing, speaker, robot in the room. Alexa, and a few Media lessons from Mr Burkinshaw, and my mind was wondering, artificial intelligence.
So what is artificial intelligence? Well according to google it’s “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages”. I think what makes this a particularly pressing subject is the “normally requiring human intelligence” part. This in turn poses an even bigger question, what could artificial intelligence lead to? The fact is that robots learn relentlessly and tirelessly from data and algorithms, a simplified way to think of this is they learn from lots of practice. Whilst this is similar to a human, the impressive part is that they will never need emotional or physical breaks like humans and if they did they would be much fewer and further between, providing a clear advantage in learning and practicality. Humans are held up by emotional and physical barriers, like stress and fatigue. Robots run out of charge or break, get fixed and carry on. Www.sas.com say “Artificial intelligence (AI) makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks. Most AI examples that you hear about today – from chess-playing computers to self-driving cars – rely heavily on deep learning and natural language processing. Using these technologies, computers can be trained to accomplish specific tasks by processing large amounts of data and recognizing patterns in the data”. This shows us that these robots learn from data and algorithms, they process far more information per second than a human could ever, and what's more impressive is that, in true Mike Ross style, they remember it. I feel the most pressing and interesting argument however, if the danger that this could pose to Humans in the not so distant future. What happens what AI has control of the “on/off” switch?
Prevalent tech giants and physicist such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, according to Forbes.com, have suggested that “AI could potentially be very dangerous”, Musk has even compared AI to the dangers of the dictator of North Korea. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates also says there’s reason to be cautious, but as ever he remains positive and suggests that the good can outweigh the bad if managed properly. Since recent developments have made super-intelligent machines far more intelligent than humans and much sooner than initially thought. The time is now to determine what dangers artificial intelligence poses. Forbes.com go on to raise an interesting point in terms of the dangers of AI giving rise to autonomous weapons, or machines programmed to kill and not stop. They also say “It might even be plausible to expect that the nuclear arms race will be replaced with a global autonomous weapons race”, this coupled with Putin’s statement, “Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with enormous opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”, shows a clear danger even in present day.
On the other hand, AI does provide some extraordinary opportunities when managed properly. In order to understand this we should look at some of the uses AI holds in the present day. I think most notably for the present, and the future, AI has made an impact on health care, admittedly today the impact is less focuses on directly saving lives by way of operations. However, sas.com say that that AI applications “can provide personalized medicine and X-ray readings. Personal health care assistants can act as life coaches, reminding you to take your pills, exercise or eat healthier”. This provides a huge benefit to a large number of people, especially those suffering from dementia and long term memory loss. Another area in which AI could change the ever failing NHS is facetime or video calls. Why go to you GP or even A&E to decide weather you need treatment when you could have a video appointment? This way people who needed treatment would go and receive it as normal, but those who don’t can save transport costs, valuable time for themselves and doctors and stop contributing to traffic and all the issues with using cars, even if the cars drive themselves at this point. Another huge market for AI is the retail space. AI provides virtual shopping capabilities that offer personalized recommendations and discuss purchase options with the consumer. Stock management and site layout technologies will also be improved with AI. Earlier on in the week I read something about amazon introducing a “photo fitting service”. You need clothes? Just take a picture of yourself from several angles, submit it, and not only will they tell you the best size to buy but they will show you pictures of the item on you before you buy it, raising interesting questions around the death of the high street. Linked to this is AI in manufacturing, with machines being a more efficient form of capital than humans, they can spit out products with perfection in mass number without the emotional and physical breaks needed, in turn creating more products at lower costs for firms creating more supply of a single product and ultimately higher profits. Perhaps less crucial, but important to many, AI is becoming ever more common on the sportsfield, being used to capture images of game play and provide coaches with reports on how to better organize the game, including optimizing field positions and strategy and being used to provide referees the opportunity to make crucial decisions accurately.
So above are the present day successes of AI, but what are some of the failures and worries for the future? In today's world having a social media account is almost as common as having a national insurance number. Not only are data sets and artificial intelligence in general used to make you keep and stay on social media for longer, they are also used to make you buy certain products. Firstly, Facebook and Instagram have changed their systems so they show and recommend a user content that they like. The more they consume, the more Instagram and Facebook will show them. The dangers of this are clear in the case of Molly Russell, who’s father said “Instagram helped kill my daughter”, and to an extent he couldn’t be more correct.
Molly used the internet and specifically Instagram to look up the best way to harm herself and eventually commit suicide. The Instagram algorithm then picked up on key words and feed her content encouraging her to self harm, some of it even taught her the best way to do it. The same concept is now being used in online marketing and applies strongly to Molly Russells case. Online marketers and companies are now placing something called a Facebook pixel on their websites. This is a small piece of code which in essence allows you to track who goes where, and who looks at what on your own website and then retarget those same people with adverts of the products they looked at or even showed an interest in (this is why you’re getting shown adverts of products that you have previously searched or viewed online). As soon as you view a product, it will trigger a whole selection of adverts, tailored specifically for you, in order to convince you to buy that product. But what if we could apply the same concept, a sales funnel, to convince someone not to buy something, but to believe something? Suddenly, we have a systems online, powered by algorithms and data that could radicalise people of any religion and cause them to believe certain things and even commit certain acts. Suddenly, Trump has used Facebook and Instagram to show people his ideas in a certain way to gain votes because he wants to be the president. Suddenly, Putin has become “the leader in this sphere” and is using it to “become the ruler of the world”, as he put it. This article started with a light hearted introduction about a small harmless speaker that my Dad bought for my Mum. Well even that’s wrong. Alexa can record everything. We are fast entering a world where privacy isn’t a thing anymore. There are people who know exactly what you’re viewing online, and AI systems that know more about you than your own parents. A bigger question is who can access and view all this data? The biggest question is who decides who can view this data? I believe the answers to these will map out the destination of society for the next century.
So what is artificial intelligence? Well according to google it’s “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages”. I think what makes this a particularly pressing subject is the “normally requiring human intelligence” part. This in turn poses an even bigger question, what could artificial intelligence lead to? The fact is that robots learn relentlessly and tirelessly from data and algorithms, a simplified way to think of this is they learn from lots of practice. Whilst this is similar to a human, the impressive part is that they will never need emotional or physical breaks like humans and if they did they would be much fewer and further between, providing a clear advantage in learning and practicality. Humans are held up by emotional and physical barriers, like stress and fatigue. Robots run out of charge or break, get fixed and carry on. Www.sas.com say “Artificial intelligence (AI) makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks. Most AI examples that you hear about today – from chess-playing computers to self-driving cars – rely heavily on deep learning and natural language processing. Using these technologies, computers can be trained to accomplish specific tasks by processing large amounts of data and recognizing patterns in the data”. This shows us that these robots learn from data and algorithms, they process far more information per second than a human could ever, and what's more impressive is that, in true Mike Ross style, they remember it. I feel the most pressing and interesting argument however, if the danger that this could pose to Humans in the not so distant future. What happens what AI has control of the “on/off” switch?
Prevalent tech giants and physicist such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, according to Forbes.com, have suggested that “AI could potentially be very dangerous”, Musk has even compared AI to the dangers of the dictator of North Korea. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates also says there’s reason to be cautious, but as ever he remains positive and suggests that the good can outweigh the bad if managed properly. Since recent developments have made super-intelligent machines far more intelligent than humans and much sooner than initially thought. The time is now to determine what dangers artificial intelligence poses. Forbes.com go on to raise an interesting point in terms of the dangers of AI giving rise to autonomous weapons, or machines programmed to kill and not stop. They also say “It might even be plausible to expect that the nuclear arms race will be replaced with a global autonomous weapons race”, this coupled with Putin’s statement, “Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with enormous opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”, shows a clear danger even in present day.
On the other hand, AI does provide some extraordinary opportunities when managed properly. In order to understand this we should look at some of the uses AI holds in the present day. I think most notably for the present, and the future, AI has made an impact on health care, admittedly today the impact is less focuses on directly saving lives by way of operations. However, sas.com say that that AI applications “can provide personalized medicine and X-ray readings. Personal health care assistants can act as life coaches, reminding you to take your pills, exercise or eat healthier”. This provides a huge benefit to a large number of people, especially those suffering from dementia and long term memory loss. Another area in which AI could change the ever failing NHS is facetime or video calls. Why go to you GP or even A&E to decide weather you need treatment when you could have a video appointment? This way people who needed treatment would go and receive it as normal, but those who don’t can save transport costs, valuable time for themselves and doctors and stop contributing to traffic and all the issues with using cars, even if the cars drive themselves at this point. Another huge market for AI is the retail space. AI provides virtual shopping capabilities that offer personalized recommendations and discuss purchase options with the consumer. Stock management and site layout technologies will also be improved with AI. Earlier on in the week I read something about amazon introducing a “photo fitting service”. You need clothes? Just take a picture of yourself from several angles, submit it, and not only will they tell you the best size to buy but they will show you pictures of the item on you before you buy it, raising interesting questions around the death of the high street. Linked to this is AI in manufacturing, with machines being a more efficient form of capital than humans, they can spit out products with perfection in mass number without the emotional and physical breaks needed, in turn creating more products at lower costs for firms creating more supply of a single product and ultimately higher profits. Perhaps less crucial, but important to many, AI is becoming ever more common on the sportsfield, being used to capture images of game play and provide coaches with reports on how to better organize the game, including optimizing field positions and strategy and being used to provide referees the opportunity to make crucial decisions accurately.
So above are the present day successes of AI, but what are some of the failures and worries for the future? In today's world having a social media account is almost as common as having a national insurance number. Not only are data sets and artificial intelligence in general used to make you keep and stay on social media for longer, they are also used to make you buy certain products. Firstly, Facebook and Instagram have changed their systems so they show and recommend a user content that they like. The more they consume, the more Instagram and Facebook will show them. The dangers of this are clear in the case of Molly Russell, who’s father said “Instagram helped kill my daughter”, and to an extent he couldn’t be more correct.
Molly used the internet and specifically Instagram to look up the best way to harm herself and eventually commit suicide. The Instagram algorithm then picked up on key words and feed her content encouraging her to self harm, some of it even taught her the best way to do it. The same concept is now being used in online marketing and applies strongly to Molly Russells case. Online marketers and companies are now placing something called a Facebook pixel on their websites. This is a small piece of code which in essence allows you to track who goes where, and who looks at what on your own website and then retarget those same people with adverts of the products they looked at or even showed an interest in (this is why you’re getting shown adverts of products that you have previously searched or viewed online). As soon as you view a product, it will trigger a whole selection of adverts, tailored specifically for you, in order to convince you to buy that product. But what if we could apply the same concept, a sales funnel, to convince someone not to buy something, but to believe something? Suddenly, we have a systems online, powered by algorithms and data that could radicalise people of any religion and cause them to believe certain things and even commit certain acts. Suddenly, Trump has used Facebook and Instagram to show people his ideas in a certain way to gain votes because he wants to be the president. Suddenly, Putin has become “the leader in this sphere” and is using it to “become the ruler of the world”, as he put it. This article started with a light hearted introduction about a small harmless speaker that my Dad bought for my Mum. Well even that’s wrong. Alexa can record everything. We are fast entering a world where privacy isn’t a thing anymore. There are people who know exactly what you’re viewing online, and AI systems that know more about you than your own parents. A bigger question is who can access and view all this data? The biggest question is who decides who can view this data? I believe the answers to these will map out the destination of society for the next century.
Cool article ! Tom
ReplyDelete