Is AI Development Moving In the Wrong Direction? (hackaday.com)

szczys writes: Artificial Intelligence is always just around the corner, right? We often see reports that promise near breakthroughs, but time and again they don't come to fruition. The cause of this may be that we're trying to solve the wrong problem. Will Sweatman took a look at the history of AI projects starting with the code-breaking machines of WWII and moving up to modern efforts like IBM's Watson and Google's Inceptionism. His conclusion is that we haven't actually been trying to solve "intelligence" (or at least our concept of intelligence has been wrong). And that with faster computing and larger pools of data the goal has moved toward faster searches rather than true intelligence.

Comments

A Different Beast

[JimSadler]

I think the problem is that people expect machine intelligence to look like human intelligence. Machine intelligence exists and is strong in some areas. Modern chess programs are an example. They can play unique games and be stronger than any human player. Yes, they are given the rules of chess and machines did not invent chess. But they have passed beyond human abilities and it is at the point where some programs are coded to only make move patterns that humans would tend to make. Learning how to adapt machine intelligence to our real world problems is challenging. But we are in for a fright when computers get really good at analyzing human problems and applying better solutions that we now have at hand.

Thermos is the ultimate AI

[Gazzonyx]

Really, a thermos is the ultimate AI. When I put cold things in one, they stay cold. When I put hot things in one, they stay hot. How does it know?!

TFS is ridiculous

[fyngyrz]

First thing, the article's thesis (according to TFS, which is so ridiculous I couldn't be bothered to read the article) is not only wrong, but completely free of actually having examined what AI research is. At best, it's the product of someone who believes the marketing nonsense promulgated when they tell you your thermostat "uses AI" and that Google search "uses AI."

First, we don't have AI. We have AI research. Anyone actually working in the field knows this (and no, people building search engines and thermostats aren't working in the field.) This is very important to understand. Research yes, but in terms of actual results, the "A" is doing fine, the "I", we simply do not have. At all. Period. This does not, of course, mean that we won't have it. We will. There's no magic here; animal brains are machines, albeit biological ones. Getting from here to AI following that model requires understanding the brain, which we do not, but it is a task we are definitely in the process of accomplishing.

Second, actual AI research at this time includes numerous interesting approaches, all of which are other than those alluded to in TFS. Quite a few of the actual AI research approaches incorporate information taken from the model provided by human and animal brain function at the cellular and network level. For instance, here's something written for the layman that details exactly the kind of brain-based work I'm describing.

Third, there is always the (strong, IMHO) possibility that there is more than one way to produce actual intelligences, and that one of those will bear fruit. The idea that nature has happened upon the only possible solution seems... unduly pessimistic. Having said that, the chosen path for most actual AI researchers (not Google, not the thermostat designer, not the database maven) is to follow the known-working examples that are around us with occurrences in the billions.

The challenge is that the various aspects of intelligence have been very hard to get a handle on right up to just a couple years ago. We have no natural internal mechanism whatsoever to observe the underlying operations that go into creating thought, reason and consciousness. Because of that, it's only been very recently that we have begun to be able to see how this particular system actually operates. With this new information in hand, it finally becomes possible to proceed along lines close to those the relevant biology utilizes by means other than pure guesswork and many-times-removed analogies for observed high level processes.

why do we want more intelligent beings around?

There are two kinds of AI results being pursued.

The first is intelligent, but non-conscious AI. Which would be an entirely new thing in our world; there are no examples of this in biology to follow. This result, if achievable, will create the opportunity to release us from the necessity of working to survive. This is highly desirable for many obvious reasons. No more menial work just so tomorrow won't unbelievably suck. The house always clean, the yard always in prime condition, willing, able and dependable helpers in any undertaking we choose to pursue, the cat box always pristine, food and other resources are produced and delivered reliably, etc. The number of potential benefits is enormous. Staggering. So there are very concrete and practical reasons to chase this particular goal.

The second is intelligent, conscious AI. Free will, creativity, and so on. The technological goal is clear, but the purpose is, just as you observe, not. We know better (well, we should know better) than to try to enslave conscious beings to our will. The inevitable (and appropriate) result of that kind of short-sighted idiocy is resentment and revolt. Assuming we can avoid that particular mistake, that means they could choose to, or agree to, pursue their existence beside us, which is certainly an