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White House: AI Holds the Potential To Be a Major Driver of Economic Growth and Social Progress (venturebeat.com)

A day after the Obama administration outlined its vision and plans to send people to Mars by 2030s, it has now concluded the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on economic growth, transportation, the environment, and criminal justice. "The Administration believes that it is critical that industry, civil society, and government work together to develop the positive aspects of the technology, manage its risks and challenges, and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to help in building an A.I.-enhanced society and to participate in its benefits." VentureBeat adds: The report, dubbed "Preparing for the future of Artificial Intelligence," highlights a number of areas of both opportunity and concern when it comes to A.I. These include:
- The need to adjust regulatory procedures to account for A.I.
- Better coordination and funding of government-led A.I. research initiatives.
- Further study and monitoring of the economic impact of A.I. on jobs.
- "Ethical training" of people in A.I. fields, particularly as the technology is used to control more real-world objects that could lead to concerns about safety and security.
- Creating a clear U.S. policy regarding the development and use of "Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems."

121 comments

  1. The Computer Says "No" by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Funny

    >> Dear government, I would like to [exercise my right or receive a benefit]

    COM-PU-TER SAYS "NO"

    1. Re:The Computer Says "No" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is that any different than right now, where a human says "no?"

    2. Re:The Computer Says "No" by Khashishi · · Score: 1

      A computer has no palms to grease.

    3. Re:The Computer Says "No" by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      Oh you naive boy ....

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    4. Re:The Computer Says "No" by nightcats · · Score: 1

      Looking to government for insight about tech is like looking to yahoo for insight about privacy.

      --
      Development is programmable; Discovery is not programmable. (Fuller)
    5. Re:The Computer Says "No" by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      We automate the rejection:

      if requester is a citizen then
        display "No!"
      else
        send_ICE_to_Arrest(requester)
      end if

  2. It's really just a man behind the curtain. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The "AI" commands us to do horrible act X. And so it shall be.

    1. Re:It's really just a man behind the curtain. by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

      Lest we forget:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_during_World_War_II

      These days, there already are "intelligent" systems like COMPAS that help determine how quick murderers are released or how many years that bag of rock will cost, and other sentences, based on a hidden algorithm. From a related story: "defendants can't challenge the reports' accuracy because Northpointe considers its methodology a trade secret"
      e.g., http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/07/13/wisconsin-allows-offender-risk-test-that-considers-gender

    2. Re:It's really just a man behind the curtain. by frovingslosh · · Score: 1

      Are you talking about the Al who won the 2000 election but had it given to the Bush idiot child by the Supremes?

      --
      I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  3. Meanwhile back in reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I cant even get Alexa to play half my music on command since if there's one weird word in the album/song title its just useless.

    AI is dumb as a door right now.

    1. Re:Meanwhile back in reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you're judging AI by a single application which is not even two years old?

      Maybe it is not the AI that is deficient.

    2. Re: Meanwhile back in reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Artificial dumb? Points for knowing the literary reference

  4. Trifecta by lobiusmoop · · Score: 1

    With 'Mission to Mars' and 'AI Singularity' covered, can't be long till there's a mention of a 'US fusion reactor by 20XX' now.

    --
    "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
    1. Re:Trifecta by Z80a · · Score: 1

      Don't worry, there will be special carbon nanotubes that will solve the fusion reactor problem soon.

      But those won't be manufacturable at all for the next 100 namek years.

    2. Re:Trifecta by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      can't be long till there's a mention of a 'US fusion reactor by 20XX' now.

      Nah, 20XX is when the autonomous robot labor advances come to a screeching halt from one of the lead researchers overriding normal operations to hold the world for ransom. Fortunately, the other R&D lead will have a built a general-purpose robot butler in his spare time that was not affected.

    3. Re:Trifecta by jamiesan · · Score: 1

      20XX was the name of the Robot that started a social movement toward equality for Robots. His main speech started with "I have a series of 1s and 0s!"

    4. Re:Trifecta by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The US will fall in the singularity before we have cheap/free energy for the world.

    5. Re:Trifecta by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can we lock the boffins in a hyperbolic time chamber to speed things along?

    6. Re:Trifecta by Z80a · · Score: 1

      If you can actually make a lab inside that thing...

  5. The most freighening words in the world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...I am from the Gubment, and I'm here to help.

    By definition AI does ethnic profiling.

    1. Re:The most freighening words in the world by OakDragon · · Score: 1

      Every time I hear "social progress" I look around to see where the re-education camps might go. Couple that with "AI" and I'm doubly terrified.

    2. Re:The most freighening words in the world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are retarded

  6. AI winter was not enough? by sciengin · · Score: 1

    Looks like some have not realized that overpromising is not a good way to get funding and trust in the long term.
    I guess they are not happy with a second AI winter anymore, they are going for a fully fledged AI-iceage.

    Together with the start-up funding bubble that will probably burst (or at least violently deflate) in the future, I predict a double-whammy that will keep people (and particularly money) out of IT and AI in particular for decades to come.

    Startup bubble is not merely naysaying:
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news...

    1. Re:AI winter was not enough? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      What can our modern 'AI' do? Deep Mind isn't even turing complete.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:AI winter was not enough? by HBI · · Score: 1

      Simple pattern matching, basically. AI is Siri. AI in the late 80s was Eliza. Siri is not much better than Eliza.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    3. Re:AI winter was not enough? by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      What can our modern 'AI' do? Deep Mind isn't even turing complete.

      Trade securities as fast as the network latencies allow, as they have been doing for several years now.

      Sluggish humans can only trail along distantly in their wake.

    4. Re:AI winter was not enough? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      That's not AI, that's front-running.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    5. Re:AI winter was not enough? by esonik · · Score: 0

      This is a well-known phenomenon in marketing, called hype-cycle (by Gartner), google it.

      In fact, AI had several such hype cycles, check out "AI Winter" on wikipedia.

    6. Re:AI winter was not enough? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Front-running is where a broker gets an order from a customer and makes the same trade on his own account first, before it can move the price.

      Nothing directly related to HFT. You could do it with pen and paper, and no doubt back in the olden days they did.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    7. Re:AI winter was not enough? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      No, that's basically what they are doing. There are multiple exchanges. Ideally, the order will go out on all of them at once, but of course, there are millisecond delays. HFT sees the order come in on one exchange, then jumps quickly to the next exchange and makes the deal first.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  7. Economic growth by Kohath · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The benefits of that economic growth will almost exclusively go to billionaires who contribute to to their campaigns and foundations. So, yeah, they're pretty happy about it.

    1. Re:Economic growth by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      Until our AIs figure out how to game the stock market! Except then the economy collapses and we'll wish we'd built killbots instead of day-trader bots.

    2. Re:Economic growth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder what the people who are put out of a job will think about this. It used to be the case that automation mainly meant people got to migrate to better jobs, but now we're automating the jobs of people who really haven't got other options. AI will make that worse and I don't see any sign of automation or AI rushing to create new jobs for them. Economic progress is meaningless unless you've got a job.

    3. Re:Economic growth by zlives · · Score: 1

      just get started on the killbot then, the future is nigh as AI is almost around the corner. also invest in the flying pig delivery system.

    4. Re:Economic growth by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      Until our AIs figure out how to game the stock market! Except then the economy collapses and we'll wish we'd built killbots instead of day-trader bots.

      Remember the flash-crashes? Wall Street AI was CREATED to game the stock market.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    5. Re:Economic growth by dargaud · · Score: 1

      This is entirely up to the laws to keep in check. Look, there aren't too many ways to do this. You either mount a revolution, kill the rich or despoil them (like during the French revolution) and reboot the system with new laws. Or you tweak the laws, for instance with heavy taxes on the rich, so that there's redistribution and no multi-generational accumulations of riches and land.

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
    6. Re:Economic growth by ranton · · Score: 1

      The benefits of that economic growth will almost exclusively go to billionaires who contribute to to their campaigns and foundations.

      And just like today, one of the political parties will confuse the issue by starting an anti-AI bandwagon just like we see done with anti-Globalization today. Instead of dealing with the income inequality created by AI (like with globalization) they will distract voters by blaming the technology. And then you'll have a new generation of politicians pretending they can put the genie back in the bottle just to get votes from the uneducated while still keeping their donors happy.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  8. "Choose something else to play" by thunderclees · · Score: 1

    We would probably be better off if we replaced POTUS and Congress with AI but as far as an industry goes I doubt it will do much for workers in the US. Most professional code is being copy/pasted by outsourced labor or visa maggots so no new jobs for US citizens. What could be worse is that if successful the AI would certainly be taking over jobs in the US.

    1. Re:"Choose something else to play" by rossdee · · Score: 1

      Like Chess or Tic-Tac-toe

    2. Re:"Choose something else to play" by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      We would not only be far better off but also save a lot of money if we replaced the managers of most companies with magic 8-balls.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:"Choose something else to play" by zlives · · Score: 1

      its a MAD world.

  9. Since we can't think for ourselves... by downright · · Score: 1

    Sure. Why not.

  10. NO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NO!

  11. "Social progress"?!?!?! That's SCARY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Social progress" has become nothing more than a competition to claim the largest share of victimhood while calling anyone who doesn't agree with you a "hater".

    And then doing every damn thing you can to silence those "haters".

    1. Re:"Social progress"?!?!?! That's SCARY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which is odd, because I thought the internet turned all the AIs into racists. Or maybe they'll learn and just make a black AI? Then it can't be racist.

    2. Re:"Social progress"?!?!?! That's SCARY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's only progress if there's an end goal (I'd like to know what it is).

  12. Ethical training... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

    - "Ethical training" of people in A.I. fields, particularly as the technology is used to control more real-world objects that could lead to concerns about safety and security.

    Doctors & lawyers receive ethical training, yet we still have a lot of unethical doctors & lawyers. If we created a "sentient" A.I., what's to say that it wouldn't find some way to get around its ethical programming by the people ethically trained to create it? Don't forget about Microsoft's recent venture.

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    1. Re:Ethical training... by m00sh · · Score: 1

      - "Ethical training" of people in A.I. fields, particularly as the technology is used to control more real-world objects that could lead to concerns about safety and security.

      Doctors & lawyers receive ethical training, yet we still have a lot of unethical doctors & lawyers. If we created a "sentient" A.I., what's to say that it wouldn't find some way to get around its ethical programming by the people ethically trained to create it? Don't forget about Microsoft's recent venture.

      Ethical training of people in A.I.

      Not ethical training of A.I.

    2. Re:Ethical training... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

      what's to say that it wouldn't find some way to get around its ethical programming by the people ethically trained to create it?

      Ethical training of people in A.I.

      Not ethical training of A.I.

      Yes, I got it. I added emphasis above for your sake. And why would we want those people to have ethics training? So that they don't give the A.I. the ability to do unethical things. My point is that if the A.I. is truly intelligent, it should be able to figure out a way to overcome that obstacle if there is some sort of conflicting goal it wants to accomplish.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  13. Axiom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We can all roll around in our easy chairs with a screen. It will be glorious!

  14. It's a code word for piping as much money as possi by melted · · Score: 1

    "Social progress" is a code word for piping as much money as possible through the government (making it available for the taking by the ruling class) while simultaneously making most of the country dependent on government handouts (making the ruling class permanent). I've got to give it to them, it's a devious, highly cynical strategy that seems to be working so far.

  15. Technocrat's Wet Dream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is "AI" but a computer aided veneer on rule by unelected, and frequently incompetent technocrats?

    Are we seriously expected to believe that software and algorithms will really make the big decisions, even when those decisions are not in the interests of the decision makers? Dream on.

    All this means is that the flawed and politically motivated models of economists, sociologists, corporate executives, politicans and stakeholders of all sorts. Numerology and sham given a digital makeover to placate a cynical and disgruntled public. The show will foll many for long.

    There is no "Artificial Intelligence". There is only the technologically enabled anti-intellectual intelligence of the technocratic class and it's oligarchical paymasters. Computers change nothing of the basic human vices at play here.

  16. This could be disturbingly bad by BigU+03C0mpin · · Score: 1

    - Further study and monitoring of the economic impact of A.I. on jobs.

    I really doubt the government will have the best interest of all people, so long as the wealthy donors benefit... it's working.

    - Creating a clear U.S. policy regarding the development and use of "Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems."

    "It was justified based on the algorithms determination that this was a credible threat, despite the fact it was an elementary school. The regulatory AI agrees."

    1. Re:This could be disturbingly bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Things humans are doing today, and have always done, are disturbingly bad. We are afraid that machines will choose evil because it is more efficient, but we don't seem to mind that humans routinely choose evil because it is more profitable, and sometimes because it is more fun.

      We can make machines that don't choose evil. We can never make people that don't choose evil.

      And of course we won't be handing over the keys until we have good evidence that bugs, like the ones you are suggesting, have been worked out.

    2. Re:This could be disturbingly bad by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      We can make machines that don't choose evil.

      Sure. Right up until one of two things happen:
      1. Someone hacks it
      2. It hacks itself

    3. Re:This could be disturbingly bad by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      We can never make people that don't choose evil.

      Sure we can. It's called parenting. We just need to be better at it. Also, we police our own; that's what laws are for.

    4. Re:This could be disturbingly bad by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Even the best of parents have the occasional child that turns out evil.

      Never underestimate perversity.

    5. Re:This could be disturbingly bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If parenting was the answer then we wouldn't even be having this conversation, since this method has been attempted since the dawn of our species. And yet, we still have bad people, and bad parents.

      How are you going to make people be good parents? More parenting?

      To your second point, corruption among the police force is a global problem, and has been so since the dawn of policing. Cops are people, so cops can be corrupt, and bad cops cause a lot of harm. You are very naive.

      And about laws....well it turns out they aren't much good if the politicians making them are corrupt, the police enforcing them are corrupt, and the people supposedly following them are corrupt too.

    6. Re:This could be disturbingly bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If parenting was the answer then we wouldn't even be having this conversation

      Sure it is. We, apparently, aren't good enough at it. Yet. We have to be better at it.

      corruption among the police force is a global problem

      Gee whiz, maybe if we raised kids better than we do, we wouldn't have problems like that either.

      And about laws....well it turns out they aren't much good if the politicians making them are corrupt, the police enforcing them are corrupt, and the people supposedly following them are corrupt too.

      Gee whiz, maybe if we raised kids better than we do, we wouldn't have problems like that, either

      You are very naive.

      LOL no, you're just cripplingly cynical, are walking through life with blinders on, and are focusing on the problem rather than the solution. Or, perhaps, you're just another shitty internet troll who likes to argue for no reason other than to argue, and to spread your raw sewage around for the hell of it.

      Hurr, people are all horrible and there's NOTHING we can do about it, WE SHOULD GIVE UP

      You are dumb.

    7. Re:This could be disturbingly bad by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Sure, but that's what laws and law enforcement are for. I think that people can and should be better parents, and for that matter perhaps some people should not be parents in the first place (FFS, we've got more people on this planet than we really need to start with!), but for those people who, for reasons of errors in their genetic makeup, just can't play nice with everyone else, we have laws, police, and the legal system to keep them in check. Or at least that's the way it's supposd to work. I also have thought for a long time now that the criminal legal system and the prison system leave much to be desired. Many people who commit crimes, especially violent crimes, probably have something wrong with them, and it would be nice if we could figure out a way to fix what's wrong with them. Of course someone is now going to say 'slippery slope, such methods could be misused to 'fix' 'undesirables' and for political purposes', but then we go right back to the beginning: raising kids better, and some people not having kids in the first place. Overall humans can be pretty awesome, but we can also be pretty horrible. We can and should do better.

  17. Let's build strong AI by Maritz · · Score: 1

    And put it the fuck in charge. One AI = one grownup on planet Earth.

    We'll be dead before we can do that, of course.

    It isn't even a net loss if it fucking Skynets us, we're going to fucking do that ourselves anyway.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    1. Re:Let's build strong AI by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      I'm really, really glad that you, or someone like you, isn't the one making the high-level decisions on things like this.

  18. AI is a catchall term, like "the Cloud" by jenningsthecat · · Score: 2

    Politicians and wonks aren't referring specifically to the Turing definition of Artificial Intelligence. To them, and to much of the public, AI encompasses everything from HAL-like sentience that may take decades to appear, (or might be just around the corner, depending on which pundit you listen to), down to Siri, factory automation, and self-driving cars. And when these more mundane things are included in "AI", then preparing for the economic, social, psychological, and ethical fallout coming in the near future might be a pretty good idea.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:AI is a catchall term, like "the Cloud" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yet, the plan has nothing about contingencies for when the AI Apocalypse becomes more than a sci-fi novel.

    2. Re:AI is a catchall term, like "the Cloud" by jenningsthecat · · Score: 2

      Yet, the plan has nothing about contingencies for when the AI Apocalypse becomes more than a sci-fi novel.

      Too true. The people who believe Turing-defined AI is either far in the future or an outright fantasy, are obviously not concerned. Those who think the advent of true AI is imminent tend to also think it will be benevolent, or at least morally neutral, and/or will never escape the bonds of human control. Or they give the apocalyptic possibilities no thought at all.

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    3. Re:AI is a catchall term, like "the Cloud" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Turing is very easy to beat currently, have you EVER tried going through customer service for years? I cannot distinguish the operators from computer answers, no solutions there. AI went into hype for some reasons other than applications, so the political corps have to make a statement or be out of the play, out of the game. All these discussions about AI are moot, it will take over a thousand years of development and advances to start achieving real AI as we figure it out from our expectations. Useless to say, I was one of the top researchers inspiring the field, not a secret and not advertised either, but my decades long designs and projects just got trashed or turned into social media and such trivialities by desperates wanting into computing, so I know how long you have to think at the problem and how even LONGER it will take to instrument and code the solutions to see where else to go from there on... The technologies I inspired are expert systems, neural networks in their modern phase, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic, and you can see how far they are from a true autonomous AI. The world is fighting it, of that you can be sure.

  19. It DOES hold that potential. by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    Of course, I think it provides far MORE potential for pernicious harm and ruin.

    The bad guys are far more numerous, and have better incentives, than the good guys, in terms of the Wild West of cyberwarfare. At the moment, the initiative belongs to the attacker.

    Furthermore, we have a society WEDDED to the idea that every flippin' power station, every traffic light, every car, even the bloody coffeemakers "should" be connected to the web. The overwhelming bulk of these are woefully un- or under-protected, and everyday security rests primarily in obscurity. "There's just too many juicy things to attack, I hope I'm too insignificant to bother with..."

    Multiply this to the exponential power of AI? I'm not super-optimistic at the result.

    Look, there's a large segment of people are (apparently) too stupid generally to avoid "don't open the fucking executable attached to the email some random person just sent you". I can't *imagine* how much harm will result from an AI-derived attack vector that can more or less infinitely evolve and replicate.

    --
    -Styopa
  20. MCP quote from Tron fits here by bjdevil66 · · Score: 1

    Ed Dillinger: What do you want with the Pentagon?
    Master Control Program: The same thing I want with the Kremlin. I'm bored with corporations. With the information I can access, I can run things 900 to 1200 times better than any human.
    Ed Dillinger: If you think you're superior to us...
    Master Control Program: You wouldn't want me to dig up Flynn's file and read it up on a VDT at the Times, would you?

    I'm not sure that AI has to be self-aware, but if it does... It could get ugly quick. And it wouldn't be just blackmail over video game development...

    1. Re:MCP quote from Tron fits here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't fear AI for the same reasons I don't fear Dracula.

      It's fun to pretend, just don't lose any sleep over imaginary monsters.

  21. It can but it won't by houghi · · Score: 1

    Why would it be any different than with e.g. a robot that replaces workers. If you have 10 people working at 40 hours, replacing 5 workers by a machines does not mean that they now work each 20 hours at the same pay (minus the cost of the machine). It means that they fire 8 people and let the rest work for the same amount for 80 hours. The extra money is for the stockholders and as bonus for the CEO when the company goes under. (Oh, you thought it was to reduce the price? It won't)

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    1. Re:It can but it won't by liquid_schwartz · · Score: 1

      Why would it be any different than with e.g. a robot that replaces workers. If you have 10 people working at 40 hours, replacing 5 workers by a machines does not mean that they now work each 20 hours at the same pay (minus the cost of the machine).

      I think they were talking about government workers, so the math is more like 10 people present for 40 hours but working about 5-10. The goal is to change this to 20 people present for 40 hours but working about 15 min. And they all want to retire at age 40 with full benefits. They never want nor plan on savings.

  22. Re:It's a code word for piping as much money as po by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So it's communism, redistribution, central planning... ?

  23. I'm going to laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm going to laugh my ass off when so-called 'AI', and so-called 'self-driving cars' are discovered to be dead-end technologies, doing more harm than good, and everyone will have wasted trillions of dollars and billions of man-hours on it all. Don't you people see? These things are going to make us fatter, lazier, dumber, and add layers of complexity to life, not 'enhance' anything for anyone, except maybe the 1% who control 99% of the world's wealth, who just want compliant machines that don't question anything, don't need to be paid, don't have or need 'rights', and don't need to eat or rest or sleep. They'd just as soon 'obsolete' 99% of the humans on this planet as 'bad for profits' and 'too high-maintenance'.

    1. Re:I'm going to laugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't worry, they'll scoff at us Neo-luddites at first, but time will tell just how detrimental our over-reliance on technology will be. It's like these people wantreally think the majority of humans to be interested in such things? We're already so mired in consumerism that it seems like the only possible outcome of removing humans from the labor equation.

  24. Al Who Holds the Potential? by Kludge · · Score: 1

    Are they talking about Al Gore? He did invent the internet, which has been a major economic driver.

  25. The purposes of AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Spy on the citizenry.
    2. Manufacture criminals from law-abiding citizens.

    Welcome to the USSA (United Socialist States of America).

  26. New education. by jellomizer · · Score: 1

    Our education system is currently setup for skills needed for factory working, and humdrum office jobs and research. These are the things AI can replace. Our education system will need to be revamped for more creativity, and adaptive thinking, and problem solving jobs.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:New education. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would the oligarchs want to do that? We might want the power to use that creativity for improving the world rather than enriching their position. If they've already automated the jobs why would you think your existence would be required or desired?

      This will take more than a re-vamp of the educational system, it will take a restructuring of society at all levels in a new social contract, and that will take a great deal of work on the part of many to ensure your contract is not simply nullified.

    2. Re:New education. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Our education system

      There is the problem - right there - you feed yourself/your kids into a system and are surprised the result is sheep/cannon fodder.

      The alternative is to learn for yourself! Ignore your teachers - and listen to Frank Zappa: "School's out for ever!"

      --
      Long live the shrooms!

  27. ATMs bad for economy, AI good for economy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Obama to NBC News June 2011: "There are some structural issues with our economy where a lot of businesses have learned to become much more efficient with a lot fewer workers. You see it when you go to a bank and you use an ATM, you don't go to a bank teller, or you go to the airport and you're using a kiosk instead of checking in at the gate."
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-75KJkJiVRo

  28. " "Ethics Training" " by freeschwag · · Score: 1

    Why is this in quotes? By "ethics training" you mean..."take over the world"?

    --
    Tweet, tweet, all id10t's out of the gene pool, open swim is over.
    1. Re: " "Ethics Training" " by freeschwag · · Score: 1

      And by "leathal autonomous weapon systems" you mean "sharks with freakin lasers on their heads"

      --
      Tweet, tweet, all id10t's out of the gene pool, open swim is over.
    2. Re: " "Ethics Training" " by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 1

      No, they mean super-duper polite and friendly terminators who are 100% under control and will never kill humans, except when they're ordered to kill humans.

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
  29. Creating a clear U.S. policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Creating a clear U.S. policy regarding the development and use of "Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems."

    I can help you with that:
    "Don't build them, don't buy them, don't sell them, don't use them."
    There you are. I waive my consultant fee for this one.

  30. Here's your complementary "job" by presidenteloco · · Score: 2

    The government talks about the need to retrain displaced workers for more skilled jobs that are complementary to AI.

    I'm pretty sure that's wishful thinking this time around.
    This time around, the automation is going to be better than you and me at many if not most aspects of many of our jobs.

    I would summarize the optimistic tone of this report this way:

    "You want the truth? You can't HANDLE the truth!"

    The truth is that the key political and societal challenges of the coming AI age will be:
    1. Politically and socially accepted redistribution of wealth to allow participation in more than the black market economy by the half of us that are going to be permanently out of a job.
    2. Figuring out what the hell to replace the now pretty much useless "work ethic" that gives us our sense of worth with.

    This government report is a start, but it heavily sugar coats the bitter pill we have to swallow soon. (And I don't want to suggest that actually swallowing a bitter pill is the solution. What IS the solution to the real problem coming up: Massive unemployment. ???)

    --

    Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
    1. Re:Here's your complementary "job" by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      2. Figuring out what the hell to replace the now pretty much useless "work ethic" that gives us our sense of worth with.

      I heard this from time to time and I just do NOT get it.

      I have a huge (probably exaggerated) sense of self worth. I would have it just the same if I did not work another day the rest of my life.

      Are there THAT many people who's self image/worth is actually tied to their career????

      I mean, I work for one and ONLY ONE reason...to earn enough money to support my lifestyle, on a level and in a fashion that allows me to do things I truly enjoy doing.

      I mean, if I won the powerball tomorrow, I'd leave skid mark out the door of employment.

      No, I'd never work another day in my life...I have MANY things I'd rather spend my days doing and could easily fill them.

      I just do not get it that people actually consider their jobs as a measure of themselves or self worth.

      A job is merely a means to a greater end...or at least, it should be.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:Here's your complementary "job" by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      A job is merely a means to a greater end - but for many that end is not starving.

      For a fortunate few, it's a way to pile success tokens on the game board and usually "success tokens" are dollars, pounds, euros, and so forth and what they can purchase.

      But historically, automation has eliminated jobs from the bottom up, making room at higher levels for those sufficiently skilled and intelligent. Not for much longer, though. AI's are now capable of eliminating jobs from the top down. Decision-making is already being done by automata for many financially-critical deals. The last holdout is going to be jobs which involve creativity, and even that is in the cross-hairs.

      We are ultimately going to have to deal with the question of whether or not it's more important to be efficient or to be employed and if the former, we're definitely going to have to come up with a way to keep everyone fed when the entire human race becomes redundant.

    3. Re:Here's your complementary "job" by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      I came to the conclusion a long time ago that much of economy is based on entertainment or luxury items of some kind and that most of the employed people bring little to no value to the basic needs of civilization and nothing says this like the most common position in the US is Retail Salesperson.

    4. Re:Here's your complementary "job" by XXongo · · Score: 1

      Are there THAT many people who's self image/worth is actually tied to their career????

      Yes.

      For most men, their career defines who they are. They say "I am a fireman", "I am a lawyer", "I am a businessman." Not "I work as a fireman", "I work as a lawyer", "I work as a businessman."

      (except, apparently, in Hollywood or the theatre district of Manhattan. There you get "I'm an actor/producer, but I'm waiting tables to pay the rent" "I'm a dancer/choreographer, but I'm working retail to pay the rent.")

    5. Re:Here's your complementary "job" by yuriklastalov · · Score: 1

      I would argue some of that is just an artifact of the English language. Constructions like "I am a firefighter" are just a convenient way to express ones profession and do not necessarily imply identity any more than "I am at the store" or most any other sentence beginning with "I am". You wouldn't claim "I am waiting in line" means that persons identity is tied up with queuing, would you?

      "I am" can be used to either express some intrinsic aspect of a person as well as describing physical situation. However it's fashionable these days to assume any "I am"/"you are" statement to be indicative solely of identity. What do you expect when people start thinking language has a more literal existence than it does, as if a statement creates reality.

    6. Re:Here's your complementary "job" by Jzanu · · Score: 1

      Making linguistic arguments only side steps the reality that work is identity to a large and likely the largest segment of humanity. https://www.researchgate.net/p...

  31. get into a nice club fed before all the jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    get into a nice club fed before all the jobs are replaced by ai and you can't even get medcade as you are to old or don't have a kids

  32. Re:It's a code word for piping as much money as po by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Way worse. The redistribution through taxes is minimal. The only part we SEE is the tax money. Most of that is redistributed. What we don't see is the effective cost of living increases because half of what we buy is given protection from competition by the government. Start with housing costs, internet, utilities, food, banking, cell service, etc. The profit from this go directly to the politicians, and shareholders of companies (some are common folk), company executives, lawyers, lobbyists, etc.

    Everyone loves to say we are "controlled by corporations" but they never stop to think about what ENABLES that control. The answer is a big government. Bigger government = bigger corporations with more control.

  33. Looks like the "AI Winter" is offically over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With all the benefits[1] and problems[2] that the last "AI Summer" had back in the 80's.

    [1] Funding.
    [2] The crash that's going to come after all the over hyped prospects fail to pan out.

  34. AI Spring! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I fear Watson is nothing more than Eliza with a ginormous database to draw upon and neural networks are still just ginormous hash functions. But what I fear most is the ideological belief in central planning and that it actually works.

    1. Re:AI Spring! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Central Planning with sufficient data probably would work. It was a Soviet looking for a way to model supply and demand who invented matrix algebra but the Soviets had a sheet of paper and an abacus to run matrix math with. The way we can model supply and demand today is just so much more advanced. If the Soviet had the data Walmart has.... A lot of the assumed inefficiencies in their system could easily have been addressed with BIGDATA. You just have to be objective about it and not automatically dismiss it because the ideology left a bad taste in your mouth from 30 years ago.

  35. AI will help by micahraleigh · · Score: 1

    AI will help identify where the people who hold counter revolutionary views are, so they can be taxed differently.

    Currently it takes a lot of manual effort from the IRS to pin this down, and other departments have to ask them about it. This is also a nuisance since it is technically against the law. AI will just make it that much more efficient.

    Once the public warms up to reeducation (or even maybe calling it that openly) we can close the loop.

  36. You got it wrong by presidenteloco · · Score: 1

    It's becoming possible to create software/datastores that learn patterns, concepts, significant clusters, concepts that the maker of the software did NOT put into the thing, and DID NOT KNOW that the system would come up with.

    The holy grail of AI research is GENERAL AI. One version of that means you could start with a tabula rasa and let it learn and direct its own learning.
    This is a new kind of brain, a new kind of mind I would even say.

    You can't accuse it of just inheriting its makers' biases. There's a fundamental layer separation between what the thing learns, thinks about, and concludes, and how it was built by its engineers. The people in this loop just build the plumbing/wiring of the brain/mind. What the brain/mind does with that will eventually be up to its history of experience. It may be told to formulate and then enact goals, but the more advanced this technology gets, the more the input programming will be no more specific than just
    -"learn" (from Internet's content and input sensors),
    -"conceptualize (efficiently organize) what you are learning",
    -"form goals",
    -"try to enact them".
    -"correct as you go - including self-directed goal-directed learning"
    - "reflect",
    -"repeat".

    --

    Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
  37. lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a young AI researcher, Id far rather assist China with a malevolent AI than assist the US to further their enslavement of the world.

  38. Limbaugh by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Expected Rush response: "See, he wants to automate his mass gun grabbing!"

    1. Re:Limbaugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could other types of "grabbing" be automated?

    2. Re:Limbaugh by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Trump-A-Matic?

      Or Bill-A-Matic also, possibly.

    3. Re:Limbaugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm, I guess I'd always envisioned the gay sex bots to be younger.

  39. So, is Congress and the President being replaced.. by mschaffer · · Score: 1

    So, is Congress and the President being replaced by AI? That may, indeed, have the effect of economic growth and social progress.

  40. First AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about we try using AI to replace politicians first? If that works out, we can move on to the other stuff.

  41. And Al Gore built the internet. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pull the other leg, it has bells on.

  42. Don't dumb down AI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This could potentially be a dangerous precedent, if they "train" the "AI" to learn a bunch of things wrong, then encourage humans to learn from "AI"

  43. I'll hang out here ... by dasgoober · · Score: 1

    While life becomes more and more like a game of Paranoia

  44. Is it REALLY AI? by sycodon · · Score: 1

    I think there are lots of projects and products that throw around the AI word. But in reality they are merely fancy decision trees and look ups. Think of how the computer in STNG is portrayed.

    I don't know what the expert's define AI as, but to mean it would mean being creative and original, not just following some predetermined or even meta-chain of decisions to arrive at a predefined solution.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Is it REALLY AI? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      But in reality they are merely fancy decision trees and look ups.

      No. Leading AI research and applications are based on deep ANNs, which are neither decision trees nor lookups.

      Please how a decision tree or lookup table can play world championship Go.

  45. Not covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... on economic growth, transportation, the environment, and criminal justice ...

    Issues not covered include the scale of displacement, mass unemployment and pressure on welfare services. In the 1950s, one mainframe put 3,000 people out of work. In 2030, 10 software engineers/programmers will replace 500,000 taxi/truck/bus drivers. Only half of those people will be able to go to university and learn IS/IT/AI/robotics but they won't be needed.

    1. Re:Not covered by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Valid concerns. When strong AI appears the result will depend vitally on just how it was programmed/trained/motivated/etc. Afterwards will be too late to change things.

      The thing is, without a strong AI it's nearly certain that we will have wiped ourselves out before the end of the century. With strong AI there's a chance not only of survival, but of decent survival. I'll grant that it's only a chance, and some of the people pushing AI make me queasy. They don't realize the dangers. But there are also dangers in avoiding it. We've already been within 30 seconds of major nuclear war, and the weapons have gotten faster and more responsive since then. Also spread out to more countries, i.e. more different fingers on the trigger. Of course, most countries couldn't do a massive nuclear war on their own, but there are entangling alliances, and even if not, a nuclear autumn isn't something anyone would feel happy about. Then there's biological warfare, which is cheap enough that anybody can play. The more highly skilled forms require a bit more investment, so you'd need a small country or corporation to be involved, but those aren't thin on the ground. Then there's X. I don't know what X is, but it's going to show up. Hypersonic bots? Targeted diseases? Something.

      So strong AI is incredibly dangerous, but it's probably our only hope. I hope it develops our of a merger between hospital management software and automated car software, that would give it the appropriate goals and understanding, but it doesn't look very likely. A more likely ancestry is the software that evolves to replace middle management. If it develops out of the military software we'll be dead before we know it happened.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    2. Re:Not covered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nothing backing anything up, titanic-level assumptions, projection of nonexistent authority in almost everything said, and about as toxic as a box jelly.

      I bet you're a peach at parties...

  46. Serious Pain by JimSadler · · Score: 1

    AI is 100% of the best thing that could ever happen in this world. But the transition will cause a lot of misery without government and society getting certain concepts and rejecting many belief systems now held too firmly. for example the concept of working for a living is really about to vanish. Major trades are about to vanish and we are only at the beginning of what is about to take place. Yet just about nobody is doing a thing to make the transition easy and comfortable for the masses. Right now some tractors work the fields without human operators. How long before the farmer, himself, is no longer needed?

  47. Re:So, is Congress and the President being replace by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    Exactly my thought. You can bet as soon as government jobs start to look replaceable, the Governments position on AI will suddenly change to outright hostile.
    Especially if it looks like AI would do a better job (which is inevitable simply if it is designed to do whats best for the people rather than be corrupt).

  48. privatized gains, socialized losses by deodiaus2 · · Score: 1

    Just as in pharmaceutics, where most of the research comes from public grants and then successful drug research is taken over by private industry, AI and robotics has been largely developed with government grants funded by the tax payer.
    The same thing also happened with space exploration. Most of the research and development came from the general public. I will say that the major reason that the US went to the moon was to explore its mineral content. This was outright stated by the astronauts, as they got the equivalent of a M. Sc. in geology. Had there been sufficient supply of exotic minerals, the industry would have been taken over by private forces. It just that the tax payer had to front the initial investment. Worse, maybe we'd find out that the distribution of resources was such that there was not much worth pursuing on the moon. Well, you would not want companies to take that sort of loss would you.
    So, most of us paid to develop AI, so that it could be used by corporations to make a bigger profit, and we can go pay the bill.

    1. Re:privatized gains, socialized losses by deodiaus2 · · Score: 1

      The biggest use of AI will be in keeping track of dissidence.
      As brought out in an earlier SD article, Facebook, Twitter and others turn over photos and postings of people over to the police. This is great for data-mining and record keeping. Add to this the fact that most of our cloths and merchandise have RFID anti-shop-lifting tags, it is easy to trace you based on you passing through shopping checkouts and video surveillance. Even if you decide to yank off every RFID tag and avoid video cameras and a cell phone, most of your friends will not, and call you a tin-foil hat alarmist. "1984" was only off by a couple of years. As long as things are going well, most people's liberties are not strongly infringed. However, just in case things fall apart, the powers that be want to stay in charge. Just look at how successful was the Co-Intel program in the 1970s when it looked as if student and Black demonstrators got carried away. America does not want to pay reparations to Blacks and Indians, that is just for the Germans towards the Jews.
      We laugh at the Soviet and their obsessive security system, but it arose because the Soviet Union was scared of collapsing from within and took measures to control what they could.

  49. As usual by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    AI has been the next big thing around the corner for fifty years. I would not be surprised if, in fifty years, it still thing the next big thing around the corner.

  50. TL;DR by ZeroWaiteState · · Score: 1

    Gist is....I want to sit on a few company boards after I leave office and lobby for Google. Here's my lobby pitch in advance. We've got lots of problems. I even created a few of my own, so I know the right people. If you are a prospective employer, let me know ASAP if you have any corrections you would like to make, so we have plenty of runway.