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100-Page Report Warns of the Many Dangers of AI (vice.com)
dmoberhaus writes: Last year, 26 top AI researchers from around the globe convened in Oxford to discuss the biggest threats posed by artificial intelligence. The result of this two day conference was published today as a 100-page report. The report details three main areas where AI poses a threat: political, physical systems, and cybersecurity. It discusses the specifics of these threats, which range from political strife caused by fake AI-generated videos to catastrophic failure of smart homes and autonomous vehicles, as well as intentional threats, such as autonomous weapons. Although the researchers offer only general guidance for how to deal with these threats, they do offer a path forward for policy makers.
*sigh*
Let's frame this a little differently, shall we? It sounds like at least some of these problems are pretty much only a problem if we trust too much the half-assed excuse for AI they keep trotting out. These software idiots aren't anywhere near as capable as most people think they are, and THAT is the real danger. We need competent human beings monitoring them constantly for when (not IF, but WHEN) they screw up. Remember, kids: these machines can't really think, not anywhere near like you define the word.
Just because the media loves sensational titles doesn't mean the predictions are wrong.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Did you read the summary?
The dangers they are outlining don't need thinking systems. This is about a quantum leap in what we could do with computers until now (and with what costs) - effortlessly creating fake videos, photos, voice recordings and twitter posts, more troublesome botnets etc. These don't need sentience, but it is chaos all the same. They are not talking about computer overlords taking over, but about what malicious human actors can do with the new tools. For instance, bots that do more precise sentiment analysis and classification to push posts that favor a government's position - we are all effected at some level by what we consider to be the public consensus, especially it is an issue we don't have a deep understanding of.
When Internet first began, security concerns were minimal. Only the technical and academic elite cared and were largely well-behaved in their communities. As it became democratized, it became necessary to be cautious about everything. Who needed a firewall or a spam filter in the beginning? People trusted any executable they downloaded. A consumer was not worried about patching their systems regularly.
Same thing now. So far, AI (let's just call it advanced statistical learning, if you are finicky about the term AI) has been largely used for benevolent and creative purposes. As the use grows, that won't be the only way it will be applied.