Articles
Where Artificial Intelligence Will Lead ?
Dt: 16/5/18
Where Artificial Intelligence Will Lead ?
Dr T.H.Chowdary*
The World Telecommunications and Information Society Day, 17th may has its origins in the International Telegraph Union established in 1865; the first and the oldest international organisation which with the development of telephony and radio morphed into the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and with the developments of computers and Internet it became since 2004 the World Telecom & Information Society Day. The theme to be deliberated upon by professionals and public this year is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it can serve all sections of society. Intelligence has been evolving in humans for thousands of years. What is captured by our senses of sight, hearing , touch , smell and taste is stored in our brain as memory and our mind is what integrates the sensed information into intelligence. We continuously learn and utilise that learning to become more and more intelligent. Science and technology have enabled us to invent various kinds of machines which help us to draw water and oil and gas from the bowels of earth; our transportation across continents and into space and so on. The latest generation of machines are robots.
2. If we put some information and logic into these Robots, they perform various tasks which are a drudgery and danger for human beings. Robots are now patrolling the dangerous boundary between Israel and Syria on the Gola Heights ; Robots are sent as soldiers into the tunnels that Palestinian Hamas has dug between Gaza and Israel. Robots are substituting human labour in the Toyota factory near Tokyo where there are 60 people whereas 360 Robots turn out 10,000 vehicles a day.
3. If robots are made to learn and use that learning for thinking and reacting and forecasting and prescribing, they will be substituting for human intelligence. This is what has been happening in the past few decades. Robots are learning and thinking besides storing information. Learning leads to logical thinking, just as human beings do. What is stored in our brain through our senses is converted by mind into actions and ideas ; prescription and forecasts… Here are some achievement of artificial intelligence from what robots learnt; that is, machines learning and using their memory and react logically just as humans do. In 1998 the IBM’s computer Deep Blue played chess with the then world champion, Gary Casparov and defeated him over six rounds of contest to become the world’s Chess champion. In 2011, the most prestigious quiz, Jeopardy of the USA (just like Kaun Banega Karoorpathy in India ) was won not by a human being but by the computer Watson, an IBM make. Watson won the first prize of $77,147. The next runner -up was a man, Ken Jennings with $24,000. What a difference! The famous Manipal hospital has a Doctors Board for Oncology . A Computer, Watson is one of the Members. In 85% out of thousands of cancer prescriptions worldwide, Watson gave the same prescription as doctors and on another 8%, the doctors agreed that Watson’s prescription was perhaps better. It means that if the about 130 tests that are taken for a cancer patient are fed to a Watson, it will give the correct prescription! No great doctor is necessary.
5. The world was stunned in the year 2016 when Saudi Arabia gave citizenship to Sophie, a Robot infused with Artificial Intelligence. Sophie came to India (Hyderabad) in Feb 2018 and gave a lecture to an international audience of I.T experts ! It was asked to speak on a subject; it marshalled all the information it has already got on that subject and delivered a speech. By the year 2100, it is averred that the AI endowed robots will surpass humans in intelligence. Internationally renowned scientists and philosophers are engaged now in discussing what ethics and morality and judgements, Robots should be taught to pronounce (and act too) on what is right and wrong; kind and cruel; love and hate. Should the AI endowed Robots be taught these emotional values and of which religion or dharma ?
6. Some IT experts cum philosophers opine that the AI endowed Robots humanoids may decide that the species humans are a burden to earth and don’t’ deserve to exist and therefore they may wage a war and put an end to them. The late philosopher -scientist Stephen Hawkins warned scientists and engineers that AI is going to be malevolent. There had been many species of life that disappeared ( eg: Dinosaurs) before humans . Will humans also meet the same fate because of the humanoids the Frankenstein’s they are creating? (760 words)
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