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Fire good. AI better:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says artificial intelligence is going to have a bigger impact on the world than some of the most ubiquitous innovations in history. "AI is one of the most important things humanity is working on. It is more profound than, I dunno, electricity or fire," says Pichai, speaking at a town hall event in San Francisco in January.
A number of very notable tech leaders have made bold statements about the potential of artificial intelligence. Tesla boss Elon Musks says AI is more dangerous than North Korea. Famous physicist Stephen Hawking says AI could be the "worst event in the history of our civilization." And Y Combinator President Sam Altman likens AI to nuclear fission.
Even in such company, Pichai's comment seems remarkable. Interviewer and Recode executive editor Kara Swisher stopped Pichai when he made the comment. "Fire? Fire is pretty good," she retorts. Pichai sticks by his assertion. "Well, it kills people, too," Pichai says of fire. "We have learned to harness fire for the benefits of humanity but we had to overcome its downsides too. So my point is, AI is really important, but we have to be concerned about it."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @11:05AM (6 children)
Maybe thats your clue? Along with training the AI for 10-20 years, I dont see why that couldnt be the solution.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Saturday February 03 2018, @11:51AM (5 children)
"Couldn't be the solution?" There's so much packed into that phrasing, and so inappropriate.
Can we absolutely rule out, a priori, the notion that simply throwing resources at tasks we do not understand will magically result in AI? No more than you can absolutely rule out the notion that the universe was created in a flash by the will of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
It's ludicrously bad thinking. Computers are big calculators. Intelligence is not artificial, it's a quality of (some) programmers, not of computers. When you build a ludicrously complex system you don't understand, feed it a bunch of numbers and then obey its output, that's not artificial intelligence, it's just modern superstition.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Saturday February 03 2018, @11:59AM (4 children)
So, you're talking about children, then.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @01:37PM
> ... and then obey its output, ...
Well, my mother (88) certainly fed me a bunch of numbers, letters, and a lot of good food. But she's not ready to obey my output yet (except in a few specialized domains like figuring the tip at a restaurant).
(Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday February 04 2018, @02:28AM (2 children)
That's why we invented computers in the first place. As long as you understand what you're asking them, they can give very good answers, very quickly.
But when you don't know what you're asking then the answer is, for all intents and purposes, gibberish as well.
GIGO.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Sunday February 04 2018, @12:13PM (1 child)
No, no. I didn't specify young children.
To belabor the point, the point is: we don't understand, and cannot predict, humans. And while you are right that humans are not reducible to calculators, that only drives the point home even further: You cannot predict what a human will do. Humans are indeed ludicrously complex active systems we have very little control over that we do indeed obey and depend upon the output of; we apply reason to that to some degree (well, some of us do) but the same can be said of LDNLS [fyngyrz.com], and no doubt, AI when (or if) it ever gets here.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday February 04 2018, @07:33PM
The oracle of rat-bones is similarly unpredictable.
Therefore the rat-bone oracle is AI?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?