Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday May 11 2019, @05:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

Recently, on a dazzling morning in Palm Springs, California, Vivienne Sze took to a small stage to deliver perhaps the most nerve-racking presentation of her career.

She knew the subject matter inside-out. She was to tell the audience about the chips, being developed in her lab at MIT, that promise to bring powerful artificial intelligence to a multitude of devices where power is limited, beyond the reach of the vast data centers where most AI computations take place. However, the event—and the audience—gave Sze pause.

[...] Newly designed chips, like the ones being developed in Sze's lab, may be crucial to future progress in AI—including stuff like the drones and robots found at MARS. Until now, AI software has largely run on graphical chips, but new hardware could make AI algorithms more powerful, which would unlock new applications. New AI chips could make warehouse robots more common or let smartphones create photo-realistic augmented-reality scenery.

Sze's chips are both extremely efficient and flexible in their design, something that is crucial for a field that's evolving incredibly quickly.

The microchips are designed to squeeze more out of the "deep-learning" AI algorithms that have already turned the world upside down. And in the process, they may inspire those algorithms themselves to evolve. "We need new hardware because Moore's law has slowed down," Sze says, referring to the axiom coined by Intel cofounder Gordon Moore that predicted that the number of transistors on a chip will double roughly every 18 months—leading to a commensurate performance boost in computer power.

Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613305/this-chip-was-demoed-at-jeff-bezoss-secretive-tech-conference-it-could-be-key-to-the-future/


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by pipedwho on Saturday May 11 2019, @10:07PM (11 children)

    by pipedwho (2032) on Saturday May 11 2019, @10:07PM (#842497)

    Even in the ‘80s, distinguishing AI from advanced expert systems has always been problematic when resorting to fact based questioning. A glorified encyclopaedia with algorithmic processing is not live intelligence. Unless of course we play fast and loose with the term intelligence.

    Then again, there seem to be many University graduates that come across more like dumb ML systems than actually intelligent. So there is that.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday May 12 2019, @03:06AM (10 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday May 12 2019, @03:06AM (#842567)

    AI can play chess, and Go, basically arbitrarily well. Before that happened, skill at games like that were considered indicators of intelligence. Go back to the 1960s, before the Encyclopedia had been digitized and made searchable - being able to process natural language queries and respond with an Encyclopedia worth of facts used to be considered a sign of intelligence, until computers could do it. Similarly in the 1960s, while Jane Goodall was starting to discover apes using tools, tool use was widely considered to be an indicator of human-level intelligence, but now that crows can do it, it is no longer a human-only thing.

    Point is: we keep moving the bar - whatever we consider a sign of human (Turing test) intelligence today, when an animal or computer demonstrates they can do it, that will be removed from the "uniquely human" test as well. Eventually, we're going to figure out that humans aren't unique, or at least not superior to everything else, in any identifiable way, and that is probably going to initiate a significant existential crisis among the population that "gets it," and probably a big rift with the rest of the world that wants to continue to live in denial.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by pipedwho on Sunday May 12 2019, @03:46AM (8 children)

      by pipedwho (2032) on Sunday May 12 2019, @03:46AM (#842579)

      Those things were seen as algorithmic automation even back then. Maybe the masses thought otherwise.

      I have no issue with self aware strong/hard AI showing equivalence or superiority to human intelligence. I speculate that as mentioned previously that there may be an emergent spiritual quality in any self aware consciousness, whether it be ‘natural’ or man made AI. From a spiritual perspective this does not introduce an existential crisis. That however may not be true of the average layman that adheres to belief based religious institutions.

      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday May 12 2019, @02:08PM (7 children)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday May 12 2019, @02:08PM (#842666)

        there may be an emergent spiritual quality in any self aware consciousness

        Do you have a definition for "spiritual"?

        I would tend to agree, when AI starts exhibiting self awareness, as some animals do with the mirror test, that will be another hurdle passed; but it's just one of many small identifiable elements of consciousness.

        may not be true of the average layman that adheres to belief based religious institutions.

        What the average layman, and indeed our global laws and institutions, fail(s) to realize is that humans are not unique or even special. There is not some bright line that separates human from animal, and in the future the line between human and machine intelligence will also blur into a kind of gradient.

        In animal research, there's a huge legal jump between vertebrate and invertebrate, with much stronger ethical protection of animals with a backbone. I view that as a travesty for the decapods, that a goldfish gets all kinds of oversight and protection that an octopus or giant squid does not - it's yet another example of "human intelligence" failing to draw lines on meaningful boundaries, due to our lack of ability to define those boundaries.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 2) by pipedwho on Monday May 13 2019, @02:07AM (6 children)

          by pipedwho (2032) on Monday May 13 2019, @02:07AM (#842823)

          Excellent point.

          'Spirit' is one of those things that hard to define in a universal sense. I don't really have the language (if any even exists to fully describe what I mean), but some phrases that come to mind: a connection to the universe, an affinity with god/universal consciousness, in touch with a state of being ('isness', now, presence) rather than doing or thinking in the generally accepted sense.

          Spirituality is the attainment (or living in a way the leads to attainment) of this spirit, this state of being.

          I distinguish this from the term religion because of the corruption of the term to equate to institutionalised religions. Some elements of religion can be (and often are) spiritual. However, much has been corrupted in 'big religion' to remove and disconnect from this spirituality, and focus on exclusionary principles rather than inclusion. Exclusion focusing on the identify of self and reinforcing this identity with belonging, and hardening the ego with a sense of 'me'. Generally, also anthropomorphising 'god', creation, god's will, and other things that have no direct connection to spirituality.

          With that in mind, this is why I feel that hard AI may also lead to some sort of general 'consciousness' or affinity with the universe and all it contains. Absent a hardened sense of 'self'/ego, and being open to acceptance, may end up leading to this realisation that one (a person, an AI, an alien, etc) is connected to this universe, which in itself derives more joy and peace than any pure physical-self focused goals.

          • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 13 2019, @12:52PM (5 children)

            by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday May 13 2019, @12:52PM (#842985)

            a connection to the universe, an affinity with god/universal consciousness, in touch with a state of being

            A definition which would seem to exclude the majority of humans I have met... though one could argue that the ability to attain that state someday might be a qualifier, but then, I believe that many mammals, decapods, and perhaps even reptiles also might attain that state - if we knew how to communicate with them and understand their minds. And, for that matter, is a beehive or ant colony potentially capable of attaining this state as a community - if we knew how to communicate with the entirety of the colony?

            --
            🌻🌻 [google.com]
            • (Score: 2) by pipedwho on Monday May 13 2019, @06:47PM (4 children)

              by pipedwho (2032) on Monday May 13 2019, @06:47PM (#843104)

              That could be true, and is probably why some religious traditions have an element of veganism or at least reverence to nature associated with them. If we could communicate with all forms of life, we may find all sorts of insights that dispel the sense of ‘superiority’ that many people have. It would be interesting to be able to ask a hard self aware AI these questions.

              It’s a sad inditement that so many people identify as religious, and yet they are devoid of any spirituality. ‘One day I’ll get to heaven, but not until I die’, almost implies we are living in some kind of hell or purgatory and things can only get better if we make it to the ‘next life’. At least those religions also include a proviso ‘you need to be ‘good’ to get to heaven’. And people that live ‘good’ lives have a tendency to touch on what I’m calling the spiritual even if the wording/description doesn’t seem to match. I’ve even met atheists that are what I’d call spiritual. But, as you say, this seems to be rare in world focused so heavily on materialism, pleasure and comfort/safety.

              • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 13 2019, @07:12PM (3 children)

                by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday May 13 2019, @07:12PM (#843114)

                the sense of ‘superiority’ that many people have

                It's funny, a century or two ago (many places, less), the local human ruling class would attribute that sense of superiority to their race, mostly by skin color. Whether it was whites in Europe/NA, different shades of black in different parts of Africa, or different variations of Asian in different parts of Asia... With global travel and global communication, it seems like most people are starting to accept "human" (whatever that means) as a rough baseline for deserving respect, but still hang on to this bright-line superiority complex vs the rest of the living world.

                implies we are living in some kind of hell or purgatory

                Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

                one of the later seasons played on that theme, that the Earth we are living in is, in fact, Hell.

                some religious traditions have an element of veganism or at least reverence to nature associated with them

                I take that as a sign of at least somewhat broader awareness, but, then, I still laugh at our friends who won't eat a yogurt that has animal hoof derived gelatin, but will patronize McDonalds to purchase no-meat Cheeseburgers. The car I drive in uses oil of dubious origin, human rights wise. Likewise the electricity driving my computer, even if it were solar sourced, has visited cruelty on people and the environment many different ways before it came to be glowing phosphors on my screen... if I am to take no action that indirectly supports the harm of innocent people/creatures, I basically need to lay down in a field and become compost ASAP.

                focused so heavily on materialism, pleasure and comfort/safety

                And yet, most of us don't support heroin addicts in their visits to Nirvana... hypocrites one and all, we are.

                --
                🌻🌻 [google.com]
                • (Score: 2) by pipedwho on Monday May 13 2019, @11:58PM (2 children)

                  by pipedwho (2032) on Monday May 13 2019, @11:58PM (#843202)

                  Completely agree with everything you’ve written. I hardly ever have these sort conversations as most people double down on being closed as they assert their sense of self and belief. I may sound like I’m denigrating religions, but I’m open and fully accepting to anyone on an accepting and open path whether it be atheist, religious (institutional or otherwise) or any path of spiritual or self discovery.

                  Even bible verses take on new meaning (and make perfect sense) when interpreted with spiritual awareness. There becomes no opposition between religion and science. As one deals with the physical world and the other with the spiritual.

                  Thanks for an interesting discussion!

                  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday May 14 2019, @01:40AM (1 child)

                    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday May 14 2019, @01:40AM (#843228)

                    Thank you as well.

                    A parting shot from the Dalai Lama: "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."

                    Toss in a paraphrase of the Hippocratic oath: "First, try to do no harm." and you've got a sense of my moral compass.

                    Now, pardon me while I put out some ant poison...

                    --
                    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 12 2019, @06:58AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 12 2019, @06:58AM (#842602)

      tool use was widely considered to be an indicator of human-level intelligence, but now that crows can do it, it is no longer a human-only thing.

      I have always suspected some of those PHP applications on github were written by crows. "Human level intelligence" evidently has no lower bound.
      (Is going lower by leaps and bounds).

      --
      Signed: A Robot