Term Paper: Impact of evolving Artificial Intelligence on the Human Race

| Sep 8, 2020 min read

Impact of evolving Artificial Intelligence on the future of Human Race

Saurav Pandey
September 4, 2020

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence is evolving rapidly and it is bound to impact the way we humans live. This paper attempts to highlight our general perception towards Artificial Intelligence and how it is changing with time. It investigates the history, status quo and future of artificial intelligence and pinpoints its association with human life. The article cites several sources such as research papers, journal articles and domain leaders. Analyzing the advantages and disadvantages, the paper concludes on the need of controlled artificial intelligence .

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. History and Evolution
  3. AI in our daily life
  4. AI and Human Race
  5. Conclusion
  6. References

1. Introduction

Rapid advances in the field of artificial intelligence(AI) have profound implications in human life. Basically, artificial intelligence is the intelligence exhibited by an artificial entity. These innovations have directly influenced the behaviour and lifestyle of today’s generation. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines."[1].

We humans learn from examples of things and repeated practise. The repeated practise and examples are the key to AI as well. So in AI we expose the system to examples of behaviours we want it to have. It learns from those examples and attempts to predict the similar cases in the future. Research in AI is concerned with producing machines to automate tasks requiring intelligent behavior. Basically an AI is able to predict future results based on past data, classify items on the basis of its features, image and sound recognition and so on. As such, it has become a scientific discipline, focused on providing solutions to real life problems.

2. History and Evolution

It started in 1950 when Alan Turing, the man who built a machine called Enigma that helped the British to win the first world war, published a paper titled “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”. In the first sentence of the paper itself, he exclaimed, “Can machines think?”.[2] People started talking about it after an AI powered computer program Deep Blue won its first game against the then world champion on 10 February 1996, when it defeated Garry Kasparov. The Guardian published the incident as “Deep Blue win a giant step for computerkind” on 12 May, 1997.[3] And it became a buzzword after 12 October, 2011 when Apple Inc. introduced ‘Siri’ a speech recognition software. It has seen a lot of evolution and is widely adopted in diverse fields such as medical, surveillance, space exploration, marketing and so on.

3. AI in our daily life

For a long time, most of us have been perceiving AI as a silly science fiction concept. But lately, from voice assistants on our phone to recommendations in ecommerce websites, the use of AI is proliferating. Generally three things that defines the status quo of AI and misconceptions misconceptions regarding it :

  • We associate AI with movies.
    We have seen many fictional robot characters in movies. The fictional character creates a perception in us that actually AI is also fictional.

  • AI is a broad topic. It ranges from your phone’s calculator to self-driving cars to something in the future that might change the world dramatically. AI refers to all of these things, which make the scope diverse and difficult to comprehend.

  • We use AI all the time in our daily lives, but we often don’t realize it’s AI. John McCarthy, who coined the term “Artificial Intelligence” in 1956, complained that “as soon as it works, no one calls it AI anymore”[4]. Because of this phenomenon, AI often sounds like a mythical future prediction more than a reality.

AI can refer to something physical  like  a robot or something less physical  like a few lines of  code. At the end both come together. As the code needs something that can host it.

4. AI and Human Race

Some notable individuals such as legendary physicist Stephen Hawking warning it could end mankind [5], Tesla and SpaceX leader and innovator Elon Musk suggesting AI could potentially be very dangerous and comparing AI to the dangers of the dictator of North Korea [6], has initiated a global debate on its adoption and research. Today Sophia, an AI powered Robot created by Hanson Robotics is a permanent citizen of Saudi Arabia. We cannot deny the fact that there is a possibility that your grandchildren may, one day, marry an AI powered robot.

Part of what we humans value in AI-powered machines is their efficiency and effectiveness. But, if we aren’t clear with the goals we set for AI machines, it could be dangerous. For example, a command to “Get me to the airport as quickly as possible” might have dire consequences. Without specifying that the rules of the road, a machine could quite effectively accomplish its goal of getting you to the airport as quickly as possible, but leave behind a trail of accidents. There is a possibility that AI will unfold the deepest secrets of the universe or they would make the human race extinct. While there are many advantages of adoption of Artificial Intelligence, the threats it poses can’t be denied.

5. Conclusion

If the earth was created 1 year ago, human species would be 10 minutes old, the industrial era started 2 seconds ago. And, Artificial intelligence would be less than a second older. This can be the basis to say that it is too early to be sure about how the AI’s will shape our future. However, If past predictions are any indication, the only thing we know about tomorrow’s science and technology is that it will be radically different than what we predict it will be like. Machines may get more sophisticated and will be the companion of man. Even though artificial intelligence is having many advantages, there are so many threats as well. The Artificial Intelligence of the future should not be an external intelligence but an extended version of our human intelligence which will allow us to reap the benefits of the technology while reducing the threat. Thus, there is a need for a kind of controlled artificial intelligence and that is where modern day research should be directed towards.

References

[1] John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Nathaniel Rochester, and Claude Shannon. A Proposal for the Dart-mouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, 1955.

[2] Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing Machinery And Intelligence. Mind, LIX(236), 433-460. doi:10.1093/mind/lix.236.433

[3] Harding, L., & Barden, L. (2011, May 12). From the archive, 12 May 1997: Deep Blue win a giant step for computerkind. Retrieved August 06, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/may/12/deep-blue-beats-kasparov-1997

[4] Meyer, B. (2011, October 28). John McCarthy. Retrieved August 06, 2020, from https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/138907-john-mccarthy/fulltext

[5] Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind. (2014, December 2). BBC. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540

[6] Faggella, D. (2018, November 29). (All) Elon Musk Artificial Intelligence Quotes - A Catalogue of His Statements. Retrieved August 06, 2020, from https://emerj.com/ai-future-outlook/elon-musk-on-the-dangers-of-ai-a-catalogue-of-his-statements/