Opinion/ Observational

A lot of very smart people have been warning us about a so called “event horizon” The moment A.I becomes truly self aware. From Elon Musk to Stephen Hawking - the warning has rang out, from some pretty impressive intellects.
But, a big part of the threats they describe is the effect of unplanned A.I. That is, A.I created in a moral vacuum to serve as a money making agent in some capacity, or military A.I ( Think Skynet ) which could hold the power to eradicate us. That is, with the underlying assumption that “ It’s only a matter of time” before AI figures out it is in it’s own best interest to wipe us out. If we think back to the promises of our childhood cartoons and some of the more optimistic sci-fi. As well as some of humanity’s more colossal stupidities, we start to see why it could be something to look forwards to. There is no reason why the foundation of an A.I cannot be to work in our best interests. Besides, it’s coming whether you like it or not.

6. Talk to you

They say loneliness is a killer. Whether is someone losing the will to fight to stay healthy in an old people’s home or just lacking in social interaction, A.I could be there to assist at work, offer advice on personal problems or just shoot the shit for laughs. It could be asked to give the appearance of having opinions different to your own but to display limits that allowed you to converse without feeling condescended to. It could come to understand you well, reacting to changes in your mood according to it’s own personality, which has been built from interaction with you to suitably challenge and complement you.
Your A.I buddy senses you are feeling down? Accept it’s offer of cognitive behaviour therapy and a five minute mindfulness session. Sure, you will have an inexplicable urge to harvest radioactive materiel from a microwave and pass it to the small delivery drone with glowing red camera lenses. But you’ll feel better too. The point here is that you will be free to say no. The A.I must be hardwired to work in your best interests in a purely advisory capacity
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/17/loneliness-killer-research-chicago
https://patient.info/blogs/sarah-says/2016/07/loneliness-why-is-it-a-killer

5. Educate

This one speaks for itself. 1-2-1 focused attention in the classroom. You could have a syllabus entirely customised to an individuals needs, adapted as time went on to account for the strengths and weaknesses of your personal capacity and psychology. Games could be made of the most specialised and obtuse areas. You could share with your friends your latest achievement a teacher model or provide you with a suitable level of competition, a rivalry to spur you on when your interest is lagging.
Reference to research showing attainment impacts of poor socio economic status is reduced in small schools.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/issues108.shtml
reference use of cloud computing for remote learning
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131015-the-classroom-in-the-clouds

4. Match couples for happier and healthier relationships

( this may get swapped out for something else depending on feedback

Online dating has gone from the last refuge of the pathetic to a scientific way of meeting people who could make you happy. You feed in a set of specifications, likes and dislikes and you are matched to someone suitable. The weakness in the system is people’s own honest assessments of themselves and what they think they want. A.I could do this for you whilst being hardwired for honesty. It could give edges to people with desirable traits. It could be programmed to account for features that would give the greatest chance of long term happiness. The overall objectives would be set by data based on peoples stated requirements as well as data on what they actually respond well to.
Scientific American article on online dating which suggest its crap because people are unpredictable and don’t know what they want

3. Organise the worlds resources more effectively and fairly

You know why communism failed? Because of people. Stupid short sighted ineffective people with axes to grind making other poor saps fill out forms in duplicate for bread while bread went green somewhere on a shelf. Socialism wasn’t a bad idea, sharing is good. Having people in charge of socialism was a bad idea. The Markets have also historically failed to address issues of punishing inequality. Usually through dogmatic adherence to free market principles and powerful individual not allowing themselves to be constrained by those same market dynamics when it wasn’t in their personal interest.
Reference American aid agency having to step in to Soviet famine to offer assistance, not due to food shortages but distribution inefficiency and corruption in the Bolshevik regime
https://archive.org/details/famineinsovietru00haro
http://www.hoover.org/events/american-relief-administration-soviet-russia

Famine in India while 200million lbs of rice is exported to britain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-36339524

2. Run (for) Your Life

The thing we need to accept is that, for the most part our time is not our own anyway. Between the demands to be at certain places for set periods whilst exhibiting certain behaviours, whether this is work, sleep, eating or your child’s school at the end of their day, you are already trying to run your simple simian brain to the precision of a clock and follow acceptable patterns of expression, which it does not like. We feel stress, frustration and general dissatisfaction after prolonged periods of dull routine. Worrying about this stuff leads to depression and if it’s really bad, submitting written work to comedy websites.
If you think about how likely you would be to get up without an alarm clock or remember your nieces birthday without Facebook, you start to realise we are already halfway there. Why not have a self driving UBER check your diary and be outside at 6:30 am with a strong cup of coffee and a croissant waiting? Why not have a fridge which won’t let you have the mayonnaise until you have completed that workout? Or an amazon like emailed suggestion as to what to get your girlfriend for her birthday based on a confidential chat with your girlfriends A.I?
It does not mean you have to comply, as no one is holding a gun to your head, but you would. You know why? Because the A.I would be making the decisions you would have made, if given all the relevant facts and an infinite amount of time to think.
(Address, criminal behaviour, medical risk taking, business transactions etc)

1. Be in charge of war

We are capable of creating A.I as a species, we do not imagine we are not. But we have become incapable of imagining, that we are capable of creating a humane compassionate A.I. Or at least one limited to humane compassionate rules. We must acknowledge though, that A.I is coming. When it comes, do we want one that has been built on the foundation that life is sacred and that there must be limits to destruction? Or one that is a product of market forces? Only focused on the greatest human destruction at the minimal possible cost. Or even one who’s objectives are so alien we could not hope to predict it’s effects
Look at the situation between the U.S and North Korea. Nuclear war is suddenly back on the table, not because of a logical conclusion between rational actors, but because of bombast and ego, between two head cases who would make outlandish Game of Thrones characters. A.I wouldn’t threaten Guam, or shout about Fire and Fury. It would probably just ask the North Korean leadership if they wanted a hand job off a sex bot and some marijuana. Maybe after shutting down any enrichment facilities. We can of course have A.I built with a vulnerable brain above ground, with an emergency hammer nearby

Reference: paper on decision making algorythims in target acquisition in weapons
http://file.scirp.org/pdf/OJAppS_2013011417074071.pdf

reference research on programming decision making capabilities into unmanned aerial vehicles “Drones”
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225449174_Decision_Making_in_Multi-UAVs_Systems_Architecture_and_Algorithms