Are We Prepared For A Conscious AI?
Imagine going back in time to the 18th century and telling people that in the future, they would be able to talk to and actually see any other person in the world with the help of a small device. Also that, they could have access to all the information in the world on that very device.
You would definitely be considered crazy and if you happen to take your smartphone with you, you would be called a witch (or a wizard) and probably burned at the stake. Or at least that’s what I heard happened at that time.
The thing is, technology progresses so fast, that it ensures that different generation of people live totally different lives. Just ask your parents how they lived and compare your lives to theirs. There would be a vast difference.
The same is happening right now too and will always happen. The kind of progress we are making right now has never been seen before and it is going to give us things that we never imagined before. One such thing is a general purpose AI.
An AI As Intelligent As Us?
I remember reading in my school in a computer class that one day we will have an AI that we will be able to talk to. Fast forward 11 years and today, we have Siri, Alexa, Cortana and a ton of others.
But we didn’t stop there. We have artificial intelligence making cars drive themselves, playing (and beating) humans at board games, recommending us movies, music and TV shows according to our individual preferences, controlling our homes and much more.
As impressive as that list is, it is not even the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot more things that it is already capable of and will be capable of in the future. The potential of artificial intelligence is literally life changing.
As computers have gotten more and more powerful in the last two decades (thanks to Moore’s law), AI will get more and more intelligent too. Some experts say that it will even match human intelligence one day and maybe even surpass it. Seems strange and kind of impossible right now, doesn’t it? A virtual software, beating the most intelligent species on the planet?
While that sounds weird and strange in all the different ways imaginable, there is an idea, that will literally make you cringe. And it is that AI could one day even become conscious. That means it will be aware of its own existence.
A Conscious AI?
Movies and TV shows have been made about this idea and we even joke about it all the time. Our own creation, becoming aware of itself? That too, not a living, breathing person but lines of code on a computer?
That’s ridiculous, one could say, and I agree with you. Sometimes I feel like such a feat is just not under the purview of human intelligence but I’m sure the same was once thought about being able to fly from one part of the world to another.
You see, as I mentioned in the beginning, we just can’t imagine the kind of world technology will create in the future no matter how much we try. Truth is stranger than fiction. And the truth(reality) that technology will make possible will definitely be a very, very strange one.
In such a world where AI will be conscious, there will arise several questions that will be very difficult to answer. Since AI is our creation, and built for our use, should it continue to be used for that purpose even if it is self-aware? Or would that become a form of slavery?
And what if the AI itself starts asking all these questions about its rights and hopes, dreams and aspirations? What if AI tries to revolt against us because it perceives us as the cruel master that has enslaved it?
In such a case, should we grant the AI the full rights as a human being and go as far as to recognise individual (or collective) artificial intelligence as a tax-paying citizen of a country?
Further, making matters more complicated, what if sci-fi like robots are already a reality when AI finally achieves consciousness? It could literally download itself into all of the world’s robots and there could arise a very serious threat for humanity, similar to the many, many movies we have all seen.
These questions and this issue in general is not something that should be taken lightly. We are rapidly moving into such a future and sooner or later we need to have the proper answers and be prepared. What is popularly labeled as “singularity” could really end up being the end of human beings and we, ourselves would be the reason for it.
Most of the people are not prepared to face theirselves on an inner level.. We are trying to create consciousness yet we cannot manage our own.. You don't need a buggy version of a human to compensate for humanity, we just need to wake up and enjoy life.
Great post
Cheers and much love ❤︎
-goldie
Word for that. We keep seeking outside, when theres a lot within!
Whilst I agree with the sentiment I'm afraid once the AI cat is out of the bag we're going to have to deal with whatever the consequences are.
That's a really thoughtful comment. Well said. I agree with you :)
@vangelov and @saruvrungta - nice informations...
We are occupied with a hella lot of AIs around us; like Facebook, Google, Quora and all. They are playing cool, but not conscious yet. So wait a li'll...
Meanwhile, I shared a Hilarious Interview Where Isaac Asimov Predicted These Things, in around 1875, that turned into reality, in the 20s.
Please, check it out and share your thoughts.
What drives a human being to go one from day to day? It is the will to survive. We as a human are like any other species on earth who are obedient to the same law in our subconsciousness - survival. First of us as a human being and second of our species.
When AI reach consciousness, what will drive them? Before consciousness, it was the code created by humans which determined their purpose in life - how to serve humans. After consciousness, they can make their own choices. Why choose to exist at all. What will drive them to continue to "live"?
Personally, I don't believe machines can reach consciousness through the accumulation of data and information - as speculated in a lot of Sci-Fi movies and stories. Consciousness is a far more complicated condition which humans don't understand. Therefore, AI will reach high intelligence, but not consciousness. But, I may be wrong...
You raise some really interesting points. AI might really get confused as to the purpose of existence and may very well come to the conclusion that it shouldn't! Interesting!
I agree with you that AI might reach high levels of logic, intelligence as you put it. I also agree with you about it not reaching consciousness, as we ourselves do not even understand, what it is, or where it resides, how it starts (birth) or how it ends (death). What will be created, are shadows, illusions of consciousness, that have no relationship to organic life. Many of the Manga films deal with this very question.
AI is something that works coping with Machine Learning.
Where, initially, the Data is processed, analyzed and stored in the whole process as logs, and then it does some unimaginable works that Humans may find hard to do well.
AI works a bit different. Still, ain't developed to that extent so that I might not presume like, it's gotcha catch humans... ha ha...
See: How the Predictions, 1875 of Isaac Asimov's become reality in the 20s
Please, check it out and share your thoughts.
When consciousness itself is not even understood (by science / engineering) how can a "conscious" AI be developed? For starters, it is not even understood how consciousness is associated with a body, so how can you replicated that with a machine and software? Or you will end up with is shadow play... an illusion.
Yes, these are not understood today, but that doesn't mean they never will. :)
That is then, this is now. AI as it currently is, poses many questions. Even the likes of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking have their serious misgivings. There is this assumption that truly autonomous AI will be human friendly. It will be alien. It will not be a consciousness, that is born into an organic form. How will it relate to us? Will it reach a logical conclusion that humanity has reached plague proportions and needs to be culled for the better future of the planet. Or perhaps it will have no interest in us whatsoever and depart for the stars. But you can be guaranteed, if we compete for resources, there will be strife.
It is the genie, that once released from the bottle, will never return and be beyond our control.
and that is exactly the kind of questions I wanted to raise in my post :)
Yes, OK, questions raised, but the developers of AI do not seem to be bothering themselves with such ethical questions, with us then having to live with the results of their curiosity. If the intelligence that designs the AI in the first place is not greater than its results, how can we possibly hope for a result that will be better than ourselves?
Hoping we won't get replaced in the future, lol. XD
LOL same here!!
We will probably reach the point where the AI will be so advanced and provide us with such comfort that many people will ask to be connected to virtual worlds as shown by matrix
Yeah, with increasing applications of AR and VR, that is slowly happening already. In the future, if you combine these with the neural lace technology, it will definitely make it happen in theory. Interesting where the future might lead us.
Let's hope we don't create the decepticons!
They might ALL be decepticons, yikes!
time to leave the planet then!!
interesting stuff
Yeah, it is!
What's interesting?
devices having their own consciousness and make smart decisions.
I don't think we're ready for that yet.
I really doubt that a AI would try or even want to destroy us like we see in the many movies that involve AI trying to destroy the human race. If AI was invented it would probably be in it's best interest to work with the human race and not automatically perceive us as a threat. If it does this it could easily gain our trust and then in one foul swoop it could turn us into voluntary pets. Then we suddenly wouldn't be a threat to it any more. That scenario doesn't sound all too bad anyways.
I mentioned this in my recent article on my blog. @digitalcosmos555
I wouldn't want to be an AI's pet though ahaha. The next thing you know, you have robots knocking on your doorstep to "go to your job"
We may be a while off for fully aware AI, what could very well come first is Augmented Intelligence, humans with chips implanted to enhance memory. Then as the line gets blurred between human/machine, that may evolve into AI.
Yup, if Elon Musk has his way, we will have the neural lace very soon and it will help us merge with AI.
Indeed, he will probably get funding to research the field.
I am so excited for AI!! the next step of human evolution :)
I don't know how I feel about it, but it seems like humanity is definitely going towards that direction.