This one might piss off a few alarmists in the audience.
We like to think of AI as this cool self-learning technology that’ll eventually match and even surpass human beings in most if not all things. We’ve all seen these smart AIs composing music and doing doing other “creative” problem solving.
Just like we all heard the horror stories about the misanthropic computer that learns to spew hatred or whatever. I mean, Sophia got her citizenship not too long ago. Clearly these things will soon be able to pass as human, right?
The age of intelligent machines is coming and human beings will quickly fall behind.
And it’s not a huge logical leap to then say that these things will soon completely replace humans in all areas of life. The relationship will either flip to them being in charge, or we’ll become like these lazy guys from Wall-E who never do anything, slowly dying out.
Either way, the long-term effect of AIs is catastrophic if you follow the chain of this AI-worshiping rhetoric.
Which, I don’t. At all. Not just the part where AIs take over, mind, but the entire thing where Machine Learning supposedly surpasses human capabilities and renders them obsolete in any fashion.
Thing is, none of the stuff we have gets within a mile to the human brain, and with current level of technology this looks like a joke.
Case in point: we have billions of neurons that can create thousands upon thousands of connections with each other. How many connected processing units does the best supercomputer have? Yeah, rhetorical question. We also happen to have a hormonal system that constantly changes the state and produces varied outcomes based on external pressures. Do the math in your head, with the amount of signals running through this system at any given millisecond.
You ever thought how insanely efficient this stuff is?
I’m not saying the technology is never going to match our brain, mind – but so far this “as good as humans” stuff is overhyped to all hell. It reminds me of the same economically illiterate people who yammer about how automation is gonna take all our jobs.
Neural networks are cool, but will never be as cool as the collective awesomeness of our grey matter.
Mark my words, biotech is the dark horse of technology right now that’s gonna hit us like a truck, not Machine Learning and AIs.
If any of you folks intend to tell me how wrong I am, might as well do so while actually working with me on a project. I may take it seriously, even.