ZOILO “BINGO” P. DEJARESCO III l May 30, 2023 l Manila Bulletin
Our first imaginings of robots (using Artificial Intelligence or AI) challenging the human race and taking control of the planet Earth, began with 8 films and TV series involving the franchise of the “Planet of the Apes”.
Apes, from where man supposedly evolved, have almost human-like abilities to think, reason, and survive. In some of the plots of the franchise (that moved from Century Fox to Disney), the apes revolted against abusive humans and took control of a city.
Can AI whose IQ can be raised a thousand times better than humans someday establish their own “goals’ and subjugate humanity?
Take the issue of security. A lone, unmanned drone strikes dead an Arab terrorist leader target in the Middle East. No risk of human lives on the perpetrators.
We rejoice at the death of the terrorist. But what if the technology gets into the hands of the “bad boys” and uses them to terrorize or harm the rest of humanity? Consider these.
There are reports that the autonomous weapons.org can produce “swarm technology” creating an army of “slaughter bots”- or deadly drones armed with a 3-gram explosive per drone and with highly sensitive sensors and cameras. Trained as a team, they can evade sniper fire and detainment.
Since it has face or identity recognition, they can be released to kill selected targets inside buildings, trains and cars. It is said that a mere $ 25 million investment in an army of killer drones is capable of “taking out” half of the population of an average American city. No sweat. But horrifying to imagine.
Instead of men fighting hand-to-hand combat in the trenches, future earth battles could possibly be between opposing armies of robocops. Little risk to human lives. Is even nuclear warfare now becoming obsolete?
What if the robots, programmed and trained as a team, realize they can become a million times more intelligent than humans and decide among themselves to enslave humanity and rule us? Possible? Or just another movie theme?
Geoffrey Hinton often called the “Godfather of AI” and a Nobel prize winner for Computer science quit Alphabet (his company for 10 years) in order that he can freely speak about the dangers of AI without the guilt of speaking against an employer.
Climate change control, Hinton claims, only means reducing the amount of carbon we use. But AI, while having positive usage, can get out of hand in the wrong hands.
Chris Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower speaks openly about the lack of regulation and restraint in the AI industry. The “genie” has been released from the magic lamp without “safety evaluations and ethical standards”. It can turn into a Frankenstein, and break a lot of glass in the laboratory.
It is said that every disruptive technology generates disasters before safety nets are employed, cited was the creation of airplanes before the Federal Aviation Authority was installed or medicine before the Food and Drug Administration acted as cops. In what form will the AI disaster be?
They cited that an entity like Facebook has been allowed the “segregation” of people by race, sexuality, religion and preferences. Through the use of individual algorithms, people are fed “tailored fit” information and advertisement to reinforce or change their way of thinking.
While statuettes outlaw racial segregation, no law (as of yet) prevents this “method of mind control”. People woefully make decisions only after receiving altered realities through controlled platforms. Trump or Clinton? Marcos or Robredo?
On the other hand, we have seen vehicles with automatic pilots, home appliances operating on their own, robot waiters and factory workers, and ChatGPT composing letters and essays and formats reducing total dependence on lawyers and doctors assisted ably by more intelligent robots.
What happens then to society when most will be losing jobs in favor of these lifeless beings with intelligence quotients of 210 and above?
This existential question has turned some men into philosophers. That man will have to evolve into individuals that can do jobs that robots cannot- like those that require human empathy, warmth, and abstract thinking. That’s possibly one way.
But these newfangled philosophers also argue that over time, precisely because of AI, poverty, sickness, death and climate change will also be slowly licked, making it easier for humans to survive. Who needs to work tirelessly then?
The best solution so far has been the global call for both Joe Biden and European Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen to lead a “world summit” to rationalize the mystery that is AI. Then all countries must agree (especially reclusive Lone Rangers like China) to cooperate with the world to align this Frankenstein (experiencing exponential growth) so that it will serve the best and not the worst biases of humankind.
It could be the only formula for world survival.
Watch out because that which the apes failed to do, the AI army just might.
*** (Bingo Dejaresco, a former banker, is a financial consultant and media practitioner. He is a Life and MediA member of FINEX. His views here, however, are personal and do not necessarily reflect these of FINEX.) (dejarescobingo@yahoo.com)