Beware! The Machines are Coming

AI: The biggest threat to mankind?

Robotics, as we remember was a fascinating subject, with robots helping in daily tasks. With the world going ‘automatic’, we deployed robots for warehouse jobs, launching aircrafts and other dangerous tasks. But progress never stops and our machines too are getting smarter. With Apple’s Siri and Google’s driverless cars, we can completely rely on them. The research started long back and today we have Saya robot simulating human expressions of surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness and sadness. Japan- producing a slew  of humanoids- these bots seem a boon as they assist to take care of the elderly, people with special needs, friendly- some more affable than humans!

Well, all’s fine till here, but what when robots start thinking?

Artificial intelligence- all the while humans have been trying to ease their tasks with mechanical assistance. And today we are so dependent on our Android apps to tell us the weather forecast, Google maps to drive us to our destination, Skype to get connected, smart gadgets to regulate blood pressure and diabetes, apps to remind us of our flight timing, important assignments etc.

But what if these assistants wish to out-do humans? Our Sci-fi films like Terminator Series, Robot and Ra-one have already given us a glimpse.

‘Watch Out! The machines are coming!’- Headlines have already started hitting the news space, like a first-hand indication. It reminisces of those ‘2012-‘ doomsday types film extracts- fingers crossed. Recently it was announced that a computer beat a human in the 2500 year old game ‘Go’-a wickedly complex game that supposedly has more possible moves than there are atoms in the universe! (10⁷⁰ – for those who know their Math!) Now this is something crazy. The alarm bells are ringing, it is time to limit giving power to the robots. Just imagine these sci-fi dreadful movie scenarios coming to reality and you are left to save the world! It’s good food for thrilling sci-fi entertainers, but of course no one wishes that to become a reality!

The biggest scientists of the world are getting worried about AI. “I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful. I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something foolish”, said Elon Musk, CEO, Space X, Tesla.

After all, it’s rightly said, “Technology should be a tool and not a master!”

Reference: Times NIE edition