Examples of AI: From Sobering to Shocking

Examples of AI: From Sobering to Shocking

Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk have something in common, and it’s not wealth or intelligence (Paul Jongko). They are all terrified of the so-called AI apocalypse, a hypothetical scenario where a computer system possesses intelligence far surpassing that of the brightest human minds, becomes our overlord, and exterminates mankind. That’s how these bright people see the future of artificial intelligence (AI). Since we aren’t as smart as they are, we can’t (seriously) talk about the future of AI. As such, we just focus on some recent and remarkable developments.

Here are some debatable, shocking, thrilling, exciting, scary, funny, and astounding stories about AI that blew our minds or made us smile.

• Machine Replication. An AI (machine learning system) replicates itself at Google. In simple terms, an AI creates another AI. The replicated AI was found to be more efficient than the best human-designed AI. Scary.
• Price Personalization. AI is selling identical goods or services to each customer at a different price based on the information specific to that unique customer. Is it price personalization or price discrimination? Your call. Debatable.
• Image-to-Image Translation. Nvidia’s research group uses AI to make it snow on streets that are always sunny. The AI imagines what a sunny street could look like when it’s raining, snowing, or even pitch-black outside. Astounding.
• Mind Reading. AI sees what you think and draws a picture of it. Does the AI know what we think, feel, and desire? Not yet, but brain activation patterns can already be used to identify some complex thoughts. Thrilling.]
• Artificial Language. AI creates its own language. AI robots were shut down at Facebook after they started talking to each other in their own language to make themselves more efficient at communication. Interesting.
• Disease Protection. AI proves incredibly good at predicting disease. It appears to anticipate the onset of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia surprisingly well, though it is notoriously difficult for physicians to predict. Exciting.
• Language Translation. Even though technological devices in our modern times can quickly and easily connect, humans from different parts of the world often can’t. Language translation remains a barrier. Sobering.
• Autonomous Weapons. The Russian weapons manufacturer Kalashnikov Group revealed it had developed a range of combat robots that are fully automated and used AI to identify targets and make independent decisions. Shocking.
• Swearing Machine. Watson, the gameshow-winning supercomputer, couldn’t stop swearing and giving backchat to researchers. IBM was forced to wipe the hard drive after the machine downloaded an urban dictionary. Hilarious.
• Sex Robots. Sex robots seem to be a growing focus in the robotics industry. Are humans falling in love and having sex with robots? The controversial answer is yes, and it’s already happening. Disturbing.

Sources: Machine Replication, Price Personalization, Image-to-Image Translation, Mind Reading, Artificial Language, Disease Prediction, Language Translation, Autonomous Weapons, Swearing Machine

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