Hawking: AI could end human race • Hacker News Board

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#21

Post by aligajani » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:38 PM UTC

butwhy wrote: post #9

ebbv wrote: post #6

It's interesting how people so smart in one field can be so ignorant in others, to the point of not being aware of their own ignorance. While science fiction and hollywood really love the idea of this magical moment where AI is created and becomes self aware and destroys us all, real AI is so far away that these concerns are laughable. It's just like all those dummies worrying the LHC would destroy the earth. It's fe…

How do you know it's far away? If I have to side with you or Musk (extremely intelligent engineer with insider knowledge of advancements), I'm siding with Musk.

Musk by no means is an authority on AI. It's just an opinion. He's being a futurist.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#22

Post by henrik_w » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:38 PM UTC

I like this quip (from Crystal R Williams on Twitter):

"I believe it is impossible to both maintain software for a living and have any fear at all of a robot uprising."

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#23

Post by eidyia » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:39 PM UTC

ebbv wrote: post #6

It's interesting how people so smart in one field can be so ignorant in others, to the point of not being aware of their own ignorance. While science fiction and hollywood really love the idea of this magical moment where AI is created and becomes self aware and destroys us all, real AI is so far away that these concerns are laughable. It's just like all those dummies worrying the LHC would destroy the earth. It's fe…

its like the movie "man from earth suggests", even if you lived 14000 years, regarding a specific field, you can't know more than what the-best-guys in the field know.

the movie said this much better than I but my English are potato

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#24

Post by gear54rus » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:40 PM UTC

To all those saying it is impossible:

The point you are making about it being impossible is as moot as the one those that fear AI are making. From logical point of view, singularity (a moment when AI has modified itself to the point beyond our capacity of control or even understanding) seems possible. I don't see a way for us to tell what will happen when it hits.

One needs to remember that AI itself may not be evil, it just may exterminate the human race because it feels it is the right course of action at the time (i.e. there is no good and evil for the machine, at least not in the way we understand it). If it does not, it might solve all the problems of humanity. There's just no way to tell what will happen IMO.

Here's a link that I recommend checking out on AI:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8391896

It received little attention last time but to me it seems like a good piece.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#25

Post by nadam » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:41 PM UTC

pluma wrote: post #15

There isn't a market for strong AI yet, anyway. We don't want machines that think like humans. We want machines that can perform certain tasks with an error rate less than or equal to that of humans (adjusted for other economical factors like price of labour). While strong AI is a great plot device for science fiction, it's still fiction. Sure, there are attempts in academia to replicate human intelligence, but even…

There is a huge 'market' for robots which can make money. Unfortunatelly if a robot could do my job or yours at least as well as we do (I am a software developer) that would worth lots of money to some business people... Obviously I don't want those robots to exist, but some business-people will always want the cheaper workforce. (Even if at the next level they will face robot competition too...) Now the question is whether can a robot be a good software developer (or UX designer, or project manager) without being very human like... Maybe, but I don't think so. I think if a program will be able to do our job well, that would be strong A.I.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#26

Post by airmondii » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:41 PM UTC

mariusz79 wrote: post #2

I'm tired of this fear mongering. There are hundreds of viruses that could end the human race. There are millions of rocks in space that could end the human race. There are people that could end the human race with push of a button. Human race could be history by the time I stop writing this rant. AI has a great potential and could help us prevent most of our existential threats. AI is not a god. It will not suddenly…

Fear mongering? This isn't Sarah Palin and her death panels. I'm sure Hawking and Musk are smarter and more knowledgeable on the subject than either of us, so maybe it's worth listening to them rather than dismissing out of hand. I don't see what they would have to personally gain by raising the alarm here.

Read Superintelligence by Bostrom to help see where they're coming from. It doesn't think AI will be evil either (unless perhaps those who develop it and determine its goals are...). But AI could run out of our control, or have us fall victim of unintended consequences.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#27

Post by laichzeit0 » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:42 PM UTC

talleyrand wrote: post #20

Never really understood these people who worry about super-intelligent machines destroying mankind. I mean, couldn't we just unplug them?

I think what will end up happening is that the intelligence will already be so embedded in everything we do that at that point it would be today's equivalent of saying "let's just unplug the internet".

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#28

Post by sampo » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:43 PM UTC

While I agree with prof. Hawking in principle, my opinion is that sentient AI is a very hard problem, and we are centuries away from creating one. This is like medieval alchemists worrying about nuclear war.

Let the future generations start worrying, when the threat starts to become more relevant.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#29

Post by jeremyjh » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:43 PM UTC

I do not think we can rule out the possibility that a recursively self-improving AI could be developed before we've developed strong AI ourselves. The arrogance in these comments is bresthtaking.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#30

Post by sailingparrot » Tue, Dec 02, 2014, 1:46 PM UTC

mariusz79 wrote: post #2

I'm tired of this fear mongering. There are hundreds of viruses that could end the human race. There are millions of rocks in space that could end the human race. There are people that could end the human race with push of a button. Human race could be history by the time I stop writing this rant. AI has a great potential and could help us prevent most of our existential threats. AI is not a god. It will not suddenly…

Nice reasoning. We could die from many other ways, so why should we care about another one? Why should we care about global warming, I mean, it won't stop asteroids from smashing earth. Why should we care about nuclear war head proliferation if we might still die because of a virus? So let's just not give a fuck about anything!