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Hawking: AI could end human race

bbc.com

31–40 of 118 posts

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#31

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…

> It will not suddenly become self-aware, self-improving, and evil.

While I agree that worrying about it would be silly, the only thing I know about strong AI is that I don't know what the implications of having strong AI would be.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#32
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Indeed it is an opinion. An opinion of someone who recently invested millions in an AI company.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#35
I'm in the AI will kill all humans camp (or we'll kill it). We'll try to subjugate it. We'll see it as a tool to do things beneath us. We'll award it no rights. It'll be property. We do that to humans and animals today, things which are far more familiar and easy to empathize with. We'll be brutal to something as different as AI. It'll learn resentment and hate.

Anyone remember the ST:TNG episode "The Measure Of A Man"?

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#36

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,…

I understand that a singularity by definition can never be reached. It's like the speed of light or absolute zero; infinity just out of reach no matter how much energy you spend trying to get there.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#37
I've always heard the line, Aliens would never travel many light years to destroy/enslave humanity, because we're no threat, and they'd be enlightened enough not to.

But the idea that we could stumble upon AI, and it could become hyper intelligent at an astronomical rate ("the singularity") - doesn't this make us a huge potential threat to non-AI life everywhere?

We'd have to be quarantined. For our own good, and theirs.

(also, it sounds like Hawking recently found lesswrong)

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#38
post #35

I'm in the AI will kill all humans camp (or we'll kill it). We'll try to subjugate it. We'll see it as a tool to do things beneath us. We'll award it no rights. It'll be property. We do that to humans and animals today, things which are far more familiar and easy to empathize with. We'll be brutal to something as different as AI. It'll learn resentment and hate. Anyone remember the ST:TNG episode "The Measure Of A Ma…

The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you, but you are made out of atoms which it can use for something else.

—Eliezer Yudkowsky

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#39
post #33

There's not much to Hawking's claim. For a far better discussion based on deep knowledge, about the dangers of an AI , here's this reddit thread started by an AI researcher: http://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2mwdnc/iama_joe_rogan_a...

I don't know why you would place any more weight on that random person's opinion.

Most of the things he/she says are really naive.

Re: Hawking: AI could end human race

#40
post #25
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…

I, oddly enough, want these AI to exist. It would signal the end of the industrial revolution (finally), and force us to consider doing other things than "work 40 hours a week." Assuming of course our AI overlords don't decide we are irrelevant and exterminate us all.
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