{"id":11601,"date":"2018-03-15T02:24:55","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T02:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=11601"},"modified":"2018-03-16T02:30:58","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T02:30:58","slug":"stephen-hawking-warned-about-the-perils-of-artificial-intelligence-yet-ai-gave-him-a-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/stephen-hawking-warned-about-the-perils-of-artificial-intelligence-yet-ai-gave-him-a-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Hawking warned about the perils of artificial intelligence \u2013 yet AI gave him a voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ana Santos Rutschman<\/a>, DePaul University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The late Stephen Hawking<\/a> was a major voice in the debate about how humanity can benefit from artificial intelligence. Hawking made no secret of his fears<\/a> that thinking machines could one day take charge. He went as far as predicting that future developments in AI \u201ccould spell the end of the human race<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hawking\u2019s relationship with AI was far more complex than this often-cited soundbite. The deep concerns he expressed were about superhuman AI, the point at which AI systems not only replicate human intelligence processes, but also keep expanding them, without our support \u2013 a stage that is at best decades away, if it ever happens at all<\/a>. And yet Hawking\u2019s very ability to communicate those fears, and all his other ideas, came to depend on basic AI technology.<\/p>\n

Hawking\u2019s conflicted relationship with AI<\/h2>\n

At the intellectual property<\/a> and health law<\/a> centers at DePaul University, my colleagues and I study the effects of emerging technologies like the ones Stephen Hawking worried about. At its core, the concept of AI involves computational technology designed to make machines function with foresight<\/a> that mimics, and ultimately surpasses<\/a>, human thinking processes.<\/p>\n

Hawking cautioned against an extreme form of AI, in which thinking machines would \u201ctake off<\/a>\u201d on their own, modifying themselves and independently designing and building ever more capable systems. Humans, bound by the slow pace of biological evolution, would be tragically outwitted.<\/p>\n

AI as a threat to humanity?<\/h2>\n

Well before it gets to the point of superhuman technology, AI can be put to terrible uses. Already, scholars and commentators worry that self-flying drones may be precursors<\/a> to lethal autonomous robots<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s early stage AI raises several other ethical and practical problems, too. AI systems are largely based on opaque algorithms<\/a> that make decisions even their own designers may be unable to explain<\/a>. The underlying mathematical models can be biased<\/a>, and computational errors<\/a> may occur. AI may progressively displace human skills and increase unemployment<\/a>. And limited access to AI might increase global inequality<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence<\/a>, launched by Stanford University in 2014, highlighted some of these concerns. But so far it has identified no evidence that AI will pose any \u201cimminent threat<\/a>\u201d to humankind, as Hawking feared.<\/p>\n

Still, Hawking\u2019s views on AI are somewhat less alarmist and more nuanced than he usually gets credit for. At their heart, they describe the need to understand and regulate emerging technologies. He repeatedly called<\/a> for more research<\/a> on the benefits and dangers of AI. And he believed<\/a> that even non-superhuman AI systems could help eradicate war, poverty and disease.<\/p>\n

Hawking talks<\/h2>\n

This apparent contradiction \u2013 a fear of humanity being eventually overtaken by AI but optimism about its benefits in the meantime \u2013 may have come from his own life: Hawking had come to rely on AI<\/a> to interact with the world.<\/p>\n

Unable to speak since 1985, he used a series of different communication systems<\/a> that helped him talk and write, culminating in the now-legendary computer<\/a> operated by one muscle<\/a> in his right cheek.<\/p>\n

The first iteration of the computer program was exasperatingly slow and prone to errors. Very basic AI changed that<\/a>. An open-source<\/a> program made his word selection significantly faster. More importantly, it used artificial intelligence to analyze Hawking\u2019s own words, and then used that information to help him express new ideas. By processing Hawking\u2019s books, articles and lecture scripts, the system got so good that he did not even have to type the term people most associate with him, \u201cthe black hole<\/a>.\u201d When he selected \u201cthe,\u201d \u201cblack\u201d would automatically be suggested to follow it, and \u201cblack\u201d would prompt \u201chole\u201d onto the screen.<\/p>\n

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