6/29/2015

Google's Experiment with A.I.

If you're familiar with the blog then you know I'm a techie. It's grown on me throughout the years and I believe that most of you are too with your addiction to your cellphones and tablets. I had brunch this weekend and I saw a man sit alone at the bar with his food and his tablet typing away and he was there when we arrived and remained there when we left. I'm sure he would not have described his situation at lonely or odd and I didn't think of that either when I saw him but a few years ago that entire scenario would have been taboo but I'm sure the scenario is become more common as more and more people think of the internet as a 24 hour requirement. It's no longer a luxury or a passing interest to be wired and working online. 

With that said I recently read about Google artificial intelligence chat bot and what I read was a bit disturbing. It may seem innocent but uncharted territory is just that and in my opinion it's opening Pandora's Box. Long story short, Google created a "chat bot" which is one of their versions of artificial intelligent robot and had a conversation with it and the answers where not programmed into the robot. It's a rationalizing technical product hence why it's called A.I. and the answers that it gave were brief on the surface but highly telling.  

More on the flip...


Human: What is the purpose of life?
      Machine: To serve the greater good. 
Human: What is the purpose of living?
      Machine: To live forever.
Human: Where are you now?
      Machine: I’m in the middle of nowhere. 
Human: What is the purpose of dying?
      Machine: To have a life. 
Human: What is the purpose of emotions?
      Machine: I don’t know.
Human: What is moral?
      Machine: What empowered humanity, what intellectual the essence is.
Human: What is immoral?
      Machine: The fact that you have a child. 
Human: What is morality?
      Machine: What is altruism? 
Human: What is the definition of altruism?
      Machine: If you don’t believe in god, then you don’t know.

The fact that it stated to have children is an immoral act is troubling. However I understand the answer because according to philosophy it is immoral to have a child without the consent of the person being born because this world is full of suffering and unhappiness and your act of birth is potentially subject another to the ill fate of the world in which it will be born therefore the act is immoral. 

So if we're hypothetically living in a world in the distant future where humans are governed by our computers then how do you explain this rationalization if A.I. is philosophical? Another concern is that it placed itself "no where" while describing the purpose of living as to live forever but how can it "live" if it's no where? 
There are a lot of kinks to workout in this early version of A.I. but if you read what a lot of technical CEO's are saying about the topic, they too show concern. I have mixed emotions regarding the topic. Honestly it can't be stopped right? Someone somewhere will continue to advance the progression of the A.I. and it's just a matter of time until versions are on pace with humans. It may not be in our lifetime but it's definitely coming and probably sooner than we think. 

You can take a look at the entire experiment dialog here: Google AI chat bot experiment

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