The “artificial intelligences” we have so far, like Amazon’s Alexa, are not very impressive at all. If you ask them anything beyond what they are strictly programmed to answer, they are stumped. In other words they can’t think at all.
But I wouldn’t bet too much that they can’t get to do so. And something just struck me: it is unlikely that we will see a long, slow growth in intelligence of A.I.’s. I think that when it happens, it’s gonna go really flippin’ fast. One year they will still seem dull as bricks, and the next year they will be smarter than us, and the next they will have taken over the world, for better or worse.
I have decided not to allow Alexa to do anything that could cost me money or be unsafe - order goods, switch on the heating, the cooker or an electric fire.
ReplyDeleteSince her intelligence is in the cloud, I can render her helpless by switching off the router. And my mobile phone.
Now, what have I forgotten?
Oh no! There's a SWAT team at the door! Maybe I should have prevented her from using my email as well.
Quite so. I’ve just heard that you now can use Alexa to donate to charity. ... Up to five grand! I can’t even even buy stuff with my iPhone over fifty bucks or so. (The former seems very high to me, and the latter is rather low considering the good security on the iPhone.)
ReplyDelete