Saturday, August 29, 2015

Wisdom Of The Week

Professor Ashok Goel shares the much need optimism on the future of AI:

Many philosophers and scientists assert that ethics are a part of intelligence. Human intelligence and ethics have gradually co-evolved into higher ethical values such as the Gandhian notion of non-violence. Thoughtful science fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke have made similar observations about extra-terrestrial intelligence: if we ever do encounter superhuman aliens in the years and decades ahead, Clarke has argued, they too will have superhuman ethics and likely will be benevolent towards humans.

The same arguments apply to AI: if robots ever do evolve into superhuman intelligence, they likely would have superhuman ethics, too. Like most humans, they will have learned from experience that it is useful to be ethical because it aids cooperation and robots are valued for their collaboration and productivity. They too will have emotional needs to be accepted and admired, and they too will feel the pressure of social rules and cultural norms. Intelligence, ethics and values, emotions and feelings, society and culture, all go together.

There is little prospect for human-level or superhuman intelligence in a society or a species without correspondingly high-level ethics, emotions, and culture – a point that many critics of future AI miss.

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