Looking for some inspiration this summer? We’ve rounded up some of the most interesting recent articles on developments in artificial intelligence, from Elon Musk’s plans to connect our minds to the cloud, to A.I. that’s capable of building its own robots. The future is coming, here’s what to expect...
Rise of the robots
Last week, a computer program beat the world’s strongest Go player. The Chinese board game was one of the last cerebral games in which humans still retained the upper hand over robots, and the world’s best Go player, Ke Ji described the experience of taking on Google’s “godlike” machine as “horrible”.
Naturally, it begs the question: how long until robots takeover or are granted the same rights as humans? Probably sooner than you might expect, actually. Under a new draft plan by the Europe Union, A.I. could be classed as “electronic persons”, with their owners liable for social security.
A black and white issue
Aside from putting us out of work and suppressing humanity, there’s also growing concern that algorithms might be… racist. A black researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that a social robot recognized her face with more accuracy when she was wearing a white mask. Joy Buolamwin breaks it down for us noobs on the Guardian about her experiences of dealing with racial bias in robotics.
Of course, Joy isn’t the only person who’s been at the receiving end of nasty bigoted robots. Last year, a beauty contest judged by A.I. sparked a backlash, after only one of the 44 contestants was black. And let’s not forget Microsoft’s chatboy Tay, designed to interact with youths on Twitter, who went rogue into Twitter egg mode.
Immortality beckons
Hungry for more creepy tech content? Discover transhumanism: the creepy philosophy espoused by the likes of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. The American writer Meghan O'Gieblyn, a former Evangelical Christian, fell into transhumanism after a bartender lent her a copy of The Singularity is Near by Raymond Kurzweil. Read about her fascinating experiences in the Guardian - or listen to the podcast.
Uploading our brains into the cloud…
Creeped out yet? You’re not alone. Elon Musk reckons A.I. will surpass human brainpower “by a lot” unless we connect our minds to the cloud. After dropping hints all year long, Elon Musk finally confirmed rumours that he was working on a technology called Neural Lace, a brain implant designed to create super-intelligence in humans and connect our brains to computers. Read about Elon Musk’s new brain-machine interface startup, Neuralink here.
If you’re interested in the ethical ramifications of the singularity (the point in time when humans and machines will converge), you should check out National Geographic’s new docu-drama on the subject, Year Million. A sober Black Mirror, the futuristic series gives us a frightening glimpse into our future, with many of the technologies featured in the show already in the works.
For more info on the docu-drama Year Million and robot rights, check out Inverse’s great article on the Nat Geo series’ basis in reality and Gizmodo’s fresh and original take on why robots are so creepy.
A.I. inception
In May, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai revealed the company’s new pet project: AutoML, an artificial intelligence capable of building its own robots. Yes, you read that right. Joking that his team had achieved “A.I. inception”, Pichai explained AutoML has the potential to improve speech recognition, tech facial recognition software and dramatic advancements in finance, agriculture and healthcare. Explore AutoML here.