Future Technology 500

For years, one of the biggest worries about the growth of the use of AI has been in the way it will deal with reason. As humans, we find ourselves making many irrational choices. So, how can we expect AI to make up for own failings? If we program the framework, then how can we make sure the AI is no fallible to the same limitations that we are?

One person has a rough idea on how we might be able to get around this: DeepMind. A Google subsidiary that is all about AI, they recently produced a paper that laid out the answers which came from measuring an AI’ ability to reason.

To do so, they used the same kind of reasoning test that we would take as people: an IQ test. After all, why not test the AI to the same standards as a person?

DeepMind created a new software solution that could generate unique matrix problems, which the AI wold then need to solve. For those worrying that AI might be about to take over the world, fear not: the results aren’t exactly going to see us overpowered and overthrown just yet.

‘Better luck next time’

The results were, to say the least, not impressive. When the AI continued to work on the problem, the system managed to fare quite well when the same factor existed for the training and test problems. They were getting around 75% success rates when the test and then training program modules were more or less the same.

All it took to rock this, though, was a single change. What happened was that the AI would then start to produce much poorer and inconsistent scores when the platform would change. If the testing set was different from the training, the AI simply had no real answer.

This was the same even if the change was extremely small. Even a simple change in the color tone would be enough to leave the AI badly struggling to be able to make the most of the information in front of it. So, for those who are worried that AI might be getting beyond a point of safety, this should assuage some of your fears.

The AI IQ test immediately shows something that we already thought we knew: even the most advanced AIs at present at not quite ready to meet the human mind. If we have no ‘trained’ the AI to be fully ready to take on a highly specific test, it can struggle quite significantly.

For now, then, we are some way away from being able to make a general AI that can think, feel and deduce complex challenges. At least now we have a means of being able to see how the AI is improving and changing over time.

However, this should – at the very least – show people that the imminent replacement of humans with machines is still quite a way off: at least for the time being.

Today, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not simply a movie title or a concept. There have been recent breakthroughs in AI and machine learning that do not only include AI in mobile phones and drones but also other developments. These talks are soon to become reality as the biggest names in the industry are said to be working together in addressing issues that include safety, privacy and the connection between AI and human beings.

Big players like IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and DeepMind, which was acquired by Google in 2014, are the ones vocal about the role of AI and what direction it is heading to.  The consortium is known as Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society or simply, Partnership on AI. As it name connotes, it is the goal of these five technology companies to promote best practices and conduct research. The group also aims to publish the research under an open license and will cover fairness and inclusivity, transparency, privacy, interoperability, robustness, trustworthiness and reliability.

What will basically happen is that the first five members will be communicating and working with each other as well as discussing the advancements in Artificial Intelligence while competition for coming up with the best products and services is ongoing among the players.

According to University of Montreal professor, Yoshua Bengio, AI offers companies and organization alike a plethora of opportunities and that the development of AI is fast and continuous. However, he also talked about the concerns on how the development process will stand. But he also mentioned that the coming together of these companies will ensure that these five players will be one in terms of goals and objectives that will bring about common good.

What to Expect

The group said that it has no plans to lobby government bodies. Instead, there will be equal representation of corporate and non-corporate members from all the five companies. Moreover, talks are already ongoing among the Partnership on AI and organizations such as the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. As for the potential of AI, it is said to benefit different aspects of life, such as education, entertainment, manufacturing, transport, home automation and healthcare.

The five pioneer corporate members have AI research teams and some have become popular like Watson for IBM, DeepMind for Google and Alexa for Amazon. London-based DeepMind made it to the headlines in March after it was able to develop a machine that was able to beat a human player known for being a world-class player of the ancient board game from Asia, Go.

Managing director of research for Microsoft said that the partnership was historic and will be a major influence on the people while ethics researcher for IBM. Francesca Rossi regarded the collaboration as “a vital voice in the advancement of the defining technology of this century”.

Meanwhile, the absence of Apple and OpenAI, the non-profit group founded by Elon Musk, did not escape the eyes of enthusiasts but Apple is said to be enthusiastic about the project.

Reference

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37494863