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What Science Fiction Tells Us About Our Trouble With AI
AI, as conceived of in popular culture, does not yet exist, even if autonomous and expert systems do. Smartphones might not be supercomputers, but they are called “smartphones” for good reason, in terms of how their operating systems function. Equally, we are happy to talk about a computer game’s “AI”, but gamers quickly learn to …
It Could Be Time To Start Thinking About A Cybernetic Bill Of Rights
Like it or loathe it, the robot revolution is now well underway and the futures described by writers such as Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl and Philip K. Dick are fast turning from science fiction into science fact. But should robots have rights? And will humanity ever reach a point where human and machine are treated …
An Intelligence In Our Image: The Risks Of Bias And Errors In Artificial Intelligence
Right now, artificial intelligence (AI) and countless algorithms are integrated into our daily life. Because of the efficiency they bring into the table, the use of AI is only expected to widen. With humanity becoming more and more reliant on this technology, it is only natural to think about the implications. In contrast to the common …
What Does An Open Source AI Future Look Like?
The recent announcement about Neuralink, Elon Musk’s latest startup, added to the buzz already in the air about where tech is taking us in the not-so-distant future. Judging by its ambitious plans, which involve pairing computers wirelessly with the human brain, Neuralink demonstrates that the future is now. And a big part of that future is …
Can AI Accurately Predict Depression Using Our Voice?
Depression is a mental health condition of multiple faces. Those who are depressed may exhibit their symptoms in different ways. They could become apathetic, sad, or agitated. They could also experience distorted sleeping and eating patterns. These are only a few of the ways that this condition can be exhibited. Some experiencing depression might actually …
It’s Dangerous To Think Virtual Reality Is An Empathy Machine
What is it like to be a cow? Researchers such as Jeremy Bailenson, the director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab in California, believe they can help you find out. A few years ago, Bailenson and his colleagues at Stanford University created a simulation of a slaughterhouse. In a series of experiments, Bailenson invited people …
Science Has Outgrown The Human Mind And Its Limited Capacities
The duty of man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads and … attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into …
Identifying A Fake Picture Online Is Harder Than You Might Think
It can be hard to tell whether a picture is real. Consider, as the participants in our recent research did, these two images and see whether you think neither, either or both of them has been doctored. You might have based your assessment of the images on the visual information alone, or perhaps factored in …
To Stop The Machines Taking Over We Need To Think About Fuzzy Logic
Amid all the dire warnings that machines run by artificial intelligence (AI) will one day take over from humans we need to think more about how we program them in the first place. The technology may be too far off to seriously entertain these worries – for now – but much of the distrust surrounding …
Robot Cognition Requires Machines That Both Think And Feel
For more than two millennia, Western thinkers have separated emotion from cognition – emotion being the poorer sibling of the two. Cognition helps to explain the nature of space-time and sends humans to the Moon. Emotion might save the lioness in the savannah, but it also makes humans act irrationally with disconcerting frequency. In the …