Thought #13. AI bias.

Once upon a time, people knew the difference between rightness and badness. As if it was an Opera, the history of AI (acronym of Artificial Intelligence) began promisingly, but then things started to go wrong.

The opening of AI goes back to ancestry when the Greek mythology created Pandora, the first “artificial” woman. Each Olympus god was commissioned to make a contribution to Pandora’s process of creation with the sole aim of taking beauty into account.

During the interlude, step by step, new features and unique gifts were conscientiously added by the band of male creators. They went to great lengths to make Pandora in their own image (a mental image of a sexually arousing creature).

Pandora received a jar as a wedding present and was told not to open it. Thinking that it was a mere misdemeanour, she could not help opening the jar, triggering unexpected consequences.

To the astonishment of the ancient Greek gods (and goddesses) of the epoch, the sad coda was that Pandora ended up in a poetry epoch column (probably from a tabloid) depicted as an archetype and role model of future women generations:

“From her is the race of women and female kind: of her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble, no helpmates in hateful poverty, but only in wealth.” ― Hesiod, Theogony

Fear for inventions and machinery has been thenceforth present. The Industrial Revolution seemed too profound a change to overcome, but eventually all the criticism levelled at technology advances started to wear off.

AI is a force to be reckoned with but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it will eventually surpass human capacities. Think about a relatively recent groundbreaking invention: the digital camera sensor. If George Orwell had known about such an invention, Nineteen Eighty-Four would probably never have been written.

Those who try to undermine science (or engineering) by spreading false alarms concerning the so-called perils of AI should be treated with the contempt that they deserve. They seldom use nothing but devious tactics to succeed in turning utter nonsense into a burning issue. Should nonsense be regarded as tantamount to blatant ignorance? Apparently, according to Prof Stephen Hawking and others of his ilk, it should not.

“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” ―   Stephen Hawking

“Artificial intelligence is our biggest existential threat.” ―  Elon Musk

Nevertheless, as far as some basic safety rules are not wilfully ignored, AI is harmless, secure and risk-free. Just as women are the most perfectly created sculpture ever chiseled, driverless cars (aka autonomous car) are also something that will become ubiquitous in the forthcoming years.

Do not blame me! My complete disregard for the underminers is based on their own arguments, which should fly in the face of common sense. The inability to comprehend how technology works still rankled with them.

Not being in the mood to reproduce in my own blog more quotes from them, I rather like the idea of presenting you with a biased view of the issue, based on as yet unproven facts:

“Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.” ― Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

“The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.” ― Edsger W. Dijkstra

The rest is history (to be written).