Beware of Bots

Having experienced an unforeseen issue with software automation, this week's series of Dilbert cartoon strips on the theme of robots resonated with me. Bots come in various forms and they are gradually taking over control.

Writing about two fatal aeroplane crashes due to autopilot mode getting turned off, he feels - "...there’s a fundamental vulnerability in the way that humans interact with automatic systems in a crisis. In the normal course of things, we come to rely on the automation so much that our own abilities fade away. Then, when the automated system suddenly goes haywire and shuts itself off, we don’t have the skills to expertly handle the situation. To make matters worse, the sudden stress of a life-or-death crisis tends to shut down our capacity for reasoned thought and leaves us prone to mentally freeze up."

..an eclectic bunch of investors and iconoclasts in the Valley have also plummeted head long into worries over AI coming too soon, and changing human society too fast. Most of those concerns focus on the singularity, a soon-to-arrive crossover point in the affairs of man and machine, where machines overtake human intelligence, and we cease to be the most interesting feature of the planet.

Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, has openly speculated that humans could be reduced to “pets” by the coming superintelligent machines.

AI poses ...an “existential threat” to humanity, eclipsing previous (and ongoing) concerns about the climate, a nuclear holocaust, and other major denizens of our modern life. Luminaries like Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates have also commented on the scariness of artificial intelligence.