Cromatografía de líquidos de alta eficacia

future intelligent technologies remain beneficial to humanity

Some of the remaining milestones on the way to advanced AI include things like better unsupervised learning and one shot learning while, for example, current deep learning algorithms also require more work

Viktoriya Krakovna

SPECIAL FEATURE: EXISTENTIAL RISK

A big part of the problem will be in having AI understand concepts and values such as these. If that can be done, then it could theoretically be possible to build some kind of empathy into the machine, but we cannot assume that this would happen by default; we need to discover how to make it happen by design.

Even without trying to do that, striving to build a machine that understands these vague human concepts that are so important to our values, and despite the fact that humans like to anthropomorphise AI, it is reasonable to expect that an artificial mind would be very different to a human one. It would think about things very differently and would make very different decisions and mistakes.

Given that the kinds of risks currently considered as potential existential risks are mostly technology-related – nuclear war, AI, biotechnology – how difficult is it to ensure that an interdisciplinary approach is taken to exploring ‘X-risk’?

There has been an increasing amount of interdisciplinary collaboration on these sorts of problems, and some of the workshops that the FLI have helped organise have been bringing together AI experts with lawyers, economists and people from other relevant fields who also need to think about these problems.

The issue of AI is an inherently interdisciplinary one, and so we need to bring in people from all these other fields to bring their perspective on the issue. Then, those from outside of the sphere of AI research can learn more about the technical side of things and how AI actually works, while the AI researchers will be able to better understand the social implications.

AI researchers have been becoming increasingly aware of societal issues and have seen their field feature in mainstream media around the world, often in a negative light. These scientists and researchers want their disciplines to have a positive impact – that is why people go into AI research in the first place – and are therefore actively engaging with these elements of their work so as to try to dispel some of the myths and perceived notions of AI.

way, or perhaps because humans want their resource), and should we develop super intelligent AI with objectives which don’t align with ours, or if it wants our resources, then that could become a serious problem.

Does this lead back to the anthropomorphisation of AI, i.e technology with the physical ability to first construct and then control a manifestation of technology

capable of coming into conflict with humanity in such a way, or could this be something digital?

In the first instance, incredibly intelligent algorithms could be developed which may then go on to gain control of various actuators that would be required to achieve its goals. A super-intelligent programme that believes it requires a robotic body could use the internet and gain control of manufacturing plants and then, as the robots themselves would be online, it would also be able to take control of those in order to achieve some of its objectives. Nevertheless, this is not an immediate concern, because human level intelligence is likely to be a few decades away.

Given that there is a clear concern that an AI that surpasses human intelligence and goes on to evolve will inevitably be developed, is there perhaps an argument that such an entity may see humanity’s perceived weaknesses and inferiority as pitiful and may therefore protect us, rather than exploit us?

Even if we build a super-intelligence that is supposed to be beneficial towards humans, the most significant problem will be specifying human values to such a machine. In order to implement something simple like Asimov’s Laws (a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; a robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law; and a robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm), which are not particularly water tight, you would have to be able to specify what ‘harm’ actually is.

The Future of Life Institute has recently been expanding its scope so as to look at areas besides AI, most notably nuclear risk

Pan European Networks: Government19 www.paneuropeannetworks.com

190

Viktoriya Krakovna Co-founder

Future of Life Institute http://futureoflife.org/

SPECIAL FEATURE: EXISTENTIAL RISK

In terms of public attention, we have encountered something of a polar opposite to what we find when it comes to AI, in that it is (too) easy to call attention to the risk of AI, but it is very difficult to get the press to pay attention to the nuclear issue because people often think of this risk as familiar; some people have grown up with it, and they therefore don’t necessarily realise how high the risk of nuclear war continues to be or how many close calls there have been over the years. We want to attract more attention to that.

In the AI space, we will continue to foster the dialogue regarding the future of AI and its impacts both amongst AI experts as well as those from other fields. To achieve this, we have been organising workshops at various conferences as well as hosting our own events, and the sense now is that these conversations are happening at an enhanced degree and we will continue to foster this progress.

The Future of Life Institute has, of course, received a significant amount of funding from Elon Musk. But do you feel more should be awarded from public purses?

The field could certainly use more funding, and we were delighted to receive the generous donation from Musk, which has enabled us to fund the first wave of projects. However, the interest from the research community was such that we received some 300 applications for the grant calls, but were only able to fund 37, and so while we are off to a good start, additional finances could certainly be put to good use.

Biotech – man-made viruses and zombie

apocalypses – also feature in the public imagination as ‘end-of-the-world’ scenarios. Do you feel that this sort of technology presents more issues than AI with regard to X-risk?

It is difficult to tell which risks are more immediate than others and, while I am not an expert in biotech, it is clear that there are concerns about engineered viruses escaping from a laboratory due to human error. So there are questions about whether potential improvements can be made to lab security, for instance.

It is also the case that experts in biology are more used to thinking about the risks right from the beginning of a project or activity. What is more, the culture of social responsibility inherent in biotechnology is now being taken up by the AI community, which is a very positive development.

What role will the Future of Life Institute continue to play, and what are your hopes for the future?

We have recently been expanding our scope so as to look at areas besides AI, most notably nuclear risk. Here, we have been working to call attention to the fact that the risk of nuclear war is still high, despite the fact that the Cold War is now over.

There has been an increasing amount of dialogue taking place over the last couple of years about both the societal impact of AI and the relevant ethical considerations

Cpt. Sven Fromm

Managing Director mob: +49 (0)1522 4444479

email: [email protected]

Lena Ruoff

Sales / Office Administrator mob: +49 (0)1725 492064 www.clevermarine.com

CONTACT

IBS Scherer GmbH has 40 years of experience in producing cleaning agents as well as parts-cleaning devices and machines. All products, whether cleaners, washing machines or devices, are 100% made in Germany and are designed and produced in an innovative, eco-friendly process.

The cleaning agents are produced using recycled cleaning agents, and the cleaning agent pumps of the parts-cleaning devices are fitted with a magnetic coupling which makes them virtually unbreakable.

Please see our website below for the full IBS Scherer GmbH product catalogue NOW ALSO OFFERING THE FULL PRODUCT RANGE OF:

HASYTEC Ultrasonic Antifouling (UTAF) Solutions

CMS Ltd offers HASYTEC UTAF solutions which can be used for the protection of box and plate coolers, storage tanks for water, biofuels and others as well as the protection of the complete submerged structure of the vessel.

No docking and no maintenance required. Please call and make an appointment and we will be glad to present the equipment to you.

CMS LTD – FULL SCOPE OF SERVICES OFFERED:

• Overhaul and maintenance of all makes and models of diesel engines;

• Ultrasonic thickness measurement (UTM) and non-destructive testing (NDT) class approved; • Superintendence and project management including drawing and solution services;

• ISM, ISPS and MLC consultancy and survey (pre-purchase, insurance, quality and quantity and others); • Headhunting of marine and offshore experts; and

• Full technical management of any dry cargo, project cargo and bulk carrier vessels. Bay House

Bay View Road Port St. Mary IM9 5AQ Isle of Man

UK

The Center for Applied Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine is an official competence centre of the