I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful.
Elon Musk – Entrepreneur
Artificial intelligence (AI) and robots conjure images of killer robots like the Terminator movie.
Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, warns:
“With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s like – yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon. Doesn’t work out.” (‘Elon Musk Believes That ‘Artificial Intelligence’ Is Our Biggest Existential Threat’, The Guardian, October 27th, 2014).
Welding and pick/place factory robots have been around for 30 years. Commercial and collaborative robots are coming. Autonomous commercial robots on the street deliver food.
Autonomous drones in the air deliver packages. Collaborative robots or cobots at work solve problems and make tough decisions. Personal robots at home answer our questions and manage our homes. Robots are here! So, what now?
Let’s look specifically at personal robots. They have come a long way out of the factory into our homes. They talk to us in simple terms. They clean carpets. They help us select music, book flights, control home environments, lock doors, buy things, and help order our lives.
What’s next? Siri and Alexa smart phones for the workplace?
Think of Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri solving your technical problems and autonomously making hard decisions. Sound far-fetched. Workplace Alexa’s and Siri’s are right around the corner.
Work Lesson Earned: Machines are getting smarter and humanlike. How did this happen?Smarter software. Faster processing. Better sensors. Human-like smarts. Worst case, put all of these together – you may have the start of robo – geddon – whatever that may mean?
How will humans and machines work together to solve problems and make decisions. The FOW rules of engagement between humans and machines have yet to be determined.
There are things machines can do well. There are things humans can do well. How do we work together?