archive

Will the human quest for artificial intelligence end in disaster?

Hamid Ekbia (Indiana) and Bonnie Nardi (UC-Irvine): Heteromation and its (Dis)contents: The Invisible Division of Labor between Humans and Machines. Erik Brynjolfsson, Andrew McAfee, and Michael Spence on labor, capital, and ideas in the power law economy. Aaron Smith and Janna Anderson on AI, robotics, and the future of jobs. The computer will see you now: A virtual shrink may sometimes be better than the real thing. When all the jobs belong to robots, do we still need jobs? Larry Page says when machines take our jobs, it'll feel like vacation. Humans 1, Machines 7: When will robots do to football what computers did to chess? Neil Irwin on why the robots might not take our jobs after all: They lack common sense. Robots won't destroy jobs, but they may destroy the middle class. Stuart Elliott on anticipating a Luddite revival: Advances in information technology and robotics are already transforming the workplace, and even greater changes lie ahead. Greg Miller on the moral hazards and legal conundrums of our robot-filled future. Can a robot be too nice? Smart machines need the right “personality” to work well — and experts are finding the best choice may not always be what we think we want. Robots could murder us out of kindness unless they are taught the value of human life. So what exactly is a “killer robot”? Rose Eveleth on why so many groups are against them, but haven't agreed on what they are. As robotics advances, worries of killer robots rise. Elon Musk believes it's feasible a "Terminator"-like scenario could erupt out of an artificial intelligence. The SkyNet factor: Charli Carpenter on four myths about science fiction and the killer robot debate. Will the human quest for artificial intelligence end in disaster? Tom Chivers reviews Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom (and more). Man vs. Machine: James C. Banks on the limits of artificial intelligence. While the face of the artificial intelligence field today is IBM's Watson or Apple's Siri, Douglas Hofstadter says these have nothing to do with thinking machines.