Tag Archives: artificial intelligence

News of The Future This Week: September 9, 2018

by

“A.I. doesn’t trust us, either.”–Rana el Kaliouby, CEO, Affectiva

 

Get ready for all A.I., all the time.  It’s the lion’s share of the news this week.  After all, Rana el Kaliouby says, among other things, that it should ultimately be pervasive.  In this week’s tech press, it pretty much is.  I did throw in a space story, if only for accent–and maybe to appease those who’ve had enough of machine intelligence.

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related  news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

Artificial Intelligence–The second Affectiva Emotion AI Summit, held this week in Boston, focused on the theme Trust in AI. And it featured Rana el Kaliouby’s bold assertion that appears at the top of this page. (Link to video highlights of last year’s summit available at the bottom of the page).

—Kai-Fu Lee, former president of Google China, had some words of warning for the U.S.  He says that China will overtake America in A.I. within five years.

—Almost on cue, Peter Diamandis published a review of Lee’s new book, A.I. Superpowers.  It outlines what Lee defines as four distinct waves of A.I., and what it means to control each of them.

–A tech story with Elon Musk? No way!  Mr. Impossible said this week that his Neuralink company will “soon” announce a product that will link your mind directly to a computer; he believes this link will be necessary to maintaining control of  A.I.  There is a reason soon is in quotes.

–Residents of Norfolk, England, may be a bit nervous about the prospects of local police catching anyone who burglarizes their home.  It seems the local bobbies are using an algorithm to determine if they should even bother to investigate.

–One area where A.I. could really prove to be a boon is in drug development.  Anything that could cut into soaring pharmaceutical R&D costs would be welcome, as the Diamandis Tech Blog reports

Artisits conception: reusable space plane.

Space commerce–Hot on the heals of a Japanese university and a construction company announcing a partnership to begin space elevator experiments, another Japanese firm has announced a traget of 2023 for the launch of a reusable space plane.

 

 

 

Highlight video from the first Emotion AI Summit, September 13, 2017

Seeking Delphi™ podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

2018 Emotion AI Summit

by

“What will kill us first, artificial intelligence or natural stupidity?’–Habib Haddad

 

Do you trust A.I.?   No?  May I ask why not?

Self-driving car crashes, you say? Automation job-killing apocalypse? A complete takeover and destruction of humanity by rogue super-A.I.?

Well, consider this missive, from Affectiva co-founder and CEO Rana el Kaliouby:

“A.I., doesn’t trust us either.”

Rana el Kaliouby adddressing the second Affectiva Emotion AI Summit.

She made this astounding statement in her keynote address at the second Emotion AI Summit, held in Boston, Massachusetts on September 6.  Trust in A.I., was the theme of this year’s meeting, and with good reason. The meeting covered the ethical and trust issues in A.I., in areas as diverse as autonomous vehicles, product marketing and education.

Since last year’s inaugural summit, which was held by Affectiva at the iconic MIT Media Lab, the news has been full of not-so-encouraging stories about a possible dark future of A.I.   More than one economic pundit has predicted a massive kill-off of jobs by smart automated systems.  Elon Musk, and until his recent demise, Stephen Hawking, have been all over the media with warnings of an A.I. doomsday.

So, what’s with Kaliouby’s position?  As the CEO of perhaps the foremost producer of emotion-savvy A.I. software, she obviously has motive to persuade us to trust AI.  But why wouldn’t it trust us?

Perhaps the statement was hyperbole.  She explained it as the need for A.I. to trust that it is getting good input from us, so it can make the right decisions.  But until we have sentient, general A.I., it might better be interpreted another way.  To trust A.I., we first must trust ourselves to provide the right programming and input for A.I.  As one presenter put it, the goal should not be to create good A.I., but A.I that does good.

In her closing address, el Kaliouby put forth what she called a three-part contract with A.I.  Trust—mutually—is the first part.  We trust it and it trusts us.  The second part is pervasiveness.  She feels it needs to ultimately encompass virtually all our experience.  And third, it needs to be ethical; this assumes we can define what that is.

But perhaps the most telling comment came from one member who appeared on a panel of venture capitalists who discussed investing in A.I.

When asked what is it that excites you the most and that scares you the most about A.I., Habib Haddad, of E14 Fund, said his greatest worry is, “what will kill us first, artificial intelligence or natural stupidity?

Seeking Delphi™ podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

Podcast Special Edition: 2017 Emotion AI Summit (RERUN)

by

The second annual Emotion AI Summit, presented by Affectiva, will be held in Boston, MA on Thursday September 6.  For those who missed last year’s, or those who want a refresher, this is a rerun of the Seeking Delphi™ special edition podcast from the 2017 summit, held at the MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA,  September 13, 2017.

A link to information on the 2018 summit can be found here.

“Rational thoughts never drive people’s creativity the way emotions do.”–Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

This special edition of the Seeking Delphi™ podcast provides a summary overview of the first Emotion AI Summit, conducted by Affectiva, Inc.. at the MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, on September 13, 2017.   Interviews with participants were recorded on site, and include Affectiva co-founders Rana el Kaliouby and Rosalind Picard, Heartificial Intelligence author John C. Havens,  The Future of Happiness author Amy Blankson, and several others.

Podcast Special Edition:  2017 Emotion AI Summit

YouTube slide show of Special Edition Podcast

Related links and bios

Affectiva

MIT Media Lab

Rana el Kaliouby, PhD

Rosalind Picard, ScD

Cynthia Breazeal, ScD

Jibo, Inc.

Amy Blankson, The Future of Happiness

John C. Havens, Heartificial Intelligence

Seeking Delphi™ podcast #12 with Heart of the Machine author Richard Yonck

 Erin Smith

 

Subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ on iTunes 

Subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ on PlayerFM

Subscribe on YouTube

Follow Seeking Delphi™ on Facebook @SeekingDelphi

Follow me on twitter @MarkSackler

Podcast #24: The State of The Future, with Jerome Glenn

by

“The future ain’t what it used to be.”–Yogi Berra

“We’re doing a lot better than people think.”–Jerome Glenn, on The State of The Future.

Ah, you have to love Yogi.  He had no idea what he was talking about.  But–surprise, surprise–the blind squirrel does occasionally find a nut.  Because the future and all of its possibilities–its challenges and opportunities–is constantly changing.  Just ask Jerome Glenn and his colleagues in Millennium Project,  who have issued 19 editions of The State of The Future over the past 20-plus years.  I did;  that is the basis for Seeking Delphi™ podcast #24: The State of The Future with Jerome Glenn.

All Seeking Delphi™  podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, and  YouTube.  You can also follow us on Facebook and on twitter @MarkSackler

 

Jerome Glenn: click for bio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeking Delphi™ Episode #24: The State of The Future with Jerome Glenn

YouTube slide show, Episode #24

The State of The Future on Amazon.com

Global Futures Intelligence System

A reminder that this and all Seeking Delphi ™podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, and  YouTube.  You can also follow us on Facebook and on twitter @MarkSackler

News of The Future This Week: August 5, 2018

by

“Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?”–Edgar Bergen

 

The future of work is a very “now” debate.  While many see an A.I. job-killing armageddon over the next 10-20 years, others are more sanguine.  This week’s stories include some new published points of view that lean to the more optimistic side.

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related  news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

 Automation/Future of Work–Worried about losing your job to A.I, robotics, or some such form of automation?  According to this report in Next Big Future, the 2020’s AND 2030’S could see a tech-driven economic boom.   Maybe it won’t be so bad.

–Boom or no, technology is bound to kill at least some jobs.  Two technology authors, reporting in Forbes, discuss the job opportunities in the era of man/machine interface.

—To the above end, a Stanford scholar says that artificial intelligence will both disrupt and benefit workplace.

Image Credit: Tech Insider

—Artificial Intelligence–Read any good novels lately?  According to one computer scientist, artificial intelligence may be writing them within ten years.  

—Hackernoon explains the how and why of using A.I. to make better predictions.  Uh oh, I hope futurists won’t be rendered obsolete!

—DARPA aims to help keep the current U.S. lead in development of A.I.  They’ve initiated an excelerated program to award $1-million breakthrough development grants within three months of proposal submission, with an aim towards providing results within 18 months of award.

—A report from QY Research forecasts exponential growth in the market for A.I. software over the next few years.  They project the annual global market value to grow to $78 billion by 2025,  up from $2.65 billion in 2017.

Future Energy–A recent technology breakthrough could triple the output of solar cells.  Researchs in the UK have come up with a method to increase capture efficiency from 20% to 60%.

Award-winning Mars habitat design by Team Zopherus of RRogers, Arkansas

Space Exploration–Speaking of government research grants, NASA is in the game, too.  They’ve awarded $100,000 to five private enterprises competing to design a Mars habitat.

—NASA has named a class of 9 astronauts to fly the first commercially built manned spacecrafts. Their partnerships with Boeing and SpaceX hope to yeild the first mission before the end of next year.

—A new NASA report suggests it is impossible to terraform Mars.  Well, at least impossible using today’s technology.  Elon Musk isn’t buying it, and neither am I.  What about tomorrow’s technology?  What a bout Clarke’s first law?  “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”

Coming Soon–The next Seeking Delphi™ podcast will feature and interview with Jerome Glenn, co-founder and executive director of The Millennium Project, on their most recent edition of The State of The Future.

You can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

News of The Future This Week: July 8, 2018

by

“Artficial Intelligence will reach human levels by around 2029.”–Ray Kurzweil

“There is no reason and no way that a human mind can keep up with an artificial intelligence machine by 2035.”–Gray Scott

 

Make no mistake about it.  Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is still a pipe dream.  Nobody is exactly sure how to create  it.  But that doesn’t seem to discourage technology inventors like Ray Kurzweil and techno-philosophers like Gray Scott from their certainty that someone eventually will.  I remain agnostic on the question; my role is to report on it, not to predict it.  Who knows, maybe in a few years an A.I. will be able to predict itself.  What comes first, the chicken or the A.I.?

While you’re reading about all this week’s future-related  news, don’t forget that you can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

 Artificial Intelligence–Is Ray Kurzweil’s prediction of human level A.I. by 2029 realistic?  This evaluation of the global A.I. race, by The Lifeboat Foundation, suggests it is.

source: Lifebooat Foundation

–The A.I. job apocalypse forecasts just keep on coming.  The latest to raise the red flag is hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio.  Speaking on CNBC this week, he said that A.I., while increasing productivity, it is also exacerbating the wealth gap and has become a national emergency.

—According to The Economist, A.I. poses a unique threat of fake videos so realistic, that dead celebrities may essentially become immortal.   Elvis is alive and in the virtual building.

Sayonara, Ralph Kramden. image: Baidu

—Chinese conglomerate, Baidu, has announced a new artificial intelligence chip that it intends to use in a number of applications.  The first such use will be in autonomous buses to be launched in Japan next year.

—Researchers from UK firm, Wayve, have created a neural network A.I. that they claim can be taught to drive a car in 15-20 minutes.  Now if they could only train your teenager to avoid dinging the family sedan at the mall.

Biometrics–London’s trial of A.I. for facial recognition has been a complete bust.  Yet a 98% false positive I.D. rate has not deterred the enthusiasm of the city’s chief of police.

–In the meantime, Australia has launched its own facial scanning scheme.  It’s a trial to replace passports with facial recognition scans at the Sydney airport.  Let’s hope the accuracy is better than London’s.

Home, sweet (3D-printed) home.

3D printed house–We’ve been hearing about 3D printed housing for some time now.  For the first time, a multi-room 3D-printed house has been occupied in France. It took 54 hours to print and its creators claim a construction cost savings of 20% versus conventional methods.

Space Exploration–Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has announced intentions to land astronauts on the moon by 2023.  It’s a first step to what they hope will be the establishment of a permanent manned base.

—Next Big Future reports that SpaceX is helping NASA stay out in front of China through 2030.  The key is getting their BFR off the ground several years sooner.

You can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ podcasts on iTunes, PlayerFM, or YouTube (audio with slide show) and you can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook 

Podcast #23: A Conversation With Joanne Pransky, Robot Psychiatrist

by

 “I can’t imagine a future without robots.”–Nolan Bushnell

 ™

In the popular HBO series Westworld, robotic hosts are depicted as being placed into a kind of psychiatric analysis by their creators.  Could this actually happen one day?  Joanne Pransky thinks it will.  She bills herself as the World’s First Robotic Psychiatrist® (yes, she even registered that title!).  She was dubbed the real life Susan Calvin by Isaac Asimov, after the robot psychologist he created in his classic 1950 short story anthology, I, Robot.  In this episode of the Seeking Delphi™ podcast, host Mark Sackler talks to her about this and other significant issues in the man/machine relationships to come.

All Seeking Delphi™  podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, and  YouTube.  You can also follow us on Facebook and on twitter @MarkSackler

 

Asimov with Pransky c.1989

Pransky and friend.

 

 

[

 

 

Podcast #23 A Conversation With Joanne Pransky, Robot Psychiatrist

YouTube slide show of podcast #23 with Joanne Pransky

Cover of a 1950’s edition of Asimov’s I, Robot

Sofia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joanne Pransky bio

 

SXSW 2018 Minicast #2 Redux: Can We Create Consciousness In A Machine?

A reminder that this and all Seeking Delphi ™podcasts are available on iTunes, PlayerFM, and  YouTube.  You can also follow us on Facebook and on twitter @MarkSackler