Bit #2: Artificial Intelligence: it's dumb and dumber.

"The Jetsons" (1963) Hanna-Barbera / Warner Bros.
Artificial intelligence (AI for short) is hot thanks to recent advancements in game playing algorithms. Google's Alpha Go's success sent the media into a tizzy, leading to debates on the future of AI and the role it will play in the lives of humans as it becomes more ubiquitous. A lot of these debates revolve around the dangers of AI, how it could go Hal 9000 on us, committing crimes against humanity like the robot in <em>I, Robot</em>. Or worse, it could become Skynet and lead to the destruction of human civilization. These fears are literally (and literarily) based in fiction. The reality is equally troubling, not because machines could become sentient and harm us, but because machines are still just so darn stupid.

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Dummy robot Margot Paez is a PhD candidate in the civil engineering department at Georgia Institute of Technology. She has an MS in physics from GT. Her research interests are climate modeling and bitcoin's intersection with climate change and the energy sector. She is available for commentary and interviews.
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Bit #2: Artificial Intelligence: it's dumb and dumber.


"Terminator Genisys" (2015) Paramount Pictures
Artificial intelligence (AI for short) is hot thanks to recent advancements in game playing algorithms. Google's Alpha Go's success sent the media into a tizzy, leading to debates on the future of AI and the role it will play in the lives of humans as it becomes more ubiquitous. A lot of these debates revolve around the dangers of AI, how it could go Hal 9000 on us, committing crimes against humanity like the robot in I, Robot. Or worse, it could become Skynet and lead to the destruction of human civilization. These fears are literally (and literarily) based in fiction. The reality is equally troubling, not because machines could become sentient and harm us, but because machines are still just so darn stupid.

Continue Reading