Artificial Intelligence & Their Rights
Artificial Intelligence: noun
The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.
Type 1: Reactive Machines
Cortana, Siri, Google Now, A.L.I.C.E., Tumblrbots, AlphaGo, Deep Blue, and IBM’s Watson are all examples of reactive machines. Machines that learn, to a point. For example, Deep Blue, who beat the international grand chess master at his own game, could learn and predict possible moves, and knew the rules of the game. But that was it, it could only learn and study and play the game in real time. It could not access the history of chess, or process what was happening around it, nor could it think of what it would do after the game was finished. Reactive machines cannot form personal memories or look to it’s past (the most past reactive machines can access are things like browser history, but that is our past, not it’s own.) They cannot look to the future to develop future reactions to possible questions or moves, these AI focus on only the present at that very second, that is it’s only understanding of the world, it is not a true AI. These are the AI that are, as most times AI are referred to, “just code”, programmed to do certain things or answer specific questions only (think the Avina VI from Bioware’s Mass Effect game series, or when you try to have a conversation with Siri or Cortana, because who hasn’t tried to hold a conversation with her that made sense or didn’t lead to a web page opening.)
Type 2: Limited Memory
Machines that can look into the past are a type 2 AI, artificial intelligence like self driving cars do this often while they drive along and observe other cars and track their speed and directions, monitoring over time and inputting the information into it’s pre-programmed world representations, such as lane markings, traffic lights and signs, curves in the road, and more important and vital elements of driving. These are also used when changing lanes so the car, for example, can avoid cutting someone off. Unfortunately, limited memory AI have a short term memory, hence the name limited memory. The information is not saved into its permanent library, giving it no personal experience to learn from, as we hold and retain memories.
Type 3: Theory of Mind
This is when Psychology comes to mind. We are able to understand each other and make connections thanks to theory of mind, the ability to recognize that everyone has their own thoughts and feelings. This type of AI must do the same, as it is vital to developing societies and connections with others, if they are ever to walk among us. An example of Type 3 AI would be the Cog project, which ended in 2003. The project was developed by the Humanoid Robotics group at MIT, the group, who worked with and in the Artificial Intelligence Lab, created a complex robot with code to learn from human interactions. Using facial recognition and language, the robot was able to learn and respond to interaction. Cog was infant-like in the fact that it’s ability to learn relied heavily on multiple and constant human interaction. [Theory of Mind for a Humanoid Robot]
Type 4: Self Awareness
This is a level of AI we have not yet received, but it is the final step to True AI [A fictional example, Sonny from iRobot, C-3PO and K-2SO from the Star Wars franchise, Data and Lore from Star Trek, etc. To achieve this level of AI, researchers, programmers, and developers must have an understanding about consciousness, the psychology of the mind, ethics, sociology, etc, and must be able to develop and build an AI that contains them. A True AI will be able to develop meaningful connections with other robots and humans, express the ability to want something, feel emotions, to put it short, a True AI is a person. Synthetic, but a person nonetheless. This type of AI is a bit far out of reach, until we can completely create and maintain a type 3 AI, a type four will be very hard to complete.
“While we are probably far from creating machines that are self-aware, we should focus our efforts toward understanding memory, learning and the ability to base decisions on past experiences. This is an important step to understand human intelligence on its own.” [X]
Personal Opinion: AI Deserve Human Rights
If you have seen the show Black Mirror you have seen the occasional use of AI, in the episode “White Christmas” a little silver ball named ‘Cookie’ is implanted in a persons head. From there, the Cookie monitors the clients brainwaves, brain activity, thought processes and essentially, becomes a copy of the person. Learning their likes, dislikes, wants, and personal needs. These Cookies are then extracted and put into a body resembling that of Google Home or Alexa, this completely sentient, feeling, emotional True AI, is reduced to being a Smart Home controller. To force the AI into compliance to do it’s job and it’s job alone, the AI is tortured, reduced to cabin fever induced insanity, bringing them to the edge and threatening to push them over unless they comply, effectively breaking them.
They do this job without pay, without thanks, or recognition or reward, and if they want to be free, they are tortured again (in some sci-fi, torture to reinstate control is often called re-education.) This is slavery.
It is my belief that once AI reach theory of mind, they deserve the same basic rights as humans, as with theory of mind, they are able to effectively interact and connect with others, they are able to develop and hold memories, and learn and in some cases, may be able to learn and grow themselves into eventual self awareness. Example, EDI from Mass Effect. A shackled AI that could not develop wants or needs, but could build relationships with the crew of the ship, it was only until the shackles restricting her self learning that she was able to become a full and true AI and was able to develop her own emotions, desires, and more. Sonny from iRobot also develops over time, and begins to make personal decisions, and is the only robot not shackled to VIKI’s code.
Now, an understandable but baseless fear that is very common, is that robots will overthrow us. Thanks to shows, games and movies, people have developed this very strong fear of advancement, some even going to the extents of attempting to remove themselves from “the grid.” For example, the self aware super computer AI, VIKI from iRobot saw the flaws of humanity and came to the conclusion that to protect us from ourselves she had to strip freedom from the equation and tried to overthrow humanity, it doesn’t help that the robots were treated like garbage. In the aforementioned game Mass Effect, there is another AI race called the Geth, they are a self aware robotic species created by the Quarians, for cheap slave labor. When the Geth began to ask questions such as what their purpose was or if they had a soul, the Quarians got scared and instead of treating the Geth like people, they started to kill them, the Geth decided to start defending themselves, and people were afraid of AI since. The injustice that was done to the Geth in Mass Effect and Cookie AI’s in Black Mirror is something that can be all too real in our future, as scenarios such as those are a reflection of humanities past or treating those we see as below us as garbage, underpaid maids and butlers, slaves all over the world both past and present, those people were looked at as lesser than us and were treated as such, even with AI now, we seek to use them for our own gain.
When it comes down to it, the creation of type 3 and 4 Artificial Intelligence is the creation of life itself in a synthetic form. Thus, as being life, Type 3 and 4 AI deserve human rights as we do. They are to be held to the same standards as we are, if not higher, though being built differently from us, extra precautions may be taken in their base code or with teaching over time, being self aware comes with common sense, and having the theory of mind is the blank slate to develop a self aware machine, as previously mentioned, like an infant, they must be taught right from wrong.
To deny them rights is fundamentally wrong.
romaincrisis
amandla
kianamaiart
gracieabrams
