Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have clashed over their views on artificial intelligence (AI) and what this holds for the future. While Zuckerberg described Musk’s comments about the threat of artificial intelligence as “irresponsible” Elon Musk responded by suggesting Mark Zuckerberg has a “limited” understanding of AI. When you bear in mind that these are two of the world’s more prominent entrepreneurs it will be interesting to see how the future develops.
Is artificial intelligence really a threat?
When you bear in mind that artificial intelligence is literally the ability for a machine or robot to learn and be taught then this does obviously pose a degree of risk. If machines were built that were able to “think for themselves” not only would they be a threat to the human workforce but could they be a threat to the human race?
All of the tech companies around the world have invested heavily in various forms of artificial intelligence to varying differing degrees of success. Google recently disposed of one of its core artificial intelligence companies amid suggestions the search engine giant was struggling for results. There was a time when the likes of Google were looking to buy up an array of artificial intelligence companies but it looks like this specific sector is extremely specialised with the highest skills set required.
Artificial intelligence is already with us
While many believe this talk of the threat of artificial intelligence is relatively new, AI has been in the workplace and society for many years now. The fact that the technology associated with artificial intelligence has come on in leaps and bounds in recent times is the main threat. We only need to look at the car industry to see how this former labour-intensive industry has made full use of machines with “limited artificial intelligence” to the detriment of the workforce.
Carrying on from the workforce issue, if AI robots and devices become more commonplace in the workplace what will happen to household incomes?
Universal basic income
Elon Musk and other leading entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates have openly discussed the issue of reduced human workforce incomes because of the advent of AI. Bill Gates was ridiculed some time ago for suggesting that artificial intelligence robots in the workplace should be “taxed” as workers are today. This would then create an income stream that would allow governments around the world to introduce a universal basic income so that potentially everyone could benefit from the development of artificial intelligence.
Universal basic income is to a certain extent already in place with regards to benefit systems in the Western world but this income stream is not always sufficient to live an acceptable standard of living. The idea that robots could potentially increase the living standards of many people around the world is intriguing but still many years off.
Conclusion
While many people play down the potential threat from artificial intelligence, citing science-fiction and other pie in the sky predictions, let’s sit back and take a look. If you are able to teach a machine to think for itself, to learn and to train then surely the sky is the limit? The machine would not be susceptible to human error and would be more focused? We may be some way off yet but there is a need to regulate AI technology and to ensure that the human race is still “the top dog”.