July 16, 2011

How SkyNet takes over

Scary story today at physorg. It's called "Machines to Compare Notes Online". Here's an excerpt:
Looking forward, Veres sees the intelligent system discuss its potential upgrades with its users, lifting this burden from users and manufacturers. Long after their sale, machines will read technical documents from the Internet to improve their performance. These documents can be published not only by their original manufacturer but by user communities.
They actually say the "intelligent system" will suggest its own upgrades -- based on its leisure-time reading, apparently. Hmmm. So the very smart machines will suggest upgrades . . . and the dimwitted humans will say, "Uh . . . okay, I guess" and push a button. And that's it: instant upgrade. If they do this with more and more capable AIs, we will soon find ourselves in the same position as the humans in the Terminator movies.

I love advances and am fond of the concept of real AI. But I say, "Danger, Will Robinson!" and good luck to all of us. We're going to need it because a setup like this could easily spiral out of control. And then comes SkyNet.

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