The Control Tower concept, a consolidated information centre for monitoring and decision-making, is not so new anymore if we consider the lightning-fast development which takes place in the artificial intelligence field (A.I.). Basically, the control towers will feed directly AI machines and systems, for better and faster data processing and decision making.
What do I mean by lightning-fast development? On the 25 October 2017, at the Future Investment Initiative conference, held in the city of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, the very first humanoid robot called “Sophia”, produced by Hanson Robotics company, was awarded the Saudi Arabian citizenship. This is the same robot that in an interview with CNBC on 16 March 2016 said that she wants to “destroy humans”. Is this a reason for concern? I will present my side of this story in the today’s blog.
First of all, AI is defined as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs” according to it’s founding father Alan Turing. Second of all, AI consists of multiple layers, such as Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL) and Neural Networks (NN).
The ML application “provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning focuses on the development of computer programs that can access data and use it to learn for themselves“. The DL is a function that “imitates the workings of the human brain in processing data and creating patterns for use in decision making“. Finally, the NN are “statistical models based on biological neural networks to process inputs and outputs“.
All of the 3 sub-categories form an AI application. Such an application can be Google’s DeepMind AI which beat the best player in the world at the board game GO, ancient Chinese game with more solutions than atoms in the entire Universe.
Another application can be the AI self-driving car, called “Jack”, developed by Audi which is able to self-drive itself on highways, change lanes and even over-take other moving vehicles.
The most terrifying scenario regarding AI, however, is that our developed AI systems and robots, surpass humans intelligence, which means we will not be able to control AI anymore. It is insightful to mention that electronic circuits function about 1,000,000 faster than biochemical ones. Therefore, an AI machine (super computer) is able to process 20,000 years of human level intellectual work in one single week! Additionally, an AI engine for chatbots, developed by Facebook, created their own new language, which could not be understood by humans, and as a result were shut-down. What if in the future, much more complex AI engines and systems develop their own language code and become uncontrollable?
The risks and dangers of AI are the following:
- 2.5 billion jobs will be automated in the next decade
- AI technology surpasses human intelligence
Elon Musk founded OpenAI “a non-profit research company working to build safe artificial intelligence and ensure that AI’s benefits are as widely and evenly distributed as possible” to control AI development in a safe way. However, is this enough? Maybe special regulation for AI development is necessary to control it before its too late?
In my opinion the fate of our humanity is at stake. I believe that the way we control and develop AI right now, in its infancy, will determine our future. I think that if technology and robots around us become much more intelligent than us, and can automate simple tasks, what is left for us? What is our role in the world? Does the continuous technology advancement equal to evolution, when it has the danger to eliminate humanity? Most important question is: Who controls and decides how AI technology develops? The people, the billionaires? We will see.
The Control Tower: Empowering Supply Chains 