To follow - Siri couldn’t figure out how to add an entry to my calendar today. I am yet to be afraid.
Although the google bot that placed a call to book a haircut was impressive. Ms. Lady Benjamin PD Cannon, ASCE 6x7 Networks & 6x7 Telecom, LLC CEO b...@6by7.net "The only fully end-to-end encrypted global telecommunications company in the world.” FCC License KJ6FJJ Sent from my iPhone via RFC1149. > On Dec 9, 2020, at 12:16 PM, Mel Beckman <m...@beckman.org> wrote: > > Miles, > > You realize that “AI” as general artificial intelligence is science fiction, > right? There is no general AI, and even ML is not actually learning in the > sense that humans or animals learn. “Neural networks”, likewise, have nothing > to do at all with the way biological neurons work in cognition (which science > doesn’t understand). That’s all mythology, amplified by science fiction and > TV fantasies like Star Trek’s character “Data”. It’s just anthropomorphizing > technology. > > We create unnecessary risk when we anthropomorphize technology. The truth is, > any kind of automation incurs risk. There is nothing related to intelligence, > AI or otherwise. It’s all just automation to varying degrees. ML, for > example, simply builds data structures based on prior input, and uses those > structures to guide future actions. But that’s not general behavior — it all > has to be purpose-designed for specific tasks. > > The Musk-stoked fear that if we build automated systems and then “put them > together” in the same network, or whatever, that they will somehow gain new > capabilities not originally designed and go on a rampage is just plain silly. > Mongering that fear, however, is quite lucrative. It’s up to us, the real > technologists, to smack down the fear mongers and tell truth, not hype. > > Since the academics’ promised general intelligence of AI never materialized, > they had to dumb-down their terminology, and came up with “narrow AI”. Or > “not AI”, as I prefer to say. But narrow AI is mathematically > indistinguishable from any other kind of automation, and it has nothing > whatsoever to do with intelligence, which science doesn’t remotely yet > understand. It’s all automation, all the time. > > All automated systems require safeguards. If you don’t put safeguards in, > things blow up: rockets on launchpads, guns on ships, Ansible on steroids. > When things blow up, it’s never because systems unilaterally exploited > general intelligence to “hook up” and become self-smarted. It’s because you > were stupid. > > For a nice, rational look at why general AI is fiction, and what “narrow AI”, > such as ML, can actually do, get Meredith Broussard’s excellent book > "Artificial Unintelligence - How computers misunderstand the world". > > https://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Unintelligence-Computers-Misunderstand-World/dp/026253701X > > Or if you prefer a video summary, she has a quick talk on YouTube, "ERROR – > The Art of Imperfection Conference: The Fragile”: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuDFhSUwOAQ > > At 2:20 into the video, she puts the kibosh on the mythology of general AI. > > -mel > > >> On Dec 9, 2020, at 11:07 AM, Miles Fidelman <mfidel...@meetinghouse.net> >> wrote: >> >> Hi Folks, >> It occurs to me that network & systems admins are the the folks who really >> have to worry about AI threats. >> >> After watching yet another AI takes over the world show - you know, the >> same general theme, AI wipes out humans to preserve its existence - it >> occurred to me: >> >> Perhaps the real AI threat is "self-healing systems" gone wild. Consider: >> >> - automated system management >> - automated load management >> - automated resource management - spin up more instances of <whatever> >> as necessary >> - automated threat detection & response >> - automated vulnerability analysis & response >> >> Put them together, and the nightmare scenario is: >> - machine learning algorithm detects need for more resources >> - machine learning algorithm makes use of vulnerability analysis library >> to find other systems with resources to spare, and starts attaching >> those resources >> - unbounded demand for more resources >> >> Kind of what spambots have done to the global email system. >> >> "For Homo Sapiens, the telephone bell had tolled." >> (Dial F for Frankenstein, Arthur C. Clarke) >> >> I think I need to start putting whisky in my morning coffee. And maybe not >> thinking >> about NOT replacing third shift with AI tools. >> >> Miles Fidelman >> -- >> In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. >> In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra >> >> Theory is when you know everything but nothing works. >> Practice is when everything works but no one knows why. >> In our lab, theory and practice are combined: >> nothing works and no one knows why. ... unknown >
