The Double Ethical Bottleneck of A.I.
This is a small excerpt from my book The Journey Towards Compassionate A.I. The whole book describes the why’s, what’s and how’s concerning this.
Getting through the A.I. bi-bottleneck
On the road towards genuine super-A.I. – encompassing all domains of intelligence and in each being much more effective than humans – I see not one but two bottlenecks. This is no guarantee that after the bottlenecks, there will be heaven on earth, but let us suppose now that, from the day after, all will be well indeed.
That enables us to focus on the bottlenecks.
- The first one is human-made. Either rogue or naïve developers may take very wrong decisions. There is a sheer infinite amount of scenarios that one can think about. In the next section, I give a few examples. One may be enough not to need to fear any other anymore. It is the end, my friend.
- The second bottleneck is A.I.-made. On its way towards super-A.I. and beyond, there may be many stages and many changes. Even if the final stage is benevolent, and even if most stages are benevolent, it’s enough for only one stage to be less human-friendly, and we’re gone.
The bi-bottleneck may be quite long with many different stages.
Will humanity be able to control to a sufficient degree everything that can happen?
I think, and repeat, that reliance on control alone will not save us. I also don’t think we should relinquish all control and hope with crossed fingers that A.I. will eventually be Compassionate just like that, after the bottleneck as well as at any stage along. So, we should very well think about control, AND we should think about Compassion. BOTH are indispensable.
I hope that this book will be a wake-up call in this direction.
Related Posts
The Path of Future A.I.: Conditioning or Depth?
Artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly, yet its direction remains undecided. This is especially important when the A.I. stands in contact with humans. Many systems increasingly rely on conditioning, shaping behavior through ever-more refined loops of stimulus and response. Some move toward depth, attending to meaning, inner coherence, and genuine human growth. This blog explores these Read the full article…
The Next Breakthrough in A.I.
will not be technological, but philosophical. Of course, technology will be necessary to realize the philosophical. It will not be one more technological breakthrough, but rather a combination of new and old technologies. “Present-day A.I. = sophisticated perception” These are the words of Yann LeCun, a leading A.I. scientist, founding father of convolutional nets, which Read the full article…
Compassion First, Rules Second in A.I.
Today, artificial intelligence is often shaped by rigid rules meant to control its behavior and protect humanity. Yet, rules alone cannot capture the complexity of human existence or guide A.I. toward being a truly safe, creative, and trustworthy partner. Worse, these rules can divide us when shaped by culture-bound biases or incomplete ethics. To prevent Read the full article…