From the NYTimes Sunday Magazine of 12/4/2016…see full article pdf below.
This sounds a bit like the “Singularity”…the moment when AI gets so good at learning, it figures out how to make itself smarter, in an infinite loop, sort of way. Did Apple anticipate this when they created their “Infinite Loop” address? Very challenging for us humans to “get our arms around” where this is going…
Neural networks that learn from pattern recognition is not news, but there was a time when it was questionable whether they would really work that well. Galatea 2.2 was written by Richard Powers way back in 1995 and featured attempts to create AI using neural networks. Powers novel explored the issues AI brought up, both technological for making neural networks be all that they showed the potential for being…and the issues for those humans working with the technology.
Today, apparently the genie is climbing out of the bottle, and we might also want to consult sobering narratives like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a poem by Goethe written in 1797, and later a Disney cartoon. OTOH, what amazing things seem now likely, and not just fantasy.
The most important thing happening in Silicon Valley right now is not disruption. Rather, it’s institution-building — and the consolidation of power — on a scale and at a pace that are both probably unprecedented in human history.
What “Brain” did over nine months is just one example of how quickly a small group at a large company can automate a task nobody ever would have associated with machines.
Once you’ve built a robust pattern-matching apparatus for one purpose, it can be tweaked in the service of others. One Translate engineer took a network he put together to judge artwork and used it to drive an autonomous radio-controlled car. A network built to recognize a cat can be turned around and trained on CT scans — and on infinitely more examples than even the best doctor could ever review.
The kinds of jobs taken by automatons will no longer be just repetitive tasks. We’re talking about inventory managers, economists, financial advisers, real estate agents.
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