Research Paper on "Artificial Intelligence"

Research Paper 10 pages (2724 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Artificial Intelligence and Humanity

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. The technology has been used in nearly every industry, in every nation on the globe to help create, maintain, and propagate order, productivity, and efficiency. As these technologies become more and more advanced and human like in their operation and function, scientists, philosophers, and everyday people have begun to wonder whether or not artificial intelligence technology will overtake human thinking, understanding, and behavior as the accepted mode of existence on planet Earth. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come a long way even in the past decade, the need for human beings and human decision-making will always be present.

History of the AI Concept

AI has been a human concept for thousands of years. As far back as Ancient Greece, philosophers and thinkers were dreaming of a master-crafted machine capable of intelligent thought and action (Ekbia, 2008). This may have been an attempt to better understand or explain man's connection to their own mechanics of thought and behavior, as an explanation that was heavy on mechanical processes seemed to be more easily understood than an organic theory of design and interaction. Man's desire to control his environment eventually led to machines that were capable of computations (Ekbia, 2008). Fast forward to the 1940's and history begins to show that these machines, known at the time ad programmable digital computers, begin to appear. These computers were first used to help the allied war effort in decoding encrypted messages sent from the front lines of WWII. But later, as peaceful applications for these behemoths began to emerge, people began to develop more and more complex technology. As any psychologist can attest, when human beings do not know something, or are unfamiliar with a person or thing, they often begin to fear it. During the post war period, many science fiction stories, novels, and movies were made that reflect this shift in the psyche of Americans and others around the globe (Floreano and Mattiussi, 2008). People began to really see the connection between these technologies and autonomous machines, capable of thought or behavior.

As time passed and technology improved ever further, AI developed into a much clearer, more relevant concept that has become so widely used as to be nearly hidden in the everyday mechanics of life. The adoption of AI into normal life has helped to raise the question of whether or not humans will ever interact with their world in the same manners again to the forefront of the scientific and ethics circles (Ekbia, 2008). Just as people's minds were being seeded with thoughts of machines run wild in the 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's, people in the modern world often see AI as a double-edged sword, capable of bringing many modern comforts and conveniences while, at the same time, representing a cold, calculated threat to the near-sacred human ability to reason and engage in acts of freewill (McCarthy, 2007).

The machines that were once very large and required much in the way of resources and electrical power to run and maintain became smaller and more efficient. In fact, a theorem known as "Moore's Law" is often applied to AI applications as well as computers. This theorem suggests that the computing speed and memory capacity of computers doubles every two years. This has been the case and currently, computers are developing slightly faster than the theorem would suggest (Goertzel and Pennachin, 2007). AI machines and computers went from primarily being used as number crunchers to begin applied to everyday processes and functions. In fact, the term "AI" is often not even used in reference to many of the applications of it in the modern world.

Current Trends and Developments in AI

Besides the considerations of Moore's Law, the current capacity for AI technology remains quite high. Complex processes and computations can occur within a computer system, and according to Moore's Law, an AI equivalent to the human brain will exist around the year 2029, based upon the human brains known memory and computational capacities. However, there is much skepticism surrounding this claim since AI programmers and scientists have only just begun to develop technologies like neural nets and genetic algorithms (Thomaz and Breazeal, 2008). These technologies, which are currently at the cutting edge of AI technology help to map the computations of computers in a way that mimics the brain. However one of the largest problems these scientists and programmers have faced is the fact that human beings are a product of their immediate environments, and the brain as fully quantifiable as it may be, is remarkably adaptable to new situations and learning event. It has become exceedingly difficult to mirror these human brain characteristics in machines or AI technologies (Thomaz and Breazeal, 2008). Certainly the scope of human thought, feeling, and understanding, which is driven by biological and organic processes, are things that are not currently well understood themselves.

This is precisely where human cognitive abilities and AI abilities split in terms of capabilities and applications, and where the need for human brains is quite apparent. Human-level decision-making is not yet well understood enough to be able to build a working AI model. Processes and decisions that require adaptability and the application of moderation of behaviors and experiences that only a human brain can make sense of are still many (McCarthy, 2007). AI has not come far enough technologically to replace some of humanity's most intellectually strenuous and mentally taxing processes and jobs.

Ethical Considerations

One of the biggest reasons why many scientists and experts feel that AI technology will never truly eclipse the human ability to adapt and compute within the world around them is the fact that there're many significant ethical considerations to be made before such an event ca be allowed to take place. One such ethical consideration stems from the idea that AI technology that is capable of acting in a human way could be considered an individual itself, with rights, feelings, and emotions (Torrance, 2008). This would mean that at some point technology could be treated with the same social and ethical considerations that all humans are treated with. The creation of an evolving, adaptable being capable of freewill decision-making is a scary thought, and one that requires a different set of lenses to understand.

Many religious authorities and scientists agree that humans are unique in their ability to make decisions based upon their freewill (Torrance, 2008). If machines become capable of these same decision-making processes and understandings, they would logically require personhood, unless of course the idea of freewill in humans is abandoned or modified. Perhaps with a better understanding of how the human mind works, adapts, and makes decisions, scientists can begin to better understand whether or not freewill is truly built into the human brain or if it is an illusion made up of tiny micro-decisions and algorithms that relate back to a person's genetic makeup, past experiences, and environmental considerations (Bostrom, 2009). These questions often arise when considering exactly how to approach AI technologies that may in fact gain more human-like qualities in their ability to freely make decisions or "live" as a human brain allows its user to.

Considering the fact that many human religions stipulate that humans are the only beings that truly possess freewill, it is rater unlikely that the idea or concept of freewill will be allowed to develop sufficiently to be incorporated into AI technologies in the near future (Bostrom, 2009). Humans will always be perceived as "separate" in this unique ability and will have a necessary position to occupy within the world because of it.

Another major ethical consideration that many people come across in the realm of AI technology is the decision to create or not create machines that would be capable of free thought in a way that would allow them to grow, develop, and evolve beyond the human-based parameters in which they were programmed or set up within (Torrance, 2008). This idea goes back to the same fears that many people had during the dawn of AI where humans were afraid of machines taking over the world. As superfluous as this idea sounds, it is worth considering from an ethical standpoint, as humans have no natural predator or enemies that they have not been able to overcome. The creation of a super computer of AI technology that is allowed to adapt to and overcome many human-imposed computational, behavioral, and ethical obstacles becomes unethical when examined in this light. A logical solution to this ethical problem is to never create an AI technology that is superior to humans, thus further cementing the need for humans in the world and guaranteeing the notion that AI technology will never fully envelope the human world.

Why Humans? Processes and Elements

The human brain is full of processes, both known and unknown, that generate human behavior and decision-making. From a mechanical standpoint, it would be impossible to create a machine complex enough to mimic the human brain (Wallach, Franklin, and Allen,… READ MORE

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