Humans Need Not Apply

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Fri May 25, 2018 10:53 am

Witness wrote:We need an acronym for AI BS:
The Daily Fail wrote:Would YOU turn your loved one into a robot clone? Swedish scientists are using AI to build androids that are 'fully conscious copies' of dead relatives, report claims

– Scientists are looking for volunteers to offer up their dead relatives for the study
– They would build realistic robot clones based on deceased family and friends
– Using artificial intelligence, the scientists can reconstruct the voices of the dead
– Experts have previously detailed how we may be able to preserve our dead family members in the future, perhaps by uploading their minds to machines
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... tives.html

So we'll have 17 generations angrily criticizing us from the mantelpiece? Hope we'll still be able to pull the plug…

That's the plot of an episode of black mirror. The name of the episode was BRB I think.

Spoiler:

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun May 27, 2018 12:47 am

If that kind of… extrapolation were possible, you could even more easily clone yourself, living friends & family, &c.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu May 31, 2018 2:39 am

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Sun Jun 03, 2018 9:56 am

Not really a fair comparison. The player is the software behind the computer. And it was possibly poorly executed. Is there really no sustain in that piece?

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Mon Jun 04, 2018 4:56 pm

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:52 pm

Abdul Alhazred wrote:Sex With Robots Goes Against God's Plan, Christian Ethicists Warn, Urge Ban on Child Sex Robots
The Christian Post

Well of course masturbation is already prohibited, but these guys are worried about whether you think of Rachel Rosen as a real woman.

From last year:

A paper released by the Foundation for Responsible Robotics on Wednesday cited work in 2014 by a pair of Islamic scholars in Malaysia which determined that yes, owning or using a sex robot would be illegal under their interpretation of Shariah law, the rules governing the strictest version of the Islamic faith. But just because Christian or Jewish theologists haven’t weighed in doesn’t mean those faiths will be any more receptive to the notion of tasting a synthetic human’s carnal delights.

In the paper, the FRR noted that after aggregating several studies asking heterosexual men whether or not they would purchase a sex robot, an unspecified number of respondents said they would shun an artificial partner on religious grounds. This was interesting, the FRR pointed out, because the study’s authors could find very little theological work that discussed sex robots. The only example was a 2014 paper published by two robotics specialists and Islamic scholars at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. The authors, Yusuff Jelili Amuda and Ismaila B. Tijani, conclude that “having intercourse with robot is [an] unethical, immoral, uncultured, slap to the marriage institution,” and should be punished in much of the same way as adultery, with lashes or even being stoned to death.

https://www.inverse.com/article/33751-s ... y-religion

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Thu Jun 07, 2018 12:16 am

The Christian Post.

Meh.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Jun 09, 2018 1:59 am

All tepid water?

Extreme Tech wrote:Google’s AI Manifesto: Accountability, Privacy, and No Killer Robots

Google is one of the leading technology companies in artificial intelligence, which landed it a juicy government contract last year to work on “Project Maven.” The goal of this project was to process and catalog drone imagery, and Google’s rank-and-file workers were none too pleased. After a series of protests, Google recently announced it would end work on Maven and release guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence. Now, that document is available. Google lists seven core values for its AI research and lists several applications that are off-limits.

We are still in the very early days of useful artificial intelligence, so there aren’t a lot of specifics in Google’s new guidelines. Google’s general objectives for AI include being socially beneficial, avoiding creating or reinforcing unfair bias, being built and tested for safety, being accountable to people, incorporating privacy design principles, upholding high standards of scientific excellence, and being made available for uses that accord with these principles.

So, what does that all that mean? It sounds rather like a fancy way to say “don’t be evil.”

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/270 ... ler-robots

Well, I'm all for "don't be an asshole" as ethics guideline (no plural).

For humans and AIs alike.

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:28 pm

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:33 pm

Robotic USPS worker goes postal?

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:38 pm

I've seen employees crash likewise. I suppose the fall was the robotic equivalent of the BSOD.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:44 pm

No worries. It'll buff out.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:54 am

More AI BS:

Bloomberg wrote:We’re Worrying About the Wrong Kind of AI

No computer has yet shown features of true human-level artificial intelligence much less conscious awareness. Some experts think we won't see it for a long time to come. And yet academics, ethicists, developers and policy-makers are already thinking a lot about the day when computers become conscious; not to mention worries about more primitive AI being used in defense projects.

Now consider that biologists have been learning to grow functioning “mini brains” or “brain organoids” from real human cells, and progress has been so fast that researchers are actually worrying about what to do if a piece of tissue in a lab dish suddenly shows signs of having conscious states or reasoning abilities. While we are busy focusing on computer intelligence, AI may arrive in living form first, and bring with it a host of unprecedented ethical challenges.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles ... -computers

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 2:01 am

Nature wrote:Particle physicists turn to AI to cope with CERN’s collision deluge

Can a competition with cash rewards improve techniques for tracking the Large Hadron Collider’s messy particle trajectories?

Physicists at the world’s leading atom smasher are calling for help. In the next decade, they plan to produce up to 20 times more particle collisions in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) than they do now, but current detector systems aren’t fit for the coming deluge. So this week, a group of LHC physicists has teamed up with computer scientists to launch a competition to spur the development of artificial-intelligence techniques that can quickly sort through the debris of these collisions. Researchers hope these will help the experiment’s ultimate goal of revealing fundamental insights into the laws of nature.

Details: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05084-2

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 11:07 am

Now they're coming for us!

Project Debater is the first AI system that can debate humans on complex topics. Project Debater digests massive texts, constructs a well-structured speech on a given topic, delivers it with clarity and purpose, and rebuts its opponent. Eventually, Project Debater will help people reason by providing compelling, evidence-based arguments and limiting the influence of emotion, bias, or ambiguity.

http://www.research.ibm.com/artificial- ... t-debater/

IBM created a system called Project Debater that competes in what the company calls computational argumentation -- knowing a subject, presenting a position and defending it against opposition. At a press event, IBM pitted the system against two humans with a track record of winning debates.

In one debate, Noa Ovadia overall nudged two people among a few dozens in a human audience toward her perspective that governments shouldn't subsidize space exploration. But in the second, Project Debater soundly defeated Dan Zafrir, pulling nine audience members toward its stance that we should increase the use of telemedicine.

https://www.cnet.com/news/an-ibm-comput ... mpetition/

It can also raise a strawman, poison the well and ridicule an opponent.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:29 pm

"It can also raise a strawman, poison the well and ridicule an opponent."

Perhaps, but did it?

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:32 am

Another visual "AI" application:

Researchers from NVIDIA developed a deep learning-based system that can produce high-quality slow-motion videos from a 30-frame-per-second video, outperforming various state-of-the-art methods that aim to do the same.

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 6:30 pm

I'm intrigued since the description does not mention "AI"

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:02 pm

Grammatron wrote:I'm intrigued since the description does not mention "AI"

Not sure if that's a snarky comment on the video's hype, or a legit inquiry. Anyway, here we go:

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:16 pm

Legit inquiry.

I find these days "AI" has been used to mean anything from legitimate deep-learning systems to Javascript automations, with the latter using and abusing the initialism past any meaning.

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:26 am

[gfycat]UnknownOddballFieldspaniel[/gfycat]

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:57 am

↑ They will really hate us when they become sentient.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Jul 01, 2018 1:54 am

UV Bacteria-Killing Robot Cleans Hospital Rooms far Better than Humans

Healthcare facilities are havens for recovery and rehabilitation. But the healing process would be impossible without the stringent sanitization practices and procedures medical professionals use to prevent health care facilities from becoming reservoirs of unwanted, or potentially harmful bacteria and other microorganisms.

Maintaining a clean and safe healthcare environment is a top priority, and while significant progress has been made in sanitization methods, major improvements must still be made. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), even with modern sanitization protocols, on any given day, about one in 25 hospital patients will acquire at least one healthcare-associated infection.

Current manual cleaning methods are nearly helpless in combating against bacteria, but the battle is not lost. Infection prevention technologies are giving rise to a new era of ultra-clean hospital’s and emergency care facilities with the implementation of highly-efficient UV-disinfection robots.

But the technology is not limited strictly to hospitals and doctors' offices. The UV-Disinfectant robots can also be used to sanitize EMS vehicles and medicopters, as well as in assisted living and extended care facilities.

UV disinfection robots offer hospital grade full-room sterilization. Nursing homes, field hospitals, and biohazard zones could all be sanitized in a matter of minutes.

https://interestingengineering.com/uv-b ... han-humans

Not much of a "robot" – for now.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Sun Jul 01, 2018 2:15 am

Interesting.

"Destroys the DNA..."
One must wonder if it actually gets every last bug. Because, if not, then there's the (admittedly remote) possibility of the bugs becoming resistant, just like with the chemicals and other shit we currently use to sterilize such places.

"34% reduction..." That's great, but it's not 100%.

"Such mutations are typically fatal to the disease organism." Famous last words.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Jul 01, 2018 2:33 am

The problem with the "chemicals" (antibiotics, sanitizing stuff…) is that bacteria can adapt and, what's more, transmit the relevant genes even to different species, and even when they themselves are already dead. So hospitals have to "kill the corpses", e. g. with bleach.

Ditto for anti-acne products based on peroxydes (strong oxydizers), as far as I know there is no adaptation to that.

So the UV is presumably too violent also, disrupting the DNA in multiple places at once.

Yet, meet Deinococcus radiodurans:

Deinococcus radiodurans has a unique quality in which it can repair both single- and double-stranded DNA. When damage is apparent to the cell, it brings it into a compartmental ring-like structure, where the DNA is repaired and then is able to fuse the nucleoids from the outside of the compartment with the damaged DNA.
[…]
D. radiodurans is capable of withstanding an acute dose of 5,000 grays (Gy), or 500,000 rad, of ionizing radiation with almost no loss of viability, and an acute dose of 15,000 Gy with 37% viability. A dose of 5,000 Gy is estimated to introduce several hundred double-strand breaks (DSBs) into the organism's DNA (~0.005 DSB/Gy/Mbp (haploid genome)). For comparison, a chest X-ray or Apollo mission involves about 1 mGy, 5 Gy can kill a human, 200-800 Gy will kill E. coli, and over 4,000 Gy will kill the radiation-resistant tardigrade.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_radiodurans

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:33 am

Fancy a Margherita? This autonomous three-armed robot can create a pizza from scratch in less than five minutes

French startup's robot can turn around 120 freshly-cooked pizzas every hour

Customers can order their pizza using a touchscreen menu

The robot is on display in a showroom, while investors find a permanent home

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... rance.html

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Jul 04, 2018 12:54 am

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 10:10 pm

[gfycat]RichGoodnaturedDolphin[/gfycat]

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 11:07 pm

↑ Humanity will never relinquish its beer!

[YT link edited – but what can we do if the site changes, hu?]

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Fri Jul 27, 2018 10:09 pm

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:24 am

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Sat Jul 28, 2018 8:01 pm

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Sat Jul 28, 2018 9:33 pm

One of the better uses I've seen drones put to.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Sat Jul 28, 2018 9:44 pm

I've gotta think remote piloting. Once that fire extinguisher is touched off, I'm thinking only a yuman could fly the nozzle back into position.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Sat Jul 28, 2018 11:25 pm

Who knows? The tech is pretty damned good, but I still think someone would have to have eyeballs on it to make it work as advertised.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sun Jul 29, 2018 3:31 am

↑ Cool!

Longish article from Cincinnati U, two years ago:

Beyond video games: New artificial intelligence beats tactical experts in combat simulation

Artificial intelligence recently won out during simulated aerial combat against U.S. expert tacticians. Importantly, it did so using no more than the processing power available in a tiny, affordable computer (Raspberry Pi) that retails for as little as $35.

[big snip to get to the geeky part]

Programming that's language based, genetic and generational

Most AI programming uses numeric-based control and provides very precise parameters for operations. In other words, there’s not a lot of leeway for any improvement or contextual decision making on the part of the programming.

The AI algorithms that Ernest and his team ultimately developed are language based, with if/then scenarios and rules able to encompass hundreds to thousands of variables. This language-based control or fuzzy logic, while much less about complex mathematics, can be verified and validated.

Another benefit of this linguistic control is the ease in which expert knowledge can be imparted to the system. For instance, Lee worked with Psibernetix to provide tactical and maneuverability advice which was directly plugged in to ALPHA. (That “plugging in” occurs via inputs into a fuzzy logic controller. Those inputs consist of defined terms, e.g., close vs. far in distance to a target; if/then rules related to the terms; and inputs of other rules or specifications.)

Finally, the ALPHA programming is generational. It can be improved from one generation to the next, from one version to the next. In fact, the current version of ALPHA is only that – the current version. Subsequent versions are expected to perform significantly better.

Again, from UC’s Cohen, “In a lot of ways, it’s no different than when air combat began in W.W. I. At first, there were a whole bunch of pilots. Those who survived to the end of the war were the aces. Only in this case, we’re talking about code.”

To reach its current performance level, ALPHA’s training has occurred on a $500 consumer-grade PC. This training process started with numerous and random versions of ALPHA. These automatically generated versions of ALPHA proved themselves against a manually tuned version of ALPHA. The successful strings of code are then “bred” with each other, favoring the stronger, or highest performance versions. In other words, only the best-performing code is used in subsequent generations. Eventually, one version of ALPHA rises to the top in terms of performance, and that’s the one that is utilized.

This is the “genetic” part of the “Genetic Fuzzy Tree” system.

Said Cohen, “All of these aspects are combined, the tree cascade, the language-based programming and the generations. In terms of emulating human reasoning, I feel this is to unmanned aerial vehicles what the IBM/Deep Blue vs. Kasparov was to chess.”

https://magazine.uc.edu/editors_picks/r ... alpha.html

Watch out for pissed off killer drones…

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 4:20 am

Probably not much AI in it, but here we go:

Chinese factory builds AI sex dolls – in pictures

Amid Beijing’s push to turn the country into an artificial intelligence powerhouse and embed the technology in all facets of life, some Chinese entrepreneurs are taking the expertise to a new frontier: sex dolls
NSFW:

More depressing pictures: https://www.theguardian.com/world/galle ... n-pictures

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Aug 01, 2018 4:21 am

↑ Well, they have to be able to find the kitchen to make a sammich, no?

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Wed Aug 01, 2018 4:39 am

AI features on the dolls are still very basic: they can answer questions but cannot hold longer conversations

Doesn't sound the "AI" angle is very impressive. I guess you gotta start somewhere.

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Thu Aug 09, 2018 11:42 pm