Artificial Intelligence in the Near Future Essay

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a bunch of robots do everything for you? Cook, clean, run errands, maybe even take care of the children and animals. That sounds like a pretty easy life. What would you do though if they all turned on you; suddenly your easy life was made more difficult than before. There are two sides to Artificial Intelligence, much like there are two sides to every person. There is a lot to take in when talking about Artificial Intelligence, such as what it means, how it started, advantages, disadvantages, things that use artificial Intelligence, how do other people feel about it, how do you feel about it, and many other questions. So what is Artificial Intelligence? Artificial Intelligence is considered the development of machines such as robots and security systems that do the jobs of humans. They are also able to understand human speech. With this being said in the future robots will be able to do everything humans can, if not better. Things that use Artificial Intelligence will be programmed to response to voices, either any voice that speak to it, or only certain ones. Systems that can only open to a certain voice are most likely going to be used for government work, while ones that open to any can be used for everyday things. In 1963 Konrad Zuse invented the Z1 computer. This computer was the first computer that was freely programmable. 1942 John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry Created the ABC Computer, twenty years later Steve Russell and MIT invent the Spacewar computer game, which was the first computer game on record. By 1973 Robert Metcalfe and Xerox were able to come up with computer networking. Eleven years after that in 1984 Apple invented the Macintosh Computer, which was the first affordable desktop computer to be in homes. In 1949, between the ABC Computer and the first computer networking advancement in computer theory lead to computer science, and eventually Artificial Intelligence. After networking came about AI (Artificial Intelligence) became possible. Norbert Wiener was the first American to make the observation between human intelligence and machine, this happened back in 1950. Even though Norbert made the connection John McCarthy was consider the father of AI, because he put together many conferences to get AI up and working. This took seven years. Finally the Thermostat was consider the first AI because it could control the temperature in the room, it was able to notice if the room was to hot or too cold, and adjust it to your liking. Then in 1955 The Logic Theorist was developed by Newell and Simon, and consider to be the first AI computer program. BY 1960 it was predicted that by 1985 AI would be doing the job of humans (Kurweil 69) Fast forwarding to the present AI has skyrocketed. There are vacuums that all you have to do is press the power button and it does everything on its own there is no need for you to do any of the work. GPS are also a great invention, put one in your car, or type on your phone and it can tell you how to get where you need to be, as well as find shorter routes, non toll roads, as well as avoiding accidents or back up traffic, you can even put in if you are walking or riding a bike. Smart phones have made lives easier as well. There is so much you can do with them, from checking bank account to putting in reminders, and some things are even voice activated. AT&T Bell Laboratories may be the single most active telecommunications body working in Artificial Intelligence. Now if you want to have some fun with an AI, Cleverbot is the way to go. Cleverbot is a computer system that you can talk to, it’s doesn’t always have the nicest things to say, or even make sense but it is fun to play around with. The most recent thing to come of age is a car that drives itself, and is able to tell the difference between people who are walking and those on bikes. In 2004 the Company named Topix was founded by Sun Microsystems and Netscape engineers Tom Markson, Bryan Dole, and Bob Truel. This company created artificial intelligence algorithms to monitor news from more than 50,000 sources. They later added user-generated capabilities allowing site visitors to share, edit, and discuss news. Having an item that is an AI has its advantages. For starters it would make for safer work places. Some work places have jobs with low oxygen, radioactive elements or even poor weather conditions, if we have robot working in those environment instead of human, many lives could be saved. Even jobs that keep families apart would be at an all time low. NASA and the Military would also have more advance weapons. They would be able to notice and destroy other countries harmful weapons and keep us safer. Also if we had robots and other types of machines that do not need to rest or eat, they could work around the clock on finding a cure for cancer, and ending world hunger. Instead of sending our men and woman to foreign countries were they are bombed and shot at, we could send AI machines. Most of all there would be less error in the work place. Many places already use machine to do things because they can better measure out the right amount of equipment. There is a downside to using AI as well. With the rise of robots taking over jobs it means people will be replaced. The unemployment rate will go up, less people will get the help they need because too many people will need assistants, and laziness in humans will reach an all time high. Without having to go anywhere or do anything that will leave people to sit and watch TV all day. With jobs being taken away, younger generations will be at a disadvantage because they will not know what it is like to â€Å"earn a buck†. As AI grows they will be collecting all kinds of information, too much knowledge for one being is not a good thing, they might end up thinking they are smarter than us, and go haywire causing more problems. Not to mention if the wrong people get their hands on it they could misuse it. Most of all though it will be pricey. Meaning the people will have higher taxes to pay, and with robots doing all the work with money we just don’t have. When it comes to artificial intelligence my thoughts on it are 50/50. While I think it would be great to have extra help in work places or around the home, as well as not having to put so many people in danger just to get a job done I myself would not want to lose my job. I feel that if we use artificial intelligence for the good of others and not just to make things easier then we should do fine, but we must be careful that it does not fall into the wrong hands. After taking a survey of ten men and ten woman ranging from the ages twenty to forty, asking them if they think artificial intelligence would be a good use for the future, the result were as followed: five said yes, five said no, 3 were unsure, and seven think it would be both good and bad. In the twenty age group most were unsure though those who chose both were close behind, yes and no’s were equal. In the age group of thirty there were no yes’s or unsure, those who chose no were beaten out by those who chose both. In the forty age rang there were no unsure, those who chose both and no’s were equal as the yes’s beat them out. So it would seem the younger you are the more you are not sure, and the older you are the more you would like it to happen. I asked the people that I surveyed why they picked the answer they did. For those who said No, most of them said it was because they wouldn’t want to lose their job, while other worry about the system outsmarting us and causing a lot of damage and problems, pulse they have no moral judgment, compassion or other human emotions. Those who said yes were looking forward to work being easier, decision making would be easier and not put as much pressure on the person in charge. One of the people who said yes had this to say â€Å"Yes they could rescue a child from a burning building without getting hurt†¦83 Firefighters died last year while attempting to stop fires. That number would be zero if we had AI in the sense of I, Robot. That’s just one example but the implications are innumerable. Would you rather have a robot that never fatigues or gets distracted do surgery on your brain†¦ or a surgeon that may have had a late night or may have a difficult personal issu e on his mind, like a divorce? (J.s).Those who choose both thought that it should be allowed, but with limits. Everyone has questions when it comes to AI. The one that seems to be worried about the most though is â€Å"will laws change, or will there be different laws for AI? People are worried that they will have to learn a new set of laws. If by chance there are different laws for AI beings will they be just as fair as ours? Or will they have more privileges? There is so much information out there when it comes to AI that it can be hard to keep up with. Now that you know what AI is, how it started, things that use it, advantages and disadvantages, my thoughts, other peoples thoughts and questions that are asked you have a good head start on learning more. What you find may surprise you and enlighten you, but nevertheless it is very interesting. One last piece of advice I would give to anyone, is since AI can be used for good or bad, watch whose hands it falls into.